If you’ve been on the internet recently then there is a good chance you have come across a type of face mask called a KN95 face mask. While it sounds very similar to an N95 mask—the mask worth its weight in gold—it’s not an N95, it’s a KN95. So you may be thinking to yourself, what is a KN95 mask, exactly?
What Is A KN95 Mask?
Officially speaking, a KN95 mask is actually called a KN95 Filtering Facepiece Respirator (FFR) Mask. That’s a bit of a mouthful so most people just call it a KN95 Mask or KN95 Respirator Mask. The KN95 mask is the STANDARD type of respirator made in China.
- The “K” stands for China
- The “N” stands for “Non-Oil Aerosol”
- The “95” stands for “Filters out 95%+ of airborne particles 0.3 microns or larger”
Just like N95 masks are made according to USA standards, FFP2 respirators are made according to European standards, and 1st Class masks are made according to Korean standards, KN95 masks are made in China according to Chinese standards.
While each country makes their respirator masks look & feel different from one another, at the end of the day, each of them must pass a series of international tests to earn their respirator status.
According to Manufacturer 3M, KN95 masks, N95 masks, FFP2 masks, and Korean 1st Class masks are all basically the same when tested against one another.
The most important word to remember here is that a KN95 mask is a RESPIRATOR mask, that is what sets a KN95 mask apart from nearly every other mask out there on the market.
What is a Respirator Mask?
A respirator mask is a mask that actually filters the air you breathe. Here’s a simple way to think about it:
A respirator mask is like a fishing net that you wear on your face. As you breathe, air flows easily into and out of the net, like water passing through a fishing net. At the same time, harmful particles in the air (fish) get caught in the net and are blocked before you can breathe them in.
Particles in the air come in all different shapes and sizes, but almost all of them are too tiny for you to even see! They’re so small that they are not measured in inches, feet, or centimeters, they’re measured in microns. These are things like dust, haze, pollen, allergens, viruses, bacteria, etc.
It’s the respirator’s JOB to make sure that you don’t breathe in these harmful particles in the air!
No pollen, no allergens, no dust, dirt, haze, no viruses, no bacteria. Just clean, pure, air. This is where thinking of a respirator mask as a fishing net comes in handy.
As you’re going about your day, walking around outside, you’re constantly breathing in whatever is in the air. If you live in a city with a lot of smog/pollution (looking at you Los Angeles…) then when you’re walking around, just breathing, you’re unintentionally breathing in all of that gross smog/pollution caused by cars, trucks, burning garbage, and who knows what else.
This is very unhealthy and downright bad for your lungs. Studies have shown that (breathing) “Air Pollution May Be As Harmful To Your Lungs As Smoking Cigarettes“. Crazy, right?
A respirator mask is designed to protect you from breathing in harmful particles in the air!
It acts as a net in front of your nose & mouth that catches all of the harmful particles (like smog) before you are able to breathe it in. It’s like an air purifying filter that you wear on your face. Simple as that.
How Does Wearing A KN95 Mask Protect You?
Wearing a KN95 Mask filters the air you breathe. By simply wearing it correctly when you’re out and about or coming in contact with other people, you are protecting yourself from harmful particles in the air.
With that being said, a KN95 mask is rated to filter out 95%+ of all airborne particles 0.3 microns or larger.
It’s not 100% effective, you’d have to wear a gas mask or space suit to get 100% protection, but for a normal person living a normal live, 95% is more than enough protection to put your mind at ease.
You may be thinking to yourself, “What the heck does 95%+ of airborne particles 0.3 microns or larger” even mean?
A great question.
Remember when we talked about the fishing net?
Well…
Let’s change 95%+ of airborne particles 0.3 microns or larger to 95%+ of fish 3 feet or longer.
That means if you try to catch 100 fish that are 3 ft or longer then you will catch AT LEAST 95 of them. Maybe you’ll catch 100, maybe you’ll catch 97. But you can be sure that if you don’t have a net you’ll catch 0 of them.
KN95 Masks are made with a very special material called Polypropylene Melt-Blown Fabric. This material is like tiny plastic strings that are woven together to make a netting. This fabric is the “filter” of the mask that catches harmful airborne particles before you breathe them in. This fabric is what turns a mask into a respirator mask.
When we talk about things floating around in the air, we are talking about particles that are very, very, small. So small in fact that they are measured in microns.
1 micron = 1 millionth of 1 meter. (Take 1 meter and chop it up 1 million times, one of those pieces is how big 1 micron is.)
There are lots of particles floating around in the air and all of them come in different shapes/sizes.
Some are 3 microns, some are 2 microns, some are .5 microns, some are .3 microns and so on and so forth.
Only By Wearing A Respirator Mask (Like A KN95 Mask) Can You Protect Yourself From These Harmful Particles In The Air!
Wearing a bandana, or a cloth mask, or a 3-ply mask, all of these things are much better than wearing no mask. But…don’t be deceived. They are NOT protecting you from very small particles in the air.
They can’t, it’s impossible. They don’t have a net. These particles in the air are sooooo small that they just slip right past normal cloth, normal cotton, normal linen, normal nylon. It doesn’t matter.
If the mask that you’re wearing does not have melt-blown fabric inside of it, and it is not fit snugly around your face, then it’s not really protecting you from harmful particles in the air. Not the small ones at least.
But, if it doesn’t protect us, then why do they tell us to wear any face covering?
The main reason why you should wear a mask when you go outside is to protect OTHER PEOPLE from yourself. If you’re wearing a mask and you cough or sneeze or breathe and you are sick, the mask will catch all of the water droplets coming out of your nose/mouth and that goes a long way to helping prevent other people from getting sick.
HOWEVER…
If you want to make sure that your airways are protected to the best of your abilities, then it’s time for you to get your hands on a KN95 Mask.
Here at MBT Beauty we’ve worked hard over the past few months to get high quality KN95 masks into America during these tough times.
We are an approved face mask vendor for the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce and are proud to say that we helped supply our local businesses in need during reopening. Now that Rochester is on the up & up we’re opening up our mask sales to the rest of the USA!
CLICK HERE TO BUY A PACK OF KN95 MASKS
