We’ve got tips from our India connection 3 days ago about the Swine flu (H1N1) outbreak in Pune.
“The swine flu made its entry India in Pune. Its only a matter of time before it surfaces in rest of the country. I foresee a huge need for Totobobo masks in India.” Our connection mentioned in one of his email.
Spike started on 2009-08-10
This statement is also confirmed by visitor’s comments and the spike of demand from India over the last couple of days. We want to make it easy for India customers to obtain Totobobo mask for their protection, especially for children. We geared up our offer. The special offer at the end of this post is only available to customers ordering from India.
Note:
Totobobo mask now comes with 96% filter for better protection
The haze is back in Singapore, fuelled by raging fires in Sumatra. Thursday’s PSI was the highest recorded here in almost two years. Experts here said on Thursday the haze might linger over Singapore for a while, due to the prevailing south-west monsoon season conditions, which typically last till late October. If the situation worsen, put on a mask when you go out may be a good way to protect yourselves. Do take note if you do use a mask:
If a mask can not seal your face, it can not protect you from the haze.
Haze is an atmospheric phenomenon when airborn particles such as dust, smoke and other particles obscure the clarity of the sky. The haze particle are very fine and easily get breathe into your lung by following the air flow.
Buoyant haze particle follow the “passage of least resistance”. The working principle of a mask is to seal off the breathing zone such that the least resistant path through the mask is the filter. Air must go through the filters before it can reach the breathing zone. The particle is trapped on the filters and therefore the air is cleaned before entering your mouth or nose.
Regular surgical mask or even N95 mask won’t help if there is gaps between the mask and your face. A gap between the face and the mask is an alternative passage with less resistance than the filter. Air and the particle will leak through the gap rather than going through the filter. One of the key concern when using a regular mask is how can one decide if the mask is truly fitting and sealing the breathing zone?
Here in Totobobo mask we provide the possibility for you to check the fit through the transparent mask. You can adjust the position, the tension of the strap, or even cut the mask to make it better fit to your face. Although we can not guarantee it will fit everyone, yet the chances of fitting is much higher than a regular mask.
In addition, judging by the colour change you will be able to tell when the filter has done it’s job and should be replaced.
For demonstration, here is a pair of filter kindly provided by Kenneth Koh of Advanturenomad. He use the Totobobo mask during his cycling trip in Vietnam. The colour collected on the mask is the result of nearly 30 hours of cycling in Vietnam from Hanoi to Dalat.
The current H1N1 flu triggered a sudden increase in sales of face masks and Totobobo, the first customizable face mask, is now hitting 25 countries across the world. This is a new milestone for the company, Dream Lab One, the producer of the Totobobo mask.
Travelers, cyclists, wood-turners and artists alike have found this reusable mask highly effective in blocking out polluted air and various irritants. Sales of this reusable mask has increased significantly and it has received rave reviews from users around the world.
“This mask may have saved my life. First, the mask is made out of a rubbery material, so it sticks naturally to your skin. After I found the perfect position on my face for my mask, I no longer have any problems with breathing…at all…period. My nose has cleared up, my eyes are no longer irritated, I don’t cough or sneeze at all anymore. It’s comfortable and it doesn’t fog my glasses! I hardly know I’m wearing it!” said Paula Ford, a satisfied Totobobo user and a pastel artist residing in Tennessee, United States.
Individuals who rely a lot on respiratory masks tend to live in environments that contain either polluted air or airborne disease pathogens. An effective mask helps to filter out polluted air and airborne virus. There are two conditions that determine whether a respiratory mask is effective. First, it needs to seal the wearer’s nose and mouth snugly. Second, the filter material must be able to filter out the smallest of particles.
“Money can buy high quality filters, but a good seal has been a hit-or-miss affair,” said Francis Chu, the designer of the revolutionary mask. His design provides a simple and intuitive solution call VSC (Visual-Seal-Check) for the user to check the face-seal.
Easy Visual-Seal-Check (VSC):
To ensure good respiratory seal, normal N95 mask users can only rely on their ability to feel the air-leak around their face. Such method is not reliable and sometimes it gives a fault sense of security. Francis believes his transparent mask allows users to check the seal intuitively and to ensure minimal seepage of polluted air.
To verify this, he sent the mask to a hospital and compared the Visual-Seal-Check (VSC) with the gold standard respirator fit-test, a high-end quantitative system called PortaCount from TSI Incorporated. The result showed strong correlation (90%) between the prediction of the Visual-Seal-Check (VSC) method and the result of the gold standard fit-test proving his intuitive method effective.
“The Visual-Seal-Check, or VSC, is much more reliable than the seal check found in other N95 masks. This study shows that face-seal can be determined simply by checking the seal through the transparent mask,” says Francis.
5 years old boy wearing Totobobo mask
Over half of the recent orders are coming from parents traveling with children. They appreciate the possibility to customize the mask to fit their young children. With the VSC they are more reassured that their children are getting the optimal protection.
Recently we travel to Taiwan and Hong Kong. To be on the safe side we all put on our Totobobo mask on the plane and in the airport. Who knows the one sitting next to you can be coming from a H1N1 flu infected country? This was the “acid test” to see if the mask really work in the context of air travel.
I’ve customized the masks for the two boys and Sharon in advance. So that part is not an issue. Putting it on was easy for Sharon and the younger boy, but it was confusing for the elder one. It turn out that the strap of his mask got entangled a bit and he couldn’t slide the strap along easily. I help him to remove the rubber band and disentangle the strap. He mange to put it on afterward.
A point to note about customization, it is not always true that smaller face need smaller mask. If it fit and seal well, a larger Totobobo mask is usually more comfortable to wear. So if you find the mask too big, start by trimming it a step, never jump to the smallest size immediately. You may find an intermediate size that seal very well and is comfortable to wear even for a long time.
Wearing the mask for an hour or so is not uncomfortable. In fact we pretty much forgot about it because it didn’t interfere with what we do. We all wear glasses, sometimes we read magazine, sometimes we watch TV and sometimes I was busy taking photos
We had to remove our masks when the food came. We just remove the top strap, pull the mask down such that the contracted top strap now keeps the mask closed, and we just let the mask hang around our neck while eating. We put the mask back after the meal. The elder son fall asleep and the younger one kept watching TV.
I noticed many passenger used surgical masks. One family of three used N95 cup-shaped mask. But the huge N95 mask was not fitting the child and clearly he was not getting much more protection than those wearing surgical mask.
Some curious passenger ask where we got the mask from and even the stewards are interested in it. The surgical mask they wear is not giving them the protection they really need. It’s a pity that they have to face so many people from all over the world during the trip but not getting the protection they deserved. Anyone with friends working as air steward? Perhaps you should let them know about Totobobo.
Leaving the plane, we took off our mask when we were shopping in the airport shops, there seems to be more space between people and none of the staff or customers looked sick. Keeping it hanging around the neck was most appropriate because we needed to put on the mask again when we go through the next risk spot- the crowded custom.
“I can find adult N95 masks, but none to fit a child.”
After the San Diego fire in the summar of 2008 Joe Flynn started to worry about her son. She bought a few N95 masks for herself but it was impossible to find smaller masks to fit her child.
Joe was not alone. Bob Williams from [...]
