This touch-free dispenser moistens regular toilet paper to make wet wipes that are actually flushable
The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.
- Even so-called flushable wipes cause plumbing problems, backing up sewer lines and causing floods and pipe damage.
- Most wipes are not biodegradable, so even if they do flush without issue, they will linger in landfills or, worse yet, the ocean.
- Fohm dispenses a gentle, pH balanced cleanser onto your toilet paper, effectively transforming it into a wet wipe.
I won't go into much detail here, but you can probably paint the picture in your mind: on a cold, rainy February evening back in 2017, my father-in-law and I were frantically taking turns manning a pair of wet/dry vacuums as we fought to keep a flood contained to a basement room since known as the "sewer closet."
We won the battle and kept the carpet of the adjoining playroom clean and dry, but I lost the larger war, having to call in professional plumbers to clear out our sewer line the next day. The culprit of the backup? Baby wipes. And only a few wipes, mind you - usually, this is a household quite mindful of the advice not to flush wipes, but I had slacked a time or two, and those few fateful flushes were all it took.
Also without going into detail, any parent who has grown used to having baby wipes spread strategically about the house will have learned that there is no law stipulating wipes can only be used for babies. In fact, you rather get used to having them on hand. But regardless of who used them, tossing used wipes into a trashcan where they will linger for days is less than ideal; flushing them and risking a costly (and ghastly) plumbing catastrophe is far worse, not to mention the ethical issue of potentially depositing wipes out into the ocean.
If you love keeping clean with a good moist wipe but don't relish the issues that come with wet wipes, instead convert your toilet paper into a wet wipe using Fohm. No, not foam, Fohm. But in fact Fohm does use foam. Let's go about this more directly before we get confused, because, really, this is an elegantly simple product.
Once loaded with its gentle, fragrance-free and pH-balanced cleanser, a Fohm dispenser will deposit a dollop of said cleanser onto your toilet paper when you hold the paper underneath the unit's nozzle. A built-in sensor allows for touch-free dispensing, so the Fohm system remains sanitary day after day, use after use, and even when shared by multiple people.
The Fohm cleanser formula is proprietary, but the brand refers to it as a "version of what you find in a baby wipe from a national brand (insert your favorite one here)." So while actually designed primarily for adult users, you can use a Fohm to clean a child, too.
And once each pleasantly wet wipe is completed, you can toss that toilet paper into the toilet and flush away, knowing the paper will break down as it should, not clogging pipes and not posing a risk to aquatic life farther down the line.
One more thing to note: as fancy as this system might seem, it's actually going to save you money in the long run. The starter pack costs $49, and a after that, monthly refills cost $7. You could spend almost seven bucks on a single pack of baby wipes, or you could spend it on a month's worth of moistened, eco-friendly, plumbing-safe Fohm foam.