Loftwings and Demons

I've noticed that if I wear a mask and face shield while chopping onions, it prevents the tears my eyes involuntarily generate from chopping the onions.  Also, in my experience, the combination of the mask and face shield is more effective than the mask alone.  My theory for this is that the mask both helps to block some particles from getting into the eyes but also prevents them from getting into the nasal passages, which maybe also helps contribute to the irritation response.  It's kind of surprising, though, since I wouldn't expect a regular face shield like mine to block out so much of the onion chemical since it's not closed off on the bottom or sides.  I'm also surprised the mask makes a difference at all (because I have noticed that just the face shield alone doesn't block the crying response as strongly).  I gave my theory for why, but I don't know if that's the real reason or not--it's just my best guess.  Sometime I want to investigate this matter more.  Anyway, just thought I'd pass this along in case it can be useful to anyone else.

I imagine goggles would do the job even better, but I think after this pandemic more people might have spare masks and faceshields lying around than goggles.