Can welders grow facial hair?
Welders, rejoice! If you’re worried about whether or not you’d be able to grow a glorious beard to perfectly complement your moustache, you may be in luck.
How long can your facial hair be? The short answer is that it depends. We tackle the long answer below.
If you’re required to wear a respirator on the job, you just might be able to get away with having some facial hair. Where you can grow facial hair and how much of it you can have depends on what type of respirator you’re wearing.
If you need to wear a negative pressure tight-fitting respirator on the job, you’ll need to be clean shaven where the respirator’s sealing surfaces touch your face. However, a loose-fitting headtop with a powered air purifying respirator (PAPR) is a simple way that allows you to let your facial hair grow.
Loose-fitting headtops
- 1. More flexibility in terms of facial hair length and placement with this type of headtop
- 2. Offers a seal in the form of an elastic that needs to be against clean skin to provide a safe fit
- 3. Seals under the chin
Beard
Users must be clean shaven where the respirator’s elasticized faceseal comes into contact with their face.
Moustache
Users must be clean shaven where the respirator’s elasticized faceseal comes into contact with their face.
Goatee
Users must be clean shaven where the respirator’s elasticized faceseal comes into contact with their face.
Advantages to loose-fitting headtops and PAPRs
Beard aficionados and proud moustache-wearers, have we convinced you to try a loose-fitting headtop with a PAPR so you can keep your facial hair flowing? If respiratory safety and looking cool weren’t enough, there are a handful of other reasons why you might fall in love with this type of headtop.
1. No fit testing needed.
2. No breathing resistance
because you’re not doing the work to pull the air through a filter. With a PAPR the air is being blown at you.
3. More comfortable
because you don’t have a respirator directly on your nose and face.
4. You can get cooling action.
Your PAPR with loose-fitting headtop provides cooling with a fan-like effect.
5. Can be easy to wear with other types of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Depending on the model, your respirator can also serve as your
- Hardhat
- Eye protection from the welding arc
- Grinding visor
- Hearing protection (if you attach ear muffs to the helmet)
- Skin protection coverage, helping keep your neck and ears safe and protected
6. Higher levels of respiratory protection
a pretty incredible APF of 25 or 1,000 (as per CSA Z94.4) compared to the APF of 10 when using a half face reusable respirator or disposable respirator.
7. Potential for increased productivity
because you’re not as hot or tired and you’re much more comfortable while on the job.
8. It can also increase your job satisfaction.
for the same reasons listed above. Plus, you won’t need to spend as much time keeping that beard or moustache clean and tidy.
9. You get to keep that sweet moustache and matching beard!
1 rd.com/health/beauty/13-things-you-didnt-know-about-mustaches/
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