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Jun. 25th, 2022 02:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brin_bellway[cw: illness, poison]
I started using 7093 (water-resistant, non-nuisance-vapour P100) filters this week.
The good: I don't have to worry about getting splashed when using the dishwashing sprayer at work. I can lighten the load in my utility belt by removing the 5.4oz pocket umbrella from it (bringing the belt down to seven pounds). I'll be able to start bicycling (I don't have a bicycle--at least not one sized for my adult self--right now, but I've been thinking of getting one) and maybe even camping, a high-grade pollen mask suitable for long stretches of time outdoors without fear of getting rained on. It doesn't obscure the bottom of my vision as much. My voice is slightly but noticeably less muffled, which I was not expecting but is a very nice side effect.
The bad: I severely underestimated how much scent a plain P100 lets through.
For any given set of nuisance-vapour filters, after 2 - 4 months of use I start being able to smell yeast, [something in the walk-in refrigerator that might be ethylene], and the occasional whiff of onion. So I figured: ah, the gas filter has worn out, and these are the gaseous components of my workplace's scentscape. I thought a plain P100 would be like skipping to that stage of a nuisance-vapour P100's wear-and-tear.
Yeah, no, I can smell all *sorts* of things through this new filter. Not just yeast but *every* component of our bread's scent; bacon; soap; you name it, the list goes on.
Various people on the Internet assure me that this is normal, that scents are harder to block than germs and this level of scent infiltration isn't a sign that anything is wrong. But the past 5 years of pollen sensitivity NOS and 2+ years of being able to get away with masking at work have ingrained deep into my subconscious that Being Able to Smell Things in Public Is Dangerous.
Water-resistant P100s with nuisance-vapour filters cost twice as much as the non-nuisance-vapour ones (if you buy two pairs (= a year's worth) at a time, counting the flat $10 shipping). But you know what, I will *pay* an extra thirty bucks a year for the peace of mind of being able to viscerally sense that my filters are working, and for being able to put my foot down and tell the world "no, these are *my* lungs and *I* decide what goes in them".
I'm going to keep the plain 7093s around: having a sense of smell can be nice under some circumstances, and there may be times that I choose it. And I think I'm going to continue wearing them until the nuisance-vapour 7093Cs show up: God knows my speech clarity needs all the help it can get (even maskless, it's pretty bad).
But I *am* going to buy 7093Cs.
---
(part 2)
I started using 7093 (water-resistant, non-nuisance-vapour P100) filters this week.
The good: I don't have to worry about getting splashed when using the dishwashing sprayer at work. I can lighten the load in my utility belt by removing the 5.4oz pocket umbrella from it (bringing the belt down to seven pounds). I'll be able to start bicycling (I don't have a bicycle--at least not one sized for my adult self--right now, but I've been thinking of getting one) and maybe even camping, a high-grade pollen mask suitable for long stretches of time outdoors without fear of getting rained on. It doesn't obscure the bottom of my vision as much. My voice is slightly but noticeably less muffled, which I was not expecting but is a very nice side effect.
The bad: I severely underestimated how much scent a plain P100 lets through.
For any given set of nuisance-vapour filters, after 2 - 4 months of use I start being able to smell yeast, [something in the walk-in refrigerator that might be ethylene], and the occasional whiff of onion. So I figured: ah, the gas filter has worn out, and these are the gaseous components of my workplace's scentscape. I thought a plain P100 would be like skipping to that stage of a nuisance-vapour P100's wear-and-tear.
Yeah, no, I can smell all *sorts* of things through this new filter. Not just yeast but *every* component of our bread's scent; bacon; soap; you name it, the list goes on.
Various people on the Internet assure me that this is normal, that scents are harder to block than germs and this level of scent infiltration isn't a sign that anything is wrong. But the past 5 years of pollen sensitivity NOS and 2+ years of being able to get away with masking at work have ingrained deep into my subconscious that Being Able to Smell Things in Public Is Dangerous.
Water-resistant P100s with nuisance-vapour filters cost twice as much as the non-nuisance-vapour ones (if you buy two pairs (= a year's worth) at a time, counting the flat $10 shipping). But you know what, I will *pay* an extra thirty bucks a year for the peace of mind of being able to viscerally sense that my filters are working, and for being able to put my foot down and tell the world "no, these are *my* lungs and *I* decide what goes in them".
I'm going to keep the plain 7093s around: having a sense of smell can be nice under some circumstances, and there may be times that I choose it. And I think I'm going to continue wearing them until the nuisance-vapour 7093Cs show up: God knows my speech clarity needs all the help it can get (even maskless, it's pretty bad).
But I *am* going to buy 7093Cs.
---
(part 2)
