Updated Happy Mask recommendation

[SoCal_Bear]

Early on during the pandemic, I recommended this mask on WTM. It has since been adopted by many other boardies as their mask of choice. These masks are expensive to purchase and it is beyond frustrating if a company doesn't not stand behind their product.

This is my current recommendation which I have posted on social media:
I've been a fan of Happy Masks since early on. Unfortunately, there was an quality issue with the nose wires in the masks being shipped out in recent months. It's being widely reported in my moms groups that the nose wires are breaking after less than dozen uses. It is widely reported that the company is not resolving this in a satisfactory manner. I am no longer recommending this mask at this time. I will update this recommendation if things change regarding how this issue is being resolved. 

*******
There have been issues seeking replacement for broken masks and issues with the replacements that arrive have the same issues. 

I wrote this to Happy Masks via Facebook:

My initial message:

I moderate a really large moms group on FB that originally grew out of Berkeley Alum Moms. There's a lot of unhappiness with the faulty nose wire breakage on masks. We were all early adopters and shared widely about happy masks. There's a lot of disappointment that the company is not standing behind the 2 month manufacturing defect guarantee. Is this true? because I would love to assure our Mama Bears group this is not the case. I'm certain that use and care is not the issue as all the users have batches of the original design versus the newer nose wire design.

Their response:

Thank you for reaching out on behalf of your moms group. I am happy to put to rest the fear that we do not stand by our Satisfaction Guarantee. This is absolutely not the case. We know that moms rely on our masks to keep their families safe in these difficult times, and it is not a responsibility we take lightly. We take quality assurance very seriously to ensure that we are providing the safest, most breathable, comfortable masks. We are happy to work with customers to come up with a resolution when issues arise within 2 months of purchase, but the specific resolution may vary depending on the details of the individual situation. When an issue occurs resulting from use beyond regular wear and tear, we sometimes can not offer a resolution, but for reasonable inquiries supported by photos or videos, we are glad to offer a resolution for customers who reach out within this time frame. I hope this alleviates some of the worries of your group members. Please pass along our sincere appreciation of their word of mouth, business, and loyalty. Ashley
 

My response: 
While I appreciate the sentiment being expressed above, this is not the actual customer experience of many moms in mulitple groups. Your company is well aware that there is a manufacturing defect in the nose wires. The process should not be difficult to address this, and the replacements should not have the same exact problem. Unfortunately, there have been a broad range of negative experiences across many mom groups. It has erroded loyalty to Happy Masks as moms are actively warning other moms about this problem. These are no inexpensive purchases. I am on the waiting list to purchase additional masks, but I will be holding off on doing so until I hear positive feedback about how this is being handled.

 

 

 

 

 

[MEmama]

Good for you! 👍

[desertflower]

Oh this is good to know.  Thanks for the heads up.

One of my daughter and my son has been using happy mask for last 2 months and has been fine.  My other daughter put hers on and said it didn't fit.  We assumed it was because she has a bigger nose (my husband's nose) than my other two kids.  But it makes sense now.  The mask didn't fit my husband at first either, but he fiddled with it and fits now.  I haven't tried mine yet.

If you could keep us updated on this thread, I'd appreciate it.  If not, no worries.  I know life can get busy! 

[PeterPan]

51 minutes ago, calbear said:

I am on the waiting list to purchase additional masks, but I will be holding off on doing so until I hear positive feedback about how this is being handled.

I'm confused. Are you asking about alternative products or trying to defame/libel/disparage HM on a public forum for a problem you haven't had???

Did you actually buy masks that were defective and not have the issue resolved? 

I have no clue if the issue is actually happening, but this post is just beyond weird, sorry.

[SoCal_Bear]

I'm trying to let people know because I have been recommending their masks on various threads on here. These are friends of mine who are experiencing this problem. It is widely discussed in the mom groups...I am advocating for these moms in my groups and giving other people a heads up that this is going on so that if they are experiencing problems, that it isn't an isolated incident. 

Edited October 5, 2021 by calbear

[desertflower]

3 minutes ago, calbear said:

I'm trying to let people know because I have been recommending their masks on various threads on here. These are friends of mine who are experiencing this problem. It is widely discussed in the mom groups...I am advocating for these moms in my groups and giving other people a heads up that this is going on so that if they are experiencing problems, that it isn't an isolated incident. 

Yes, and I appreciate it because I don’t go on Facebook often. 

[Dmmetler]

I just got a couple of new ones, and they seem OK to me. 

[KSera]

3 minutes ago, calbear said:

I'm trying to let people know because I have been recommending their masks on various threads on here. These are friends of mine who are experiencing this problem. It is widely discussed in the mom groups...I am advocating for these moms in my groups and giving other people a heads up that this is going on so that if they are experiencing problems, that it isn't an isolated incident. 

I appreciate that as well. For what it's worth, the Happy Masks, while decent, aren't performing as well in testing as KF94s and KN95s, which are much less expensive and can be easily purchased without a waitlist (and even more comfortable, in my experience), so for people feeling iffy about HappyMask at this point, it might be a good time to try something else.

[kbutton]

4 minutes ago, KSera said:

I appreciate that as well. For what it's worth, the Happy Masks, while decent, aren't performing as well in testing as KF94s and KN95s, which are much less expensive and can be easily purchased without a waitlist (and even more comfortable, in my experience), so for people feeling iffy about HappyMask at this point, it might be a good time to try something else.

We've been slowly jumping ship with the order backlog. I am grateful we've had ours before masks were easily available, and I will always think of my HM fondly, lol! 

[SoCal_Bear]

Mask Nerd has them at about 83% filtration effectiveness vs Enro ~70% vs KF80/94 at 93-99% vs double masking cloth w/ surgical ~91%

[KSera]

17 minutes ago, calbear said:

Mask Nerd has them at about 83% filtration effectiveness vs Enro ~70% vs KF80/94 at 93-99% vs double masking cloth w/ surgical ~91%

Yeah, I was surprised that his test with the Fix the Mask brace added only helped a little with the Happy Mask. Still significantly better than the Enro, though. Wirecutter really should post an update on that recommendation.

eta: Looking again at the post wash data, the Enro actually did better after 5 washes than the Happy Mask does after 5 washes. And both are way, way, way better than not wearing a mask (I'm someone who doesn't go indoor places right now unless completely necessary, and have recently switched to using an N95 rather than my KF94 if I have to go somewhere risky indoors (medical appointments), so clearly my risk tolerance level is exceedingly low. Just to give context).

Edited October 5, 2021 by KSera

[catz]

26 minutes ago, calbear said:

Mask Nerd has them at about 83% filtration effectiveness vs Enro ~70% vs KF80/94 at 93-99% vs double masking cloth w/ surgical ~91%

I actually still feel fine about them (and enro for that matter) for quick errand running in our high vax, we are vaxxed, double masking, etc world.  We are getting a good fit with them and I wash them very gently by hand and we rotate through.  I do have KN95's we use for longer and more risky indoor things.  

Our happy masks have been fine, but I've always washed them by hand with the enro masks.  

Edited October 5, 2021 by FuzzyCatz

[Pawz4me]

I feel perfectly safe in both my Happy Mask and our Enros, both for running errands and for our (all too frequent) medical appointments. I have no desire to fill up more landfills by using disposable masks. My Happy Mask was purchased a couple of months ago and I haven't had any problem with it.

[KSera]

4 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

I feel perfectly safe in both my Happy Mask and our Enros, both for running errands and for our (all too frequent) medical appointments. I have no desire to fill up more landfills by using disposable masks. My Happy Mask was purchased a couple of months ago and I haven't had any problem with it.

Obviously, that’s totally valid and I’m not trying to convince anyone against using their happy masks, but to the disposable aspect, the testing shows you don’t actually have to throw away disposable masks unless they become damaged or very soiled. I reuse mine just as I did all my cloth masks, except I rotate them in between use rather than washing (which is actually what I switched to doing with my cloth masks eventually, once I knew about the issue with washing and electrostatic filters). And that’s coming from a person in a household that uses cloth wipes in place of TP 😉😂. 

[Arcadia]

Sorry for bumping this thread but DS18 is interested in getting them for class/library use. Is the nose clip issue still existing? Also would you order a large or extra-large if his nose bridge to chin measurement is 5.5”. He currently use the disposable ones.