Nasal Pillow Sealer Tests

Thank you sooo much!

Burt's Bees Honey Lip Balm

Purchased at Walgreens, but I've seen it at Walmart, Kmart, Target, Amazon - runs $3 to $5. Slightly tacky - leaked a little bit, not much, when I moved, would work very well for someone who does not move or turn while they sleep. Smell is not overwhelming - smells a lot like my great grandfather's honey balm - so I'm guessing the smell is the honey mixed with oil. I didn't smell anything at all once I had my mask on. Nose was not waxy or oily on wake - skin feels soft and comfortable.

I'm going to have the softest nose on the planet if I keep using products like this.

Still waiting for the cocoa butter to come in, and will make the home made honey salve this weekend, so tonight's tesk will be the KY. I'll go back to the other two as soon as I have them to test.

Burts Bee's Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Cream: This stuff is AMAZING. I used it for the first time last night and my leak rate went from 27 to 8!!! I'm sold.

flutterby11 wrote:Burts Bee's Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Cream: This stuff is AMAZING. I used it for the first time last night and my leak rate went from 27 to 8!!! I'm sold.

Yes!! I loved it!! And no crusty nose in the morning!! I love the smell of almonds, too. Some people can't stand the smell. I thought about getting the Burt's Bees Beeswax and Banana Hand Creme to try, but I think they are discontinuing it. I can't find it anywhere but Amazon and Amazon only has a limited supply. Sooooo....no go.

I'm glad this helped you!

Since there was a question about the silicone ear plugs - I'm going to test those tonight - and will probably test these for a few nights, using in different ways to see what works and what doesn't. If I find something that works and works well, then if I can't describe it, I'll post pictures of the how to. If nothing works. . .lol. . .then well, the next thing on the list will be a good recovery, I'm sure.

No update on sealers this morning as it's going to take a few days to get the silicone ear plugs figured out.

Last night - I tried rolling a small chunk of one of the ear plugs into a small 'snake' and wrapping it around each naris . . . tip. . .port. . .(if anyone knows what the correct name for the tips of a nasal mask, I'd greatly appreciate the education!) and it took FOR-EV-AR. So, since I was very tired, and wanted to go to bed in the worst way. . .and since my husband was already in bed and trying to sleep, I decided this would be a fight for another day (today) during the day - when I can pay attention and get something down that actually works, and then practice it enough so that it can go quickly.

So, I guess the first rule of thumb here, is that if silicone ear plugs works, the user might want to practice putting it on a few times during the day, so that it goes quick at night.

I'll edit the silicone ear plug results once I get a clear idea whether this is going to work with nasal pillows or not. It might be just for FF masks as the nasal pillows are so tiny.

11:19am Ok, I figured out how to do this without it taking too much time or effort. I'll sleep with them and see how it works, then, if the seal is a good one, I'll post pics on how to do it.

Warming the ear plugs will soften them and might help in getting them into whatever
form you want to test them in.

jdm2857 wrote:Warming the ear plugs will soften them and might help in getting them into whatever
form you want to test them in.

Thanks, jdm!

I'm thinking I might want to try the Burt's Bees Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Cream! I've noticed a correlation between leaks and event flags. Might be interesting to see what happens if I get a good seal on my mask. I'll let you know if I try it!

SleepingBetty wrote:I'm thinking I might want to try the Burt's Bees Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Cream! I've noticed a correlation between leaks and event flags. Might be interesting to see what happens if I get a good seal on my mask. I'll let you know if I try it!

I've used it the last two nights with much success. The first night I recorded my lowest AHI number ever at .13.

My 95% leak numbers have been 12 and 8. I found it at CVS.

Ultra Soft Silicone Ear Pugs how to for nasal pillows:

Deleted to prevent redundancy and confusion.

Well. Last night was interesting to say the least. I don't think silicone ear plugs are going to fly with a nasal pillow - but I'm willing to give it one more go.

Problem 1: I put the mask on with the silicone set as in the picture. The silicone was way too thick - and did not allow the naris port to contact correctly, so I worked it in, and after a few minutes, figured it was placed well - but breathing was like breathing through a straw. If I try this again, two things need to happen: the silicone needs to be uber incredibly thin, and it needs to be well away from the port. . .around the very bottom edge of the naris port. Or a smaller nasal pillow will be needed. I don't want to go down to a smaller size - I think that's over kill in trying to get this to work - so I'll try placing a very thin layer when I try this again. . .and make sure it is as low as possible on the nasal port - and go from there.

Problem 2: My nasal pillow started collapsing. This is a fairly new pillow, so it shouldn't be collapsing, already. (After an hour of wear - but after several hours of this silicone ear plugs resting on the nasal pillow) I took off the silicone on the nasal pillow - then felt the nasal pillow - it was SUPER SOFT. Not just a little soft, really really really soft. I didn't think silicone could break down silicone but evidently this may be the case here. I also noticed a very chemically smell (maybe it's not the silicone, but the chemical they put into the silicone to make it 'ultra soft'. If I run this test again, I will look at the label and make sure there are no other chemicals added to it - didn't do that this time, hindsight . . . 20/20 - yep.)

What worked: The silicone stuck VERY WELL. Both to the pillow and to my nose. If the other issues were not issues, this would be the bomb of a nasal pillow sealer. So, I think it's worth trying to work through the other two issues. I AM looking for ease in use, though - so if this becomes something too difficult to do on a nightly basis, then that will weigh heavily on the pass or fail.

There will be a second test to this, at least - so I won't put anything on the front page until there's a definite.

After I took the Ultra-Soft Silicone Earl plugs off of the nasal pillow - and changed nasal pillows, I tried the Cocoa Butter.

It is not sticky, not tacky, not oily. The only way I can really describe it is . . . smooooooth? It smells like CHOCOLATE. Oh.my.word. Every woman's dream. Unfortunately, once I had my mask on, I could no longer smell it. The seal is more of a suction seal - not a tacky or sticky one. It worked well for most of the night, except once when I turned. This is a non-movement sealer.

CocoCare Cococare 100% Cocoa Butter Stick $1.50 at Walgreens, CVS Pharmacy. Amazon sells it for twice the cost.