Hehe, I've never heard that but during COVID I had a MASSIVE beard, like some crazy sea captain or something! I figured if I was hiding away at home and would rarely been seen by other people, it was a perfect time to go try and grow out a long beard! Since the end of restrictions, the beard is a more normal cropped length, but still probably what most people would consider "full", so possibly this is partially an explanation as I've never experienced wearing a mask without a beard.

Masks and beards: https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/23/health/beards-affect-mask-fit...

I did not know that! But I heard that a beard makes the thing useless because that's just where the air will pass unfiltered, and I don't have / never had a beard so that's not the problem for me. Thanks though!