I used a full face respirator (picture 1) with a 3M 2091 filter and it didn’t go well. My face hurt and I feel awful today and I could smell the grass. Now I know the 2097 blocks out the smells. But I don’t know if it’s the mask or 2091 filter that is allowing me to react? What do you think?
My first mask has this little diaphragm talking box that may be leaking some stuff in but I don’t know what to do or how to figure this out.
I had a 3m mask (picture 2) that I can try out but I don’t want this reaction again so a solid answer would be nice.
Thank you!
by Grand-Rice-
43 Comments
Dude I’m with ya but ain’t no way I’m letting my neighbors talk about me at the dinner table after seeing me in that thing.
Take a Benadryl, Claritin or other allergy med 2 hours before mowing. This is a ridiculous look.
Is this a joke?
Nevertheless I can relate. Growing up I wore tyvek suits and a mask plus weekly allergy shots. Once I moved out of my parents I vowed to never cut a lawn again – ended up buying a robot mower.
One thing I’ve learned over the years is you should be taking an antihistamine days before mowing. I take [Xyzal](https://a.co/d/4INJPdX) days before camping or when I know I’m going to be outside for an extended period of time. My allergist told me I should be taking it days before and after. The meds don’t work like Tylenol where it quickly treats the symptoms and it’s gone.
I suffer from bad outdoor allergies. I take meds daily and get shots just to keep it under control. When I mow I get really bad for a day or 2 afterwards. My doc recommended doing what I can to prevent exposure instead of treating symptoms post exposure. So you are on the same thought track. Masks are super sweaty and uncomfortable. I have become an evangelist for in nose filters. There are several brands around but I like WoodyNose. Order a sampler kit from Amazon to see which shape and size fits your nose. Then you just keep your mouth shut while mowing. Easy peasy.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of relief.
I take allergy medicine and use a neck gaiter over my mouth when mowing. So far I haven’t been laughed at, and I am not suffering from allergies.
Yeah at this point I’m paying someone to do it, F that noise.
I use the second mask in an industrial plant for nasty chemical spills and releases. Cl2, H2S and NH3 with appropriate filters. It’s great never had an issue. The n99 particulate filters should be enough for your purposes.
Make sure to clean the mask after each use and that you get the proper size.
You MUST be clean shaven for any mask to work properly and do a proper fit test
Please be my neighbor!
Fellow allergy sufferer and avid lawn mowing person. So, a 3M 8511 is what I use and it’s fine for me. Does that not work for you? Also – I don’t know what you look like, but unless you’re 100% clean shaven, no respirator is going to fit properly over your face.
I also have horrendous allergies me Those are uncomfortable as hell. Just get an n95 respirator mask. 3M cooling work great. Add in a daily antihistamine and maybe even a breakthrough during your peak season (ask doc)
Jessie, we need to mow
I’d say swim goggles and then a regular respirator. The full face one will fog up.
Just do the allergy shots if you can.
Disregard everyone dismissing this is ridiculous. I mean it *is* ridiculous, but that’s no reason to dismiss it. It’s ridiculous that it’s this bad for you. Talk about drawing the short straw. Dude this *suuucks*.
Let’s focus on *solving the problem*.
Are you doing a positive and negative pressure test after donning the mask?
Were you clean shaven?
Either of those will *severely* impact the effectiveness of a mask.
Particulate *should* be sufficient for allergens.
Should also consider your donning, doffing and decontamination practices if you’re this sensitive. A few insights from having to deal with “other” particulate contamination that one wants zero exposure to:
Mask should go on first. Then a tyvek suit. With a hood. Then gloves. Duct tape the gloves to your tyveks. Consider booties or boot covers and tape them to the tyveks too. We often wear three sets of gloves – cotton liners, then rubber gloves, then the sleeve of the tyvek taped to the glove, then the second set of rubber gloves taped to the tyveks. That is probably excessive.
When doffing, the goal is to avoid disturbing the loose contamination all over the suit. Move slowly and deliberately. Avoid generating air currents. We generally remove booties with our presumed dirty outer gloves first, then remove the outer gloves and keep inner gloves on. Now you have clean gloves for reaching near your face to unzip the tyveks. We’d then remove any respirators, and finally the gloves and cotton liners. You can probably get away with just one set of gloves, unzipping the tyveks and removing the mask with bare hands, and then just…washing your hands.
If it’s still bad you could consider whether you should rig up an outdoor decontamination shower or just use a hose to spray yourself down *before* doffing the PPE. An additional option would be to keep the mask on after doffing tyveks and wearing it right into your shower. Get clean in the shower, spray the mask, and doff it in the shower. Hold your breath between doffing the mask and washing your now exposed face.
Next up – what about the insides of your house. While mowing, you’re generating billowing clouds of allergens. Any fresh air intakes on your house will draw them in. Ensure intakes are filtered. You may also want to use a filtered, forced intake to ever so slightly pressurize your house so that any uncontrolled air leaks are out, not in. Doesn’t need to be much.
Both filters are p100 so they block out 99.97% of airborne particles. You really shouldn’t have any issues in terms of exposure to allergens. A couple of things to do:
1- make sure the inside of the mask doesn’t have any allergens (dust etc). If it does it’s filtering all the outside stuff but you’re breathing in the stuff in the mask.
2- make sure the filters are seated properly
3- have you done an air leak check? Basically you cover the exhalation holes (which in the first mask should be the voice box and the bottom hole) and try to exhale. You should not feel any leak anywhere and no air should escape from the filters either. If you’re able to exhale, it means there’s a leak somewhere.
And I agree with you. I don’t care what people think. I wear the same mask as your #1 for woodworking in the garage so I don’t trigger my asthma from sawdust. People give me looks and I just wave at them to make them feel more awkward
I hope that helps
Don’t know if it will help, but I get pretty bad springtime allergies and during COVID when I wore a facemask my allergy response would be significantly low/nonexistent whenever I wore it outside. Maybe try that first to see?
This is what I love about reddit. You have a respirator problem causing an allergy problem and think the best place to post is a lawn care subreddit. Lmao
Have you tried immunotherapy for grass allergies?
This seems awful. I would not do this no matter how bad my allergy is. I would take an OTC allergy pill.
you could also do the sealed goggles + an n95 – it may be cheaper
I wear a mask respirator that doesn’t cover my eyes but my sunglasses wrap tightly on my face. The respirator works great and saves me from all the endless sneezing and issues hours after mowing.
My grandfather has COPD that is triggered by mowing the grass. He wears an N95 mask when he mows and it works just fine
I have a minor allergy, I wear snowboard goggles (over my prescription glasses) and a regular nuisance dust mask.
I mow quite a bit, and it has helped.
I breathe less dust at work too.
Depending on how severe mine is only really bad for my sinuses. It would turn into a faucet for hours. I’m usually wearing safety glasses because of debris. I started using these and help a ton. Reminds me of the nose filter from ultraviolet
https://a.co/d/9Rmw1YP
First, get a mask that fits appropriately. I’d recommend the 3M mask as it’s a quality product. I’ve never heard of the other brand. Make sure it fully seals around your face. No hair (including facial hair, glasses). Do a fit test (look it up if you don’t know what it is) to ensure as your move your head it’s staying sealed.
Second, the cartridges, the pink cartridges are for particulate filtration, basically a HEPA filter. Not for gases or vapors. This should suffice for grass pollen. Those filters are good for about 8 hours of use. Toss them and replace after that point.
Respirators suck to wear for long durations. They’re uncomfortable, hot and squish your face but a properly fit and worn respirator is a hell of a lot better then a poor fitting one or not wearing one at all.
You really need to figure out your face shape and which respirator works the best for you.
This might be a stupid question, but do you have facial hair?
I’d wear it just to get a laugh at myself every time I mow. Go for it OP, let it be a conversation starter.
Sounds like you might have it too tight and/or there’s something in the plastic that you are allergic to. Might need to give the mask a good wash beforehand.
I wear this (https://a.co/d/1Ij9Rp4) and have been pretty solid on the allergy front this year. I messed around and blew out the mower bag without it on and paid for it later.
I don’t blame you one bit …. I would wear this if I had them
I work in occupational health for the Air Force so I’m very experienced with respirator selection. A full face is complete overkill and it costs a lot to replace filters. Plus you’ll get extremely sweaty being outside which will quickly degrade the seals. You’re a lot better off purchasing a box of n95s and just wearing some wrap around glasses to keep allergens out of your eyes. N95s can be used a couple times each but they’re way cheaper in the long run and not nearly as uncomfortable for long periods of time.
If you are smelling grass with those filters it’s probably not getting a good seal. Shave and test your seal by removing the filters and trying to inhale with the filter holes sealed. You shouldnt be able to inhale at all like this. That will tell you when air gets in.
However, I would load up on benadryl before and after, xyzal, and pepcid and not worry too much about the mask.
Or pay someone to mow. I think those are your options.
I bush hog 20-30 acres of grass at my rec property in Kentucky and Ive thought about using a hooded PAPR. No one would be able to see me do it either. No amount of allergy medicine can withstand that amount of dust and allergens being locked up. Even dosing up the previous days my eyes are about swollen shut with snot dripping off my chin sometimes.
Pop an allergy pill before mowing. You are going to pass out trying to use a full respirator.
Also consider getting a reel mower. It doesn’t blow up dust and debris like a traditional rotary mower. Much easier on the allergies. Kind of like how using a sharp knife reduced crying when cutting onions.
Or sharpen the blade on your rotary for cleaner cuts. FYI, I have allergies as well.
This is over kill for allergens. A regular N95 will probably do just fine. But if you have grass allergies your skin will probably be more of a concern
I just use a medical mask and safely glasses after taking an allergy med and that works for me!
I prefer Zyrtec
the meds have come a long ways, and your body changes over time.
i recommend you reevaluate your options. in particular, look at the nasal sprays (nasocort, astepro).
the pills were always sort of hit and miss with me over the years, but the sprays are great PLUS they tend to help with eye issues that the pills miss while also not making you agitated (zyrtek) or drowsy (benadryl).
there are eyedrops as well (pataday) that are HIGHLY effective for allergy eyes but they tend to be expensive.
you may need to mix and match. my general practitioner and allergy therapist as well as an instacare doc all gave targeted blend recommendations. i can’t speak to the nuances of mixing the meds, so I’m not going to make a recommendation like that here. go see your physician. all i know is mixing works so long as you’re disciplined and advised correctly.
finally, go see an immuno-therapist. i fought with 3 season allergies for 25 years. this year i started immunotherapy and it’s been wonderful (once you get past the initial shock). it’s not as pricey as it used to be and has greatly improved my quality of life. also, it may be covered by insurance (mine is).
good luck.
edit: grammar.
I do this regularly, but just with a half face 3M mask. I believe it has P100 filters. It works great. No more sneezing! Just make sure to shower immediately after use.
I think I’d do my lawn tractor up mad max style before I wore that guy.
# **S W E A T**
Get a robot lawnmower. I have terrible grass allergies and would routinely come in after cutting the lawn with my face absolutely melting.
Getting a robot mower was worth every penny.
Focus on the 100 type respirators. When they are colored like that it indicates either organic vapor or acid gas in addition to particulate filtering. You might have more comfortable options going with straight n100 masks and goggles since the main thing you need to filter out is relatively large allergens.
Just to give you some options. Good luck.
Man I thought my neighbor who uses scissors to edge gave me enjoyment. Being your neighbor would be truly special and an honor i must say.