A face mask for filtering contaminants from the air. The face mask includes a harness for securing the mask over the nose and mouth of the wearer and a nonwoven fibrous layer attached to the harness. The nonwoven fibrous layer contains at least 40 weight percent thermally bonding fibers, where at least 10 weight percent of the fibers in the nonwoven fibrous layer are bicomponent fibers. The nonwoven fibrous layer is molded in a cup-shaped configuration and has a surface fuzz value of not less than 7.5 after being subjected to a surface fuzz abrasion test.
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/154,989 filed Nov. 18, 1993 now abandoned, which is a division of application Ser. No. 07/632,964 filed Dec. 20, 1990 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,796 now abandoned.
