People Explain The Reasons They Actually Like Wearing A Mask Unrelated To The Pandemic

Many people who abided by mask-wearing protocols during the pandemic have adapted to protect themselves and others from the contagious viral pathogen on a daily basis.
While various parts of the world still have varying levels of safety and health mandates in place, many people opt to wear masks, even though a particular establishment or other public places no longer require them.
Curious to hear why strangers would volunteer to wear a face covering, Redditor VerySlump asked:
"What’s a non-covid reason that you like wearing a mask for?"

Some people like that masks are a partial disguise.
Hiding Idiosyncrasies
"Whenever I’m concentrating or working on a task I tend to stick my tongue out or leave my mouth open and I really like it when people don’t see that."
– Conscious_Fondant634
What Loose Skin?
"Covers my double chin."
– Catlover2727
"Made me realize the top half of my face looks gooood. Chin waddle not so much."
– Unique-Drawer-7845
Covering Pimples
"Hides my acne."
– gabrielcutler21
"Thank you! A few years ago this tailgating lady confronted me and called me a druggie and I assume it was because of my acne and it really took the wind out of me. I really don't look like a methany... I hope?"
– shewholaughslasts
Self-Consciousness
"It hides my teeth."
– salmonsensual_69
"Same! Overbite checking in. I am considering getting braces while wearing a mask is still a thing."
– Blijerd
It's A Look
"Black mask goes hard with my outfit and hairstyle."
– pineapple_boiii
Half The Effort
"Don’t have to put on a full face of makeup. Fill in my eyebrows, put on mascara and I’m good!"
– tofueggs
Some prefer masks as a block from social stigmas.
Leaving A Shadow
"Nobody notices if I didn't shave."
– paulfromatlanta
These Low Effort Jobs Have Surprisingly High Salaries | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Have you ever worked one of those jobs that paid you to kinda sit there? If you have, you know the joy that comes with watching the entirety of Breaking Bad ...For The Introvert In All Of Us
"Allergies, and so I can ignore people."
– FightingBlaze77
"Took awhile before I found someone saying they can ignore people. For me it's more of I can fly under the radar of people I know. Sunglasses mask combo is complete anonymity!"
– deepdalecobra
Protection From Olfactory Assault
"Nasty smell in subway."
– ChristianaDarkness
"I agree. Smells in general."
– butterandsaltforever
Masks Make Me Look Attractive
"When this all started I noticed women making eye contact with me more than normal. The I figured it out, I'm a 6 foot tall guy in decent shape, nice hair, and a face like a chimpanzee. With the mask I look like I could be attractive."
– AUSTRALIA_IS_MADE_UP
Talking To Myself
"I can talk to myself without people seeing my mouth move."
– Weak_suicide
Workout Performance
"Same. I can 'lip sync' along to my Spotify while at gym and no one can see 😂"
– ChenzyHouse
Warmth
"I was in New York a month ago (I live in Florida). It wasn’t cold enough for New Yorkers to wear scarfs yet, but it felt like it to me because I live in the south. So wearing a face mask was a handy way to warm my face without looking like a tourist lol."
– selfmade117
Viral pathogens aren't the only things floating in the air that can wreak havoc when entered through your nasal cavity.
When The Pollen Count Is High
"I have pollen allergies, mask helps a TON."
– UnclePiccolo
Outfit For Lawn Mowing
"I wore a mask to cut my grass due to bad grass/weed allergies before Covid and now I wonder if my neighbors think I’m just insane wearing a mask cutting the grass now."
– Escalante81
A Shield For All Occasions
"I haven't had a cold for nearly 2 years IT'S BEEN AMAZING"
– fluffofthewild
Extra Protection
"I'm a fresh heart transplant patient and I'm required to wear one in public for the first year. Not strictly COVID, but literally any pissbaby infection that most anyone can shrug off could kill me at this stage. 🤷♂️"
– MikoRiko
When I was a kid, I always found it unusual that people in Japan always wore masks out in public.
No one bats an eye.
Turns out they were on to something. Many cultures outside the U.S. have employed the use of masks to prevent the spreading of the cold or flu or other infectious pathogens way before COVID-19 wreaked global havoc.
It's nothing for them in endeavoring to protect others and themselves from a nasty bug.
Personally, wearing masks actually trained me not to rub my nose in public, which is how I've been prone to getting sick in the past when my hands weren't always clean. So even if I don't have to, I wear one to make remind me that I don't have an itchy nose.
What are your non-pandemic reasons for wearing a mask?
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
Who hasn't, every now and again, witnessed someone doing something, or behaving a certain way and thought "that's so f*cked up", or something to that extent?
And yet, off-putting as it was to us, and one assumes many others, we will often witness these things happen over and over again.
Leading one to assume that, "f*cked up" as it is, these off-putting behaviors or things are largely accepted in modern society.
Or, everyone simply chooses to ignore it.
Redditor xk543x was curious to hear what tasteless, or inappropriate things people tend to notice, but look the other way, leading them to ask:
"What is something f*cked up that we just ignore?"
Your body is your temple.
"Everyone’s poor eating and sleeping habits."- macaronsforeveryone
Can NOT be ignored.
"Slavery is still a thing."- Pbjabsandwich-
"Child slave labor to make some of the developed countries' goods I'd imagine."- Akira282
Why people don't feel inclined to smile.
"How much dental work costs and the fact that dental insurance covers next to nothing."- OkCat9433
End the stigma
"Mental health."
"As in the regular kind."
"We are overworked and don't have enough time these days to ourselves and our loved ones."- Jackster22
Who can afford to live ANYWHERE?!
"The living cost not being even near matched to the majority of peoples incomes, in the UK anyways."
"The government have advised people that they should use things like gas and electric as sparingly as possible this coming winter if they want to still afford their bills and other necessities."
"Food, petrol, clothes, rent etc."- princessr444
Heartbreaking
"Children dying of hunger."- laperuana
Information traveling at the speed of light... but at what cost?
"The internet's impact on society."
"Most people prefer to go with the grain on common behavior or opinions due to natural human herd mentality, and independent thinking not being very common."
"The problem is the internet gives rise to destructive, toxic, harmful, discriminatory, illogical, and ignorant cultures and ideologies."
"The majority of people who spend lots of time on social media will take influence from social media to fit in without even thinking about what they’re doing, or reflecting on whether what they’re are viewing is good, bad, true, or false."- nsfwcontentthrowaway
Do you know where that came from?
"How everything is made."
"Plastic leagues beyond what our recycling could ever offset, illegally sourced components and materials mined at the expense of local ecosystems."
"Child and essentially slave-labor."
"The list keeps rolling, but I just buy them because I like how the shoes look and I can afford it."- Rip3456·
Some might be genuinely unaware of these things, while others might choose to ignore them.
But these all remain very real problems.
Next time we become aware of something like this, rather than just thinking "that's so f*cked up", maybe we can take some time to research how we can help?
Every little bit counts.
When looking at a resume, it's easy to understand how prospective employers will assume someone is very intelligent based on their education and past experience.
But one shouldn't only assume someone's intelligence based on what they read.
More often than not, one can tell rather quickly that someone possesses above-average intelligence, based on how they speak, how they behave, or other telling details.
Redditor PadWanKenobi was curious to hear what people felt were the tell tale signs they were in the company of a possible genius, leading them to ask:
"What’s a sign of extremely high intelligence?"
Instant adapability
"Ability to intuitively and quickly understand complex systems and how lots of parts relate in a coherent whole."
"Like I work with some people who just keep tons of concepts in their head and easily integrate new information into their understanding of those concepts."
"They immediately know what questions they should be asking to better understand."
"And these are things they're currently working on, not like things they spent time studying in school over years."
"They just have a very strong ability to synthesize new information into their understanding."
"I sit in meetings distracted and confused having forgotten what we talked about in the previous meetings, and these folks just consistently have a solid handle on everything."- Ok-Control-787
Innate Problem Solvers
"They know when not to solve a problem."
"This took me a while to understand but the smartest people I know do this."
"It could be a really simple thing like ignoring emails from people asking for help."
"The supervisor or boss might have a quick and easy solution for the situation but instead of just handing it to the person that asked they let them figure it out on their own."
"They know who they can do this with and when to do it."
"If they did that with all of their underlings it would just create a mess."
"Another example that I can think of is planned chaos."
"Some people can predict exactly where things will go wrong and they could fix it before it creates a problem."
"They don't because nobody ever notices what's going on in the background when things are working perfectly."
"Once things fails then everybody notices and if you are the one person that fixed it you become the hero."
"They can also use then chaos to reach a goal they couldn't get before if things were working correctly."
"There's many examples of this in every day life that I didn't see before until I realized what was happening."- atapes
You know what they say about people with small hands
"If your hand is smaller than your face."- FallofTheKnight
The all knowing glow.
"When someone asks you a question and you push your glasses up while light comes out of it and covers your eyes for some reason."- JonEregor
Those giveaway behavioral quirks
"Wearing glasses and saying things like 'ah yes', and 'I see' while you pensively rub your chin."- iuytrefdgh436yujhe2
Encouraging others
"When they explain something they make the people around them feel smarter, not dumber."- redkat85
Being one step ahead.
"The capacity to understand complex things, see patterns where regular people don't."- Ostepop234
"They have this tendency to make you go 'Ohhh, why didn't I think of that?' when listening to them talk."- did_it_forthelulz
An endless love of learning
"A passion for knowledge and expanding understanding of complex concepts."
"The plumber can be just as insightful as the scholar."- KatatoniK94
Of course, one shouldn't always be fooled by what they see.
As many people are masters at appearing much smarter than they are.
In fact, one important sign of super intelligence is being able to separate those who appear smart, from those who actually are.
With each passing year of a marriage, couples will often discover that while they don't love each other any less than they once did, that spark their relationship used to carry has faded.
This will often lead these couples to look for ways to spice things up a bit.
Among the more popular experiments is inviting a third member to their bedroom.
Enticing as this prospect is, however, it's also easy to be intimidated by the reality of it, or even the mere suggestion of it.
"Men, what advice do you have for men whose wives want to bring a third into the bedroom?"
Make sure you want to do it.
"You need to be completely honest with yourself, ask if this is something you want and could live with."- Dame87
Proceed with caution
"It’s like frolicking in a mine field."
"You both better be SUPER into the idea, you can’t have one person who’s reluctantly agreed to go along with it."
"And established rules."
"A threesome sounds like fun and games until you’re watching your partner make faces and sounds that you only thought were for you in your most intimate moments together, and a burning jealousy comes out of nowhere and breaks your heart."
"I’m not saying it’s automatically a bad idea and I know people do polyamory successfully, but dear god be careful."- coleosis1414
Make sure you're an active participant
"I had an ex that was adamant that she wanted to be a swinger or whatever."
"The one time I decided to roll with it, I hit it off immediately with the other dude's girlfriend and had a blast hanging out with her all night."
"The other dude was a total creep, though."
"Also, my ex could not handle the fact that someone else was giving me the slightest bit of attention."
"So, needless to say, that didn't go anywhere."
"Turns out she didn't want to be a swinger, she just wanted to have sex with other people behind my back, which she had no problems whatsoever with."- Ted_Denslow
Look out for ulterior motives
"Just remember that if you bring this up and your husband is against it, that could be the beginning of the end of your marriage."
"For a lot of people their partner saying 'I am seriously considering having sex with other people and I'm checking with you if it is ok', is a deal breaker."- gamerplays
Consider a test run?
"Go to a bar together separately."
"Watch them flirt/interact with someone else."
"If you get jealous, it's probably a bad idea to bring in a third."
"If it turns you on, go for it."- SinSlayer
Query people with experience.
"It’s something my wife and I have talked about."
"We both agreed that opening the Pandora’s box is not the way we want our relationship to go."
"While it sounds fun, we have seen way to many relationships derailed because of it."- DarthDujo
Consider going whole hog.
"Bring a 4th."- xxemrgmi
Evaluate your relationship first.
"Make sure you and your partner are secure in your own relationship before having another person join."
"Have boundaries, and no secrets."
"From my experience it doesn't usually work out in the end."- Thick-Procedure455
Just don't!
"Don't do it."
"For a long time, my ex harbored a fantasy of watching me have sex with another woman."
"Hey, who knows why any of us are wired the way we are?"
"After contemplating the idea together for a while, we decided to approach one of her more attractive co-workers, who had made a series of flattering comments along the lines of "you're so lucky" and "he's so good-looking'."
"She enthusiastically agreed."
"Our first meet-up was of course awkward, but the second, third and following were pretty good."
"In fact they got progressively hotter, as we all got more comfortable with each other's boundaries, erotic likes and dislikes."
"However, over a few months these occasional kinky weekends transitioned into the co-worker asking more frequently and aggressively to be invited over."
"We tried to explain that we had intended these threesomes to be rare and exotic highlights in our sex life, not regular occurrences, but she didn't take the message to heart and instead became increasingly insistent, bordering on smothering."
"After being turned down one Friday, that night she unexpectedly showed up at our door anyway, carrying a weekend bag and wearing nothing but a raincoat, stay-ups and heels."
"While that was quite a sight, it definitely creeped us out, as it made us finally realize the whole arrangement was descending into 'play Misty for me' territory."
"My ex and I agreed that her unexpected and unwelcome appearance signaled the end of future three-ways, at least until we were able to cool our own selves down, reassess, and perhaps later find a less demanding and insistent third."
"Things subsequently got very sticky at work for my wife, as her co-worker, with whom she had to interact closely, strongly resented being permabanned, and kept demanding to know 'what she'd done that was so awful'."
"Coworker eventually asked to be transferred to another office, but by the time that process was over and done, the discomfort / guilt / pressure / confusion my ex was suffering both at home and at work had begun to take its psychological toll."
"I must confess it didn't help that our own sex life was simultaneously going through a rough patch."
"Long story short, we ended our decade-long relationship less than a year after breaking off the threesomes, chiefly due to trust issues and growing sexual incompatibility, both perhaps triggered by our experimentation."
"Ever since, I've regretted agreeing to that first three-way."
"If I hadn't been so damned eager to take a bite of forbidden fruit, we might have kept our relationship intact."
"But I guess this can also be put down as what sometimes happens when you ignore that old advice, 'don't sh*t where you sleep'."- theartfulcodger
When venturing into the unknown, it's always wise to gain some first hand experience, to hear a variety of pros and cons of what you're possibly getting yourself into.
That way, deciding whether or not it's for you will become increasingly clear.
It's also important to remember, that it is always ok to say "no".
People Share Their Best 'You Either Die The Hero Or Live Long Enough To Become The Villain' Experiences
"You either die the hero or live long enough to become the villain."
Though not necessarily a universal truth, all of us have witnessed unfortunate moments in our lives where we've seen this saying become a reality.
Be it seeing our favorite public figures take a serious fall from grace, someone we know and admire eventually disappointing us in a devastating manner, or even seeing ourselves turn into someone we promised we'd never become.
One Redditor was curious to hear people's examples of this saying coming to light, either from a personal experience or seeing it happen to a well-known, public figure, leading them to ask:
"Who is your example of 'you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain'?"
Jim Jones
"Jim Jones."
"He originally stood up for civil rights when it was really unpopular."
"Was hospitalized and accidentally placed in the black ward."
"When the doctors found out, they tried to move him, but he refused."
"Then he became a cult leader and used his power and influence to end the lives of a thousand people."- Crvsby
Earning a position of power
"Working in restaurant kitchens."
"You either burn out young, or become the boss that everyone hates."
"There's exceptions, but that's the rule."- grandpas_old_crow
Henry Heimlich
"Henry Heimlich, inventor of the Heimlich Maneuver."
"Made up a bunch of untested uses for it, treating people having asthma attacks, and drowning victims were the two I remember that he publicly talked up."
"Later, he funded an experiment that involved injecting people with Malaria to see if it would treat other conditions.
"The experiment was found to be unethical by American review boards, so he conducted them in Ethiopia." - User Deleted
Philippe Petain
"Philippe Petain."
"In WW1 he led the French to victory at Verdun, one of the worst battles in human history."
"In WW2, after France was beaten, Petain was the head of state of Vichy France."
"Guy went from the Lion of Verdun to the biggest Nazi collaborator in France."- arthuranymoredonuts
Our bodies
"Every organ until it gets cancer."- SuperBaconjam
Conor McGregor
"Conor McGregor."
"He had the whole country behind him here in Ireland at one point bar people who thought combat sport is grotesque."
"He was witty, original, backing himself up and having a Hollywood like rise to stardom."
"Now he's someone who the whole country is ashamed of, goes punching old men, clearly sleeps around on his wife while she's at home with the kids, just a walking caricature of himself."
"He didn't listen to his own advice."
"Get in."
"Get rich."
"Get out."- StephenPigot2020
Turning into our parents
"My dad used to annoy me by calling my Pokemon cards 'Pokey-Mans'."
"Now my kids have them and I do the same thing and it annoys the sh*t out of them."
"Thanks for the (Pokeyman) gold!"- rumpel4skinOU
Benedict Arnold
"Benedict Arnold."
"Almost died during the revolutionary way, if I recall correctly, and if he had he would have been remembered a huge hero, and a martyr."
"Instead he lived and changed sides, and is remembered only for his being a traitor."- uniqueperson22
Be it someone we knew quite intimately, or someone we admired from a far, it is always heartbreaking to see someone evolve from someone we love, to someone we utterly hate.