The Air Journal is OxiClear's magazine on air, breathing and the craft of masks. This is issue one.
Walk into any conversation about pollution masks and the letters start flying. N95. N99. KN95. FFP2. They sound like model numbers. They are actually claims, and once you can read them, mask shopping gets a lot less mysterious.
The number is a filtration floor
The N system comes from NIOSH, the United States agency that certifies workplace respirators, under a standard called 42 CFR Part 84. The test is refreshingly blunt. Machines push a salt aerosol through the mask material at a demanding flow rate and count what gets through. A filter rated N95 must stop at least 95 percent of those particles. N99 must stop at least 99.
The test particles measure near 0.3 microns, and that choice is deliberate. Larger particles are easier to catch, and so are smaller ones. Sizes near 0.3 microns are the hardest for any filter, so the test lives there on purpose. Pass at the hardest size and the easier sizes come along for free.
Read as arithmetic, the gap between 95 and 99 looks small. Read as what gets through, it is not. Out of every 100 of the hardest particles, an N95-class filter may let through as many as five. An N99-class filter, one.
What about KN95 and FFP2
Same idea, different flags. KN95 is China's rating under its GB2626 standard. FFP2 is Europe's under EN 149. Both sit near the N95 level. The letters tell you which rulebook; the number tells you the floor.
What certification does and does not tell you
Here is the part most brands skip past, and we would rather be honest. NIOSH certification belongs to masks submitted to NIOSH and approved in the United States. OxiClear masks are not NIOSH certified, and we do not claim to be. We use N99 as our performance designation, and we back it with a test you can actually read.
We let a defence laboratory do the talking. OxiClear masks are DRDO Laboratory Tested: up to 99.46% particle filtration efficiency for particles larger than 0.3 microns under test conditions. The complete report, the test conditions and our registration details live on the Technical page. In full, not in a footnote.
The number is only half the mask
A filter can only clean the air that actually passes through it. Air is lazy. It takes the easiest route, and if the easiest route is a gap beside your nose, the rating stops mattering.
That is why fit gets equal billing in every OxiClear design: a shaped nose pin, a foam edge that settles over the bridge of the nose, ear loops that adjust evenly, and a detachable headband for longer wear. Ten seconds of adjustment is worth more than four decimal points of filtration. Our illustrated fit guide walks the whole routine.
Rated, then reusable
Most rated masks are built to be thrown away. OxiClear took the other road in 2016 and has not left it: a washable cotton mask body with embroidered branding, a replaceable activated carbon filter inside, made in our own factory. Wash the body, swap the filter, keep the mask. Replace the filter every 21 days or 100 hours of use, whichever comes first. Refills come in packs of 10 and 20.
Take this with you
Next time you pick up any mask, any brand, run this ten-second label check:
- Find the rating. The number is the filtration floor: 95 means at least 95 percent stopped, 99 means at least 99.
- Ask who tested it. A rating without a readable test behind it is just typography.
- Check the fit features. Nose pin, edge seal and adjustable straps decide whether the rating ever reaches your lungs.
- Ask what happens after three weeks. Disposable means bin it and buy again. Reusable means wash the body, replace the filter.
That is the whole trick. The label is a claim. Make it show its work.
Browse the OxiClear N99 range, or start where we would: with the test itself, on the Technical page.
Sources: the NIOSH particulate respirator standard, 42 CFR Part 84; the OxiClear DRDO test report on the Technical page.
