Masks for men with beards turbans Sikh COVID-19
Life

COVID-19 masks for the Sikh community

by Lorraine Carpenter

Designed to accommodate turbans and long beards as well as hijabs.

British designer Sunnie Delilah, owner of Delilah’s Dressing Room, has created a COVID-19 mask for men who wear turbans or have beards, for whom other mask designs are insufficient. As reported by the BBC, Delilah had Sikh men in mind when she designed the masks, which are long enough to cover beards (with a pouch of sorts for the beard) and have elastic straps that can stretch across the back of a turban.

“For men that is generally wear turbans, you can’t really put elastics over the ears because your ears are covered,” said Delilah, “and if you’ve got a long beard, your mask only covers a proportion of your face.” 

Sunnie Delilah, owner of Delilah’s Dressing Room, designed a COVID-19 mask for Sikh men, or other men who wear turbans and have beards

Delilah’s Dressing Room offers international shipping. For more details, please visit their website.

It’s worth noting, however, that these masks are not medical grade. Back in early May, two Sikh doctors in Montreal made the difficult decision to shave their beards off entirely so as to wear the necessary masks to treat COVID-19 patients.

A child in Malaysia, meanwhile, designed another type of mask for Sikh men after watching his father struggle with conventional masks. This one, which also works with hijabs, is fitted with a strap extender:

Deaf mute child makes strap extender to fit around turbans and hijabs

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Posted in Life

by Lorraine Carpenter

Editor in chief
Lorraine Carpenter was born in Montreal and studied communications and journalism at Concordia. She co-founded Cult MTL in 2012 following 12 years at the now-defunct Montreal alt weekly the Mirror, where she worked in editorial as copy editor and music editor. She’s dedicated to supporting the cultural scene in Montreal.