My new nightly ritual is to hand-wash the days pile of face masks in the sink (hashtag normal things we do in 2020), but if I wasnt hanging them just so, they wouldnt be dry the next dayandwearing a wet face mask is a definite no-noif you want it to be remotely effective.
Then I remembered the weird, clip-laden hangers we used to use to dry diaper covers back in ourcloth diapering days.Back then, we were doing daily loads of laundry filled with plastic-lined reusable diaper covers that couldnt go in the dryer, so we picked up a circular hanger covered in plastic clothespins that allowed us to hang everything up without taking up all the space on our shower curtain rod.
At the time, I foolishly assumed these hangers were made specifically for drying diaper covers, but they are actually intended to dry all kinds of tiny delicates youd rather not subject to the torture of a wash/dry cycleand they work just as well for face masks as they do underwear.
For more on face masks, check out the video below:
There are plenty of these gadgets available online (weve got this one), but it’s possible for you to approximate the same effect with a few regular hangers and a package ofcurtain clips, or even binder clips (see above image).The World Health Organizationadvises washing masks once a day, and the cloth masks I purchased specify they can be washed in a washing machine up to 15 times.
The Centers for Disease Control advises that hand-washing with detergent (and preferably in hot water)should sufficiently decontaminate your masks, and washing by hand and air drying is certainly less damaging to your clothes thanconstantly cooking them in the dryer at high heat.
The sink + clippy hanger option seems like a smart alternative, thenespecially if you dont want topull out your salad spinner.
