By now, willing or not, we’ve all had to deal with the emergence of 2020’s latest facial accessory. I could only be referring to the face masks that we’ve all adorned at some point or another over the past 5 months. Who could’ve predicted that our daily checklist would be taken over by medical supplies? On an average day a year ago, making sure we had everything before leaving the house was fairly simple. We’ve grown accustomed to marking off about three essential items before exiting our homes and entering the outside world. If you’re anything like me you might even have some type of reminder, there’s a rhyme I’ve used since college: “got what I need, phone, wallet, keys”. Obviously not a degree of poetry, say, Emily Dickinson, would be impressed by, but it’s helped me on many occasions. It doesn’t matter if you use sticky notes, a dry erase board, or maybe you have a place you put all three to ensure they pass your line of sight before you leave. As of lately that list has grown by at least 2-3 items for most of the population. Along with our phone, keys, and wallet, we truly aren’t ready to take on the day without hand sanitizer, sometimes gloves, but above all, a face mask.
By the time we were aware of the health risks being taken from something as mundane as a trip to the grocery store, precautions became one of the first topics of conversation. What shocked me most, was some of the backlash, but even more, the unwillingness from some of our citizens. While shocking, I must also admit there’s a part of me that wants to rage against the machine at times as well. I’m sure we can all agree that a major selling point of the U.S. is the freedoms we’re granted that allow us to be whoever we want and express ourselves the way we see fit (respectfully). What I quickly understood was, just because we’ve been told by the government to keep our faces covered in public, does not equate to an end of individuality as we know it.
Very clearly, I remember tapping my Amazon App and preparing to order some medical face masks in bulk, only to be met by three words under the image: Out of Stock (they have plenty available now). Site after site, store after store, it was the same thing, no one had medical grade face masks. After a few days of wearing t-shirts on my face, I started to notice people around me wearing masks with different colors and so many unique designs. What was even more intriguing is they all appeared to be handmade, either that or somewhere along the line CVS began distributing Wu-Tang Klan face masks; pretty sure they were handmade. Immediately I went to the home of all things DIY, you guessed it, Etsy! I never thought I’d actually be excited to wear facial protection until I searched “personalized face masks”. It wasn’t excitement from having a line of defense against our new air born nemeses, it was knowing that our individuality didn’t have to be compromised in an effort to keep away the germs. Over these months there’s been so many displays of originality through face masks. I’ve seen everything from beautiful floral prints, to favorite sports teams, maybe there’s a cartoon that you’ve loved forever, just put it on a mask.
We’ve obviously been restricted in a way when it comes to openly conversing with strangers due to social distancing, but I like to think of our masks as somewhat of a name tag; HELLO I’M: (insert fun fact). It could be anything at all. Maybe you’re a huge Star Wars fan and want to flaunt it. Personalized masks even give us a new way to express ourselves with a simple statement, “This Mask is Annoying”. It’s not always fun and we’re not always very accepting when it comes to a change in our daily routine, but if there’s one thing we’ve proven as a society, it would be our ability to adapt. As with anything we adapt to, we also find a way to make it our own and find self-expression within it.
While the idea of surgical masks being worn went from necessity to accessory, its quickly become the number one personalized item worn by citizens today. There’s a sense of pride I get when I wear my Star Wars face mask (yes, the reference earlier was about me), so leaving home without it just doesn’t feel the same. If you or someone you know are still having hesitations about wearing a mask or even keeping up with the surgical mask, I highly recommend buying or even creating one that means something. It’s a win for everyone; you’re doing your part in protecting yourself and everyone else from potential germs, while simultaneously making your own fashion statement.
Now I must give the downside to this entire situation, and I would remiss to not mention it, as well as how it’s affected me. The only thing that’s caused me difficulty during this whole thing is…I can’t figure a new rhyme to save my life! “Got what I need, phone, wallet, keys” it was so simple, again, not Pulitzer Prize winning material, but it was short and sweet. I’ll get back to the drawing board to figure out some cool things that rhyme with sanitizer, and to everyone out there, stay safe, and always remember to express yourself!
For more content check out its-bananas.com.