The modern adult “brief” market is ridiculous

[ChocChip]

I've always thought the majority of these products were made for adult men and women (especially women) who experience slight involuntary bladder leakage. AKA not outright peeing yourself. That's the big issue because the general public isn't aware of this, big companies tow the "Our product is just as good" line to death, and now you have an entire generation of people essentially misusing these products. It's like throwing a trailer hitch on a Pinto, just because you can, doesn't mean you should. And I will admit, as I've said on here before I ordered diapers last year because of a leg injury that left me bedridden for possibly 6-8 weeks. I really was only able to utilize them fully because I had my actual mother here to change me. being mobility impaired is a big hinderance in getting a diaper with tapes on and off sometimes. Even if the payoff from longer periods between changes are worth it.

And the fact that they still don’t advertise products for adults who “outright pee themselves”, although there are many of them, some of them young.

They promote thin pads for small leaks up to “discreet” disposable underwear (i.e. women’s pull-ups) for moderate accidents, but as for adults who genuinely need a nappy, it’s all still hidden away and left for people to discover for themselves. Which is why many of them will end up using inadequate protection.

 

[hoimi]

One size fits all does not fit all. The careless marketing teams that tout the miracle that is Maximum Capacity and Discreet adult undergarments do not offer options if their product fails. They actively quash other companies from giving better products shelf space.
I felt broken the first time I had an accident and my Always Discreet or Depend leaked catastrophically. You are only as prepared as your tools let you be. (That seems like a word salad.)
The Boomer generation is officially 'older.' Us Gen Xer's are starting to have our slacking catch up with us. The younger generations also deserve dignity.
And, argh blargh whagaargh, on what Medicaid calls suitable treatment. It really is squeezing every last penny and not only does one receive unacceptable medical care, but you also get a healthy dollop of shame and scorn from society, as taking care of those who do not have the means to pay for expensive medical treatments and procedures is 'un-American' and those people should 'get a job.' Because debilitating illness is a lifestyle choice.
I believe that every human being has a right to dignity, and companies do not have the right to profit on lies, inferior products, and aggressive anti-competition practices.
Delicious whole grumple grumblecakes being served up today.

 

[Absammy]

Ahhh, 6 tape plastic depends are still my go to. Have tried ABU, Bambino, Rearz, DC, Northshore, Molicare, Abena, Attends, Tena, Dry24/7, and many more. They usually don't fit right, which causes bunching, clumping and constant leaks. I can get the Depend to adjust to my body like no other brand Ive tried. Their current offering is sufficient for me for 4-6 hours.
Your experience may vary...

 

[satinbottom]

Most in-store diapers and pull-ups are substandard. The only brand found on a shelf that are good, is Tena. Thankfully abdl people know where to get proper diapers.

 

[BrattyPrincessSophie]

Try the tykables Puppers, the plastic is pretty damn close to P&G Attends or Pampers. Im not sure why the company has kept quiet about this.

Hmmm, sounds interesting, you wouldn't happen to know of any medical brands or plain white diapers with similar plastic to P&G Attends would you? Also, the premium medical brands could stand to do more in the marketing department so more people who need them know something better than Depends and store brands exists.

 

[littleluvs]

Bought the last Attends poly briefs at a drug store for 5 bucks yesterday and remembered how horrible they are. Couldn't even hold one medium wetting and it was leaking.

 

[anned]

Blame the cheap diapers on insurance companies and the government as they will not pay for good diapers.
I found a long time ago that diapers like xp5000 and Magamax are cheaper in the long run as they hold a lot more per diaper cost then the cheap diapers look at them in cost per ml against the cheap diapers.
In my case i would go through 6 cheap diapers in 12 hours and only one Magamax diaper.
plus with covid try to find a place to change every two hours when traveling while i only have to find a place every 12 hours.

 

[hoimi]

Also, the premium medical brands could stand to do more in the marketing department so more people who need them know something better than Depends and store brands exists.

I would love to know the actual situation for this, but I think that the premium brands have issues even doing basic advertising to a large audience because of Big Diaper and their stranglehold on the market.
It is hard, because you have to know when and where to advertise to reach the maximum amount of potential consumers. If you skew for the older crowds, do you have the possibility of being branded political if you advertise on certain news channels?
I think we are past the point of commercials shying away from certain subjects, with ads for Erectile Dysfunction and the catheter cowboy. I would love to see NorthShore do an ad targeted to people who are having to buy medical supplies from their own pocket and could benefit from quality over quantity. They have ordering over the phone, so there are options for people who don’t use the internet.
Hell, my grandma, who avoids computers like they are full of angry hornets (depending on the sites you visit, hornets may be better), wishes that phone books still reliably existed. She could let her fingers do the walking and find options for ‘medical supplies.’ I would imagine that people who grew up using the phone over the internet would still be totally willing to do so. They need a Greying Pages, full of ads for businesses targeted to aging populations.

 

[Absammy]

OK, I had a leaky depend yesterday, but I consciously pushed it to the limit and past. Those pullup things are horrible, but the actual briefs aren't bad. Not great or super absorbent, but fit me a d take 2 good wets. Do Not Flood or it will leak most every time.

 

[landingxray]

The current adult diapers in stores are a joke

 

[Subtlerustle]

Yes! I like how you put that!


Still scratching my head at ''breathable wings'' on most non abdl diapers now.
The word breathable has no place in the same sentence as protection when it comes to liquid or odor control, in my opinion.

Kinda like how every time I would buy ''diapers'' from a medical supply store, they would always try to convince me to try to buy pull up underwear style instead. I always tell them that those are no good unless you sleep standing upright only. I would tell them ''I'm actually interested in protection, not being discreet.'' The chatter between us would come to a grinding halt after that lol

I always wondered what “breathable” meant to these people. They don’t let air through any better but they will chaffe they heck out of your legs if you’re active.

 

[Ukiwa]

I always wondered what “breathable” meant to these people. They don’t let air through any better but they will chaffe they heck out of your legs if you’re active.

Okay, this led me on a very deep rabbit hole looking into just what "breathable" means in the industry. I found lots of stuff, including a very interesting study where they had non-incontinent women wear diapers under scrubs while they exercised and lounged about while they self-reported comfort (mostly heat and humidity) and had tests done inside and outside the diapers.

To summarize everything I learned:

• In the industry "breathability" means "water vapor permeability" - micropores in the backsheet are small enough to allow molecules of water vapor to pass through the sheet. Actual liquid water is too large to pass through these pores.
• Air permeability is another part of this equation, but it was found that air permeability of backsheet samples was largely the same (to a slightly greater or lesser degree) between samples labeled "breathable" or "non-breathable".
• Temperature differences between the average breathable and non-breathable diapers in one study were only ~1-2 degrees F.
• Humidity differences between the average breathable and non-breathable diapers were pretty large, which leads to the next point.
• The "comfort" study respondents apparently rated breathable diapers more comfortable based on lower humidity inside the diaper. They rated non-breathable diapers as more "wet" after wearing even though the diapers were not urinated in.
• Other studies have found that more breathable diapers lead to healthier skin condition of wearers (less humid = less optimal growing conditions for things like Candida on the skin.)
• The more breathable you make a diaper, the more the outside of it will condense water vapor and become "wet" anyway
• The more breathable you make a diaper, the more the diaper will smell on use (remember, kids: odor is aerosolized particulate matter that you inhale and that binds to receptors in your nose - and water vapor is a perfect carrier for particulates! Ewwww, right?)
• Some studies indicate that the breathability of a diaper can actually increase the risk of skin breakdown in extended-wear situations as the loss of water vapor from urine will concentrate the urine and speed the conversion into ammonia.

So... yeah... I know it's kind of off topic, but I'm a nerd, so...

 

[WillFord384]

Okay, this led me on a very deep rabbit hole looking into just what "breathable" means in the industry. I found lots of stuff, including a very interesting study where they had non-incontinent women wear diapers under scrubs while they exercised and lounged about while they self-reported comfort (mostly heat and humidity) and had tests done inside and outside the diapers.

To summarize everything I learned:

• In the industry "breathability" means "water vapor permeability" - micropores in the backsheet are small enough to allow molecules of water vapor to pass through the sheet. Actual liquid water is too large to pass through these pores.
• Air permeability is another part of this equation, but it was found that air permeability of backsheet samples was largely the same (to a slightly greater or lesser degree) between samples labeled "breathable" or "non-breathable".
• Temperature differences between the average breathable and non-breathable diapers in one study were only ~1-2 degrees F.
• Humidity differences between the average breathable and non-breathable diapers were pretty large, which leads to the next point.
• The "comfort" study respondents apparently rated breathable diapers more comfortable based on lower humidity inside the diaper. They rated non-breathable diapers as more "wet" after wearing even though the diapers were not urinated in.
• Other studies have found that more breathable diapers lead to healthier skin condition of wearers (less humid = less optimal growing conditions for things like Candida on the skin.)
• The more breathable you make a diaper, the more the outside of it will condense water vapor and become "wet" anyway
• The more breathable you make a diaper, the more the diaper will smell on use (remember, kids: odor is aerosolized particulate matter that you inhale and that binds to receptors in your nose - and water vapor is a perfect carrier for particulates! Ewwww, right?)
• Some studies indicate that the breathability of a diaper can actually increase the risk of skin breakdown in extended-wear situations as the loss of water vapor from urine will concentrate the urine and speed the conversion into ammonia.

So... yeah... I know it's kind of off topic, but I'm a nerd, so...

Thanks. That's a lot of useful info.

 

[ChocChip]

Okay, this led me on a very deep rabbit hole looking into just what "breathable" means in the industry. I found lots of stuff, including a very interesting study where they had non-incontinent women wear diapers under scrubs while they exercised and lounged about while they self-reported comfort (mostly heat and humidity) and had tests done inside and outside the diapers.

To summarize everything I learned:

• In the industry "breathability" means "water vapor permeability" - micropores in the backsheet are small enough to allow molecules of water vapor to pass through the sheet. Actual liquid water is too large to pass through these pores.
• Air permeability is another part of this equation, but it was found that air permeability of backsheet samples was largely the same (to a slightly greater or lesser degree) between samples labeled "breathable" or "non-breathable".
• Temperature differences between the average breathable and non-breathable diapers in one study were only ~1-2 degrees F.
• Humidity differences between the average breathable and non-breathable diapers were pretty large, which leads to the next point.
• The "comfort" study respondents apparently rated breathable diapers more comfortable based on lower humidity inside the diaper. They rated non-breathable diapers as more "wet" after wearing even though the diapers were not urinated in.
• Other studies have found that more breathable diapers lead to healthier skin condition of wearers (less humid = less optimal growing conditions for things like Candida on the skin.)
• The more breathable you make a diaper, the more the outside of it will condense water vapor and become "wet" anyway
• The more breathable you make a diaper, the more the diaper will smell on use (remember, kids: odor is aerosolized particulate matter that you inhale and that binds to receptors in your nose - and water vapor is a perfect carrier for particulates! Ewwww, right?)
• Some studies indicate that the breathability of a diaper can actually increase the risk of skin breakdown in extended-wear situations as the loss of water vapor from urine will concentrate the urine and speed the conversion into ammonia.

So... yeah... I know it's kind of off topic, but I'm a nerd, so...

Do you have a link to the article?

 

[Ukiwa]

Do you have a link to the article?

Multiple articles. Don't blame me if you lose an evening like I did!

Abstract for reduced prevalence of Candida and common diaper dermatitis study.

Study on performance properties of breathable and non-breathable back sheet. In PDF form.

"The Paradigm of Diaper Smell" an article from the Nonwovens Industry trade magazine.

Comfort Perception of Breathable and Nonbreathable Diapers. This one was done by Kimberly-Clark, and they might have a vested interest in promoting breathable diapers since they appear to have invested so heavily into it, but then so have all the other major diaper manufacturers.

These were the four major ones. I also looked at a lot more sites, but they mostly were either retail sites, cloth diapering sites, other sites quoting these four, sites with studies having similar findings, or sites more into the manufacturing side of the diapers and/or their components.

Have fun!

 

[ChocChip]

Multiple articles. Don't blame me if you lose an evening like I did!

Abstract for reduced prevalence of Candida and common diaper dermatitis study.

Study on performance properties of breathable and non-breathable back sheet. In PDF form.

"The Paradigm of Diaper Smell" an article from the Nonwovens Industry trade magazine.

Comfort Perception of Breathable and Nonbreathable Diapers. This one was done by Kimberly-Clark, and they might have a vested interest in promoting breathable diapers since they appear to have invested so heavily into it, but then so have all the other major diaper manufacturers.

These were the four major ones. I also looked at a lot more sites, but they mostly were either retail sites, cloth diapering sites, other sites quoting these four, sites with studies having similar findings, or sites more into the manufacturing side of the diapers and/or their components.

Have fun!

Which is the one with the non-incontinent women testing the nappies out?

 

[Ukiwa]

Which is the one with the non-incontinent women testing the nappies out?

That would be the "Comfort Perception" one. That one kind of struck me as odd because my first thought was "Why were only females selected". They say they had been screened for "tactile discrimination acuity", so it makes me wonder if the idea is that women have more sensitive skin than men, and these women selected had more sensitive skin than other women.

I personally think the bit where they say "...no natural or synthetic urine was added to the diapers..." is pretty funny!

 

[Abdlchriscrinkle]

Pretty cool study you've done, Ukiwa,
thank you for your research!

 

[ChocChip]

I personally think the bit where they say "...no natural or synthetic urine was added to the diapers..." is pretty funny!

I’ve no idea why it wasn’t... you can’t get the full adult nappy experience without it!

I presume they just pulled them down to use the toilet then...

 

[Deleted member 56273]

I am very shocked that brands like Pampers, Luvs, and Huggies haven't tried to utterly corner the market for adult sized diapers. I have a feeling that they'd totally dominate the industry.

There are Attends and Depend for that purpose. Both were modeled after the three aforementioned baby diaper brands.