Car keys, wallet, bag and wait - you almost forgot your mask! Since Covid-19 really hit our shores last April, we've been wearing these masks daily for a full year and two-ish months - as we should because we would get fined otherwise yikes. But we obviously shouldn’t be motivated by this punishment, but to view mask wearing as a necessary precautionary measure that we need to take because we’re such a smol and densely populated country!
And so as we've gotten accustomed to the ever-changing rules and regulations over the past year, we’ve experimented with different styles of masks according to our lifestyle preferences. I don’t know about you, but since I’ve been wearing masks, my face has been breaking out like crazy.
For better or worse, my small face makes it really difficult to find a mask that actually fits!
Does anyone remember how t h i c c the first round of the gov-issued masks were? These were full-on dense cotton (remember that cotton does not come from sheep, yeah? hehe). But as there were no size differences incorporated into masks designs yet, it was a rough time trying to get the masks to stay on my face. Then came the other designs - my personal favourite gov-issued mask was the white one with different coloured ear loops. While these were slightly more breathable and fit my face somewhat better, I started noticing a big problem.
It started off as small red bumps on my cheeks, where I hardly got pimples as a 23 ish year old. It was like a nightmare to be honest, it felt like a second round of puberty all over again. No matter how much I upped my skincare, bought all the hyaluronic acids, physical or chemical exfoliants, or bought all the sheet masks, these irritating pimples grew larger, angrier, and wouldn’t go away!
I don’t know why my brain lagged, but I eventually found out that it was the masks causing all these pesky acne spots to come out to the world and say hello.
Not that I went out often either - because I was doing my part to not go out as frequently - but I would find my nose, upper lip, chin and cheeks just dripping with sweat? Moisture? Condensation? Whatever, maybe all three of the above. And the mask-acne was just not it, chief!!! So what did I do? I thought, maybe a more breathable mask like a surgical one? Those look pretty alright, right? Right???
Wrong.
Surgical masks proved to be really irritating on my facial skin. The masks often hit right below my eyes, get in the way of my glasses, or hang loosely off my cheeks and chin. Overall it just felt so … abrasive. Like rubbing my face on sandpaper or something like that. Anyways, I wasn’t super fond of the fact that these masks were single use, so I tried to limit my use as much as possible. (Yes I am that kind of person, you may have read up on my love for sustainability here).
Given Singapore’s humid environment, it’s no surprise that we’re mostly all on the lookout for a mask that is breathable, cooling and comfortable. Since I wasn’t keen to get back to the cotton masks, but still wanted a reusable mask, I tried out a certain brand’s mesh mask since it was touted as being super breathable and cooling. I really thought this could be the one for me. The answer to all my maskne struggles. Again it was a big ol’ sike. It still made my face break out! As you can see from the image below, my nose bridge, nose and cheeks were definitely not spared.
These pimples honestly look like they could form a constellation.
Enter: Silk face masks
It wasn’t until I read up more that I discovered silk masks, and all the supposed benefits of silk. Although it really seemed to be the solution to all my maskne woes, I guess I was a lil kiam siap, ahem or basically too br0ke.
I had already spent so much money on my skincare, new masks and all and those didn’t work out, so why would one silk mask be any different?
This really was what was going through my head.
AND BOY WAS MY MIND CHANGED.
My maskne has been banished to the shadow realm for real ok! And I know some of yall reading this may not believe me, or claim that I might be biased because I work here. Am I biased?? Yes, maybe a little bit. But in my defence, I’ve legitimately tried everything and nothing has worked as effectively as my silk masks! I’ve kept my skincare regime the same, my diet is the same, and the only thing that’s changed is introducing silk masks to my daily going-out regime.
My current go-to is our Ice Cream silk masks. Remember what I said about my small face problems? It wasn’t even an issue with these silk masks! I could even fit a size M, to my amazement. It doesn’t hang loosely around my cheeks or jaw, and it even covers my nose bridge and chin perfectly.
I loved it so much I bought 2 Lyla Bundles of 8 masks for myself and my family members - it's very worth the money. I mean you even get a silk pouch in the matching colour?? Absolutely sign me up.
An extra perk is that these silk masks dry super quickly. I’ve been washing it with baby shampoo (yes I use that for my shampoo, don’t judge me) in the shower at night and it is fully dried when I wake. Also, using baby shampoo means that the silk fibres soften even more amazingly over the past month or so. I didn’t think silk could get softer than that? But again I stand corrected.
If you’ve managed to read up til this point about my own personal struggle with maskne and how I’ve managed to say bye bye to them with our silk masks, and you’re still not convinced? I really urge you to try one out for yourself, get yours here and feel the difference.
Got your own silk face mask but don't know how to maintain it? Check out our guide to keeping your masks clean and soft right here!
Until then, hope everyone keeps safe and stays masked! We'll ride out this pandemic sooner or later.