Halotherapy Mask

Halotherapy, derived from the Greek alas, meaning "salt", is a form of alternative medicine which makes use of salt.

Common cold, asthma, allergy, pneumonia, sinusitis and many more illnesses were and can be treated with some salt in the air. If you have a salt cave or a salt mine near you (YouTube comment sections don't count), just go there and enjoy the following:

It has a very clean microclimate, free of bacteria and it is rich in salt crystals of microscopic size, which contain trace elements. Salt caves stimulate the activity of respiratory organs, help the self-cleaning effect of the bronchi, thus the inflammation of the mucosa will be cured. The temperature of the air is permanent, 19-21 C°. Relative humidity is 70%. The symptoms of cough, spitting, heavy breathing will be relieved in a very short time. It strengthens the immune system and relieves the symptoms of common cold, too.

I almost died from pneumonia a decade ago and I tried out many artificial salt caves to overcome the returning complications. You must go there regularly but it's a lot of time. To solve this and enjoy the positive effects of the salt: buy a portable salt pipe! But it's hard to breathe, you must hold it with your hand and it's not Your creation!

I will show you, how to make your own salt mask which can be worn all day! It will take about 2 hours plus buying the materials.

Tools and Materials Needed

To make things easy: buy an industrial, reusable respirator with a cartridge pack. They are designed to be worn all day, pretty comfortable and can hold the cartridge's weight. Medical masks can't hold the weight and look ugly!

You will need some salt. Forget the fine grained, you will need coarse grain or extra coarse grain! I used himalayan salt (if you wondered about pink salt) but you can choose any kind as long as it's not fine grained.

You will need some wire mesh (metal mosquito net should be fine), metal cutter scissors (if you use plastic mesh, just use regular scissors, I prefer metal because it can bend) and last but not least: the hot glue gun.

Optional - Custom Printed Filter Cartridge!

It took me 2 years and a global pandemic to make it, but it's finally here!

You can now 3D print custom filter cartridges for the mask, so no more hacking brand new cartridges.

The files can be found here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4310974

Making the Filter

Step 0: cut the top of the cartridge and empty it. You will probably find some activated carbon and paper filters. You will need the paper filter later!

Flatten your mesh. I mean it. Just a small distortion can make all the difference!

Draw at least 2 outlines for each cartridge, one for the top layer, one for the bottom. Cut it out! My respirator has 2 cartridges, that means 4 metal filters.

Check the Mesh

Put some salt on the mesh. Does it hold most of the salt? Hopefully, yes. Some WILL fall through!

If not, don't go and buy some more dense mesh, one last chance: turn the cartridge 45° and cut another filter for each cartridge! If the holes are still too big, bad luck. If you bought a metal mosquito net and the coarse grain salt falls through: either your mosquitos are too big or the salt is too fine!

Bottom Filter

Now insert the bottom layer! Push the metal gently and evenly (plastic mesh can break at this point) and make it fit the bottom! Push the edges until it sits at the bottom.

If you have the 45° layer too, insert it too!

Fill the Filters With Salt

Now get your salt and fill the cartridges!

Shake it a bit while to fill evenly! (some fine salt will fall out)

Leave some place for the paper filter and the top metal layer. If you lost the paper filter don't worry, just use some vacuum cleaner filter, but NOT the HEPA filter! It would be hard to use!

Fixing the Top

The last step: keep the salt in the filter!

You have your paper filters on the top of the salt, the last metal mesh layers, now get the hot glue gun and glue the mesh to the filter! If you were clever you haven't filled the filter 100% and you can fit the mesh easily!

Enjoy Your Mask!

Now your mask is ready to use!

But you must keep these things in mind:

This mask is not a substitute to proper medical treatment! It just helps a lot.
You just threw the filtering agent out! Mark the cartridges and don't use them in industrial environment!
Or in any harmful environment! Salt can't filter out harmful gases! It's not a magical device in case of a chemical or biological attack!
Also don't try to mix the filtering agent and salt! You will lose functionality and it can harm or kill someone if misused!
The salt will be enough for years but check it if you think it's gone.

If you liked my work, check out my other creations either here or on my YouTube channel!

Also you can check my Patreon too!