Is Your Face Mask Actually Clean?

Face masks may as well be deemed the fashion accessory of the year. You can get them in just about any color or pattern, but how do you properly take care of them and what happens when you don’t?

Vicky Nguyen, NBC News investigative and consumer correspondent, wanted to see just how dirty our face masks get and what exactly they could be harboring. When conducting this experiment, she not only tested her mask, but the Today Show anchors’ masks as well.

She swabbed all their masks both inside and out, sent it to a lab, and waited 72 hours for the results. What exactly did she find out? Most masks were pretty clean except Savannah, Hoda, Vicky, and Sheinelle’s. They had skin bacteria growing on the outside of their masks, which isn’t harmful.

All in all, a few tips to help keep your mask clean is wash them every few days, rotate between different masks, and to help with ‘maskne’ try washing your mask with your face cleanser.

Samantha Ripperger