hello i'm wanderer001 and no this is not a tom bin mask this is the mask that my employer provided to
me as part of the coming back to work protocol what we'll call it uh they came in a nice little
five pack which was very generous of my employer however this mask is horrible it is a two layer
cotton non-adjustable straps and it's it's that square mask which just sits very very poorly on
your face so this while better i suppose than you know the disposable masks and very generous
of my employer to provide was garbage so a quick search online for best cloth mask and at the top
of most of those lists tom bin so i went out and i purchased all the currently available versions
so version one version two and version three of the tom bin masks and here is what those look like
each of the masks have their own benefits and drawbacks depending on what you're looking for
in a cloth mask now this being a slightly new endeavor for me and never having to actually
research a cloth mask before or realistically ever this was a learning experience for me so
let me share with you what i found out here you have the version one which has a nose bridge right
there that's kind of like the twist tie that you get on a loaf of bread it is a two layer system
composing of 65 polyester and 35 cotton blend fabric the ear loops right here nice and stretchy
interior there has a nice feel to it and it is the lightest of all of the current offerings in
that that polyester cotton blend breathes easier than the other options however unlike the version
two and version three you do not have a neck lanyard so you will do the hang off your ear
like you do with the cloth or paper masks the version two is also a two layer system however
now it is composed of a hundred percent cotton twill fabric i will say that all of the ones that
we're looking at right now are the medium large versions as that's what i thought would be most
comfortable for my face tom ben's website does have a handy measurement guide if you're looking
to find out what will work best for you up here you can see that they have substantially increased
the nose bridge making it more adjustable more substantial and easier to fit around your nose
the one complaint i have with the version 2 is that it is this green color as opposed to the
black that you get with the version one and the black that you get on the exterior of the version
three so version two the medium large doesn't quite go with as many things as the version
one or version two you have your ear loops nice stretchy ear loops like you had on the version
one however now we have this neck strap which i will admit is really nice especially when
you're wearing this for long periods of time and you need to go outside and get that air
you just drape that around your neck and you're good to go it also acts as an adjustment for the
ear loop should you need to shrink this down and there we go that's what the interior looks like
for the version two now the version three is the heaviest of all of them when it comes to breathing
because it is a three layer system the exterior layer is 65 polyester 35 cotton blend while the
filter layers or the middle and inter interior layer here are 100 cotton blend it is the largest
of all of the masks even though this is the medium large version so you should be able to open your
mouth very wide here you can see the nose bridge is nice and substantial just like it was on the
version two however you also notice when i flip this over that the interior layer is a different
color as opposed to the exterior layer it's easier to tell them apart as to which is which i suppose
again in a situation that we're currently in color options are not really the primary
thing that you should be thinking or considering again we have the nice stretchy ear loops and the
version 3 also has the neck lanyard which will allow you to adjust the ear loops but also hang
this around your neck the version 3 also offers the most mouth room of all the options now seeing
these in front of a camera not as useful as seeing them on a person so let's take a look at that now
so this is the version one i opted to do the actual lapel mic here to give you an idea
of the actual sound that you can get from these because that's one of the other things to consider
is how you sound with something muffling your face so version one here you go side profile underneath
it's a nice size mask again this is the medium large and you can see there is a little fog up
of my glasses it's just something that wearing glasses you have to get used to with a mask you
can adjust the nose bridge there to cut down on it a little bit or you just kind of move your glasses
a little further down so here you can kind of see me breathing in the mask does suck in a little bit
but not terribly again because it's that blended material so let's try this sally sells seashells
by the seashore peter piper picked a pack of pickled peppers and a e i o u and you can see it
slipped down a little bit when i opened my mouth a little larger so again from the side profile peter
piper picked a pack of pickled peppers slipping sally sells seashells by the seashore a e i o u
from top underneath once again and opening your mouth really really large ah
so it will slip down a little bit here we have the version two which is the dual layer
cotton all over and it has the more substantial nose bridge so i will say
as you see sucking in it does collapse on itself more because it is a thicker blend but you
can also hopefully see that my glasses are not fogging up as much with this because it has the
more substantial nose bridge side profile there you can see it has the neck lanyard and adjustable
strap so i actually have these a little tighter so i get a nicer seal along the side
underneath there enough space that it goes under your chin which is something i really appreciate
in masks because when they stop at your chin like that they just don't do anything so again
you could say i'm breathing heavily to try and fog my glasses up it's happening a little bit
but not as much as with the version one sally sells seashells by the seashore peter piper
picked a pack of pickled peppers a-e-i-o-u not much movement on this one side profile
peter piper picked a pack of pickled peppers sally sells seashells by the seashore
a-e-i-o-u and coming back to the front ah so that was a wide open for me again i might not have the
biggest mouth in the world but you'll notice this did not slip down as much as the version
one did now it is a little more laborious to breathe through this compared to the version one
and it's because the version one is that combination material is it bad it's up to you
but realistically coverage aside from the color and i complained about that before but aside from
the color i like the version 2 quite a bit and here we have the version 3 which is the largest of
them all in fact i don't even feel the mask moving at all what i'm talking right now i am fogging up
a little more than i was with the version two and i think that's just because even though it
has the thicker nose bridge like the version two because the fabric has three layers it's a little
trickier to form a seal around my face because of that extra layer it's still not bad and in fact
you can see it's not really moving aside from that little fogging i had before you have the ear loops
and the neck lanyard which adjusts the side you know the ear loops as well uh you would normally
just hang it off i'm not showing you that because well i just don't want to show my face on camera
but you can see i'm breathing in the fabric is coming in a little bit and it's not terrible it
actually feels a little easier to breathe with the version three than the version two even with that
third layer because it has that extra space so side panel there it has extra space for you to
open your mouth really large it does come much further down your neck under your chin than the
version two in the version one so that's something to consider depending on your facial structure so
sally sells seashells by the seashore peter piper picked a pack of pickled peppers a e i o u
peter piper picked a pack of pickled peppers sally sells seashells by the seashore
a e i o u and then coming to the front ah so it comes down a little bit off the nose but that's
probably because it comes down a little further on my neck if it was up a little higher i wouldn't
have to worry about that quite as much the version three like the version two has a more substantial
nose bridge which i like because you can pin it down and keep it further away from your eyelids
which is what my wife doesn't like with the flat square ones that was an example of version three
just for a quick point of reference this is the mask that was provided to me by my employer
single layer it's pulling my ears horribly it it really doesn't offer much in the way of
anti-fogging because it comes like right up to my eyelids and it does not come that far past my chin
now as my avatar shows i do have facial hair with none of the tom bin masks i had any problems this
one in particular i could feel it inching up as it's scratching against my beard and fogging up
my glasses horribly so peter piper picked a pack of pickled peppers sally sells seashells by the
seashore a e i o u side profile there you can see it really just kind of scoops it it's not great
it is not a great mask and opening my mouth really wide ah didn't pull from the top it came off from
the bottom which does not form that good seal that you need when you have a mask and the last one for
reference is a standard paper mask that you might pick up now these are disposable one time use the
beauty of the cloth masks are you can wash them and not have to just throw them out and throw away
your money but cloth mask for uh reference sally sells seashells by the seashore peter piper picked
a pack of pickled peppers a e i o u side profile i do appreciate the elastic ear loops on the paper
masks and they do if you pull them down or open enough come down past your chin nicely compared to
that white mask but ah if you ah open your mouth ah it pulls down from the top if you don't have
it pinched up nicely all right so we have an idea of the fabric makeup we have an idea of how they
look on a normal sized face with facial hair the next question is well let's talk about pricing
so your version one is thirteen dollars however part of that thirteen dollars
goes to giving a mask away to charity version two is nine dollars and version three which is
the biggest in the three layers is 16 now washing these you're going to want to get yourself a bag
you know a washing bag i'll have a link for that down in the description to kind of keep
these away from your other clothes and getting banged around too much as you might suspect
version one being the combination blend tried the quickest when hang drying version
two was next and then version three took the longest because it is that three layer system
tom bin also offers the version one blueprints so if you feel like attempting to make your own
mask you can however myself being somebody who hasn't attempted sewing really since middle school
and as you can see here the prospects of that back in the day were not the greatest
i opted to purchase them however i will leave a link in the description
where you can actually find their pattern to make your own should you want whether you're
looking for a company that's in the u.s that's making quality masks or one that is
socially aware in if you purchase version one a donated mask will be given away they give you
the pattern so all in all quality and company wise having never looked at tom bin before nor have i
looked for masks before i was pleasantly surprised so if you like me if you do a search on youtube
or google for best cloth masks i'm gonna throw my hat in the ring and say tom bin is up there
just like all the other reports i found i have been wanderer001 if you have any questions or
comments please feel free to leave them in the area below and as always thanks for watching you