This morning we woke up to the news that there are now more new cases of the coronavirus outside of China than in it. It’s a scary time, and the sales of hand sanitiser and masks have gone through the roof in response. A new health warning from the CDC has been put out though, and it turns out your beard might be exposing you to coronavirus.
Before you grab the razor and shave yourself clean, there are some types of facial hair that are ok, cause it all has to do with the sealed area of the face mask that you’re wearing. If you have a full blown mountain man style beard, then you’re never going to get a good seal around your nose and mouth, and if you don’t have a good seal then you’re not exactly well protected.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over in the states has blessed us all with a handy infographic about what sort of beard is acceptable, and what is going to mess with your mask seal and potentially expose you to coronavirus.
I’ve learned a lot from this, and not only about mask seals. I’ve learned the names of a bunch of facial hair styles I didn’t even know existed.
A soul patch is fine. So is a pencil moustache, a Zappa, and a Zorro. You can also have a toothbrush moustache, but I wouldn’t recommend it because I don’t think anyone actually calls that a toothbrush moustache…
On the list of styles that need to go are the Hulihee, the Van Dyke, and the Dali. Yes, I’m so sorry to all the baristas in very specific types of hipster cafes, but your pointy Dali moustaches are going to need to go if you want to be sure that you aren’t exposed to the coronavirus.
Maybe they should go anyway though. And your ‘toothbrush’ moustache should absolutely go.
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