The life of a product tester for absorbent garments

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Bruce Kassover: Welcome to Life Without Leaks, a podcast by the National Association for Continence. NAFC is America’s leading advocate for people with bladder and bowel conditions, with resources, connections to doctors, and a welcoming community of patients, physicians, and caregivers. All available at nafc.org. 

Welcome back to another episode of Life Without Leaks. I’m your host, Bruce Kassover, and joining us today we have a guest who’s a patient, but also somebody who’s involved on the other side of things. It’s Gary Bauer, and he has an interesting past. He’s involved with video production and also with ministry and missionary work, and he’s going to talk with us about what he’s learned as a patient and also as a product tester for CARER, which is a provider of incontinence products. So welcome Gary. Thank you for joining the podcast. 

Gary Bauer: Glad to be with you all. 

Bruce Kassover: Excellent. So tell us a little bit about your background and what brings you to us today. 

Gary Bauer: Well, I’m here today because I’ve gotten an email from your organization and I’ve been testing and using products from CARER. So, dealing with the overactive bladder incontinence issues for over 25 years, and we’ve tested products for other organizations, other manufacturers as well. 

Bruce Kassover: So tell us a little bit about your overactive bladder. You said it’s been about 25 years, it started – when, when did you first notice there was some problem?

Gary Bauer: I had noticed some problems probably since childhood, but nobody really knew much about it and it wasn’t serious. But then about 25 years ago, I had a doctor prescribe some blood pressure medication. Well, I had a bit of overactive bladder anyway, and they, diuretics and that really kind of pushed things over the edge, so I started looking around for what kind of absorbent products I could use and where I could go from there. And so I’ve kind-of progressed from there for several years. 

Bruce Kassover: How did you manage your condition? Did you use absorbent products, medications or any other treatments?

Gary Bauer: At that point there wasn’t much talk about medications at all, but I started trying out different products, first starting with Depends and the men’s pads, I guess, and then progressed from there to the pull-ups and the pull-up style and then the tape-on diapers, which really are the best of them. 

Bruce Kassover: And how were they working for you?

Gary Bauer: Well, initially, you know, it’s kind of a progression I think most of us go through, but as we age and things change with your body, then I found that the men’s pads just, that wasn’t enough. And so the pull-ups were starting to become available at that time when I was trying those out. And they were pretty good for a little while. And then as I did research on the internet, too, learning about what products work, the tape-on style diapers really would the best for nighttime, and sometimes those, I use those during the day depending on what the bathroom situations are going to be or whether I can change. It just depends on what’s going on. 

Bruce Kassover: So then one day you get a call from the folks at CARER, C-A-R-E-R, and that call sort-of changed you from just being a patient who uses products to something different. Maybe tell us a little bit about that. 

Gary Bauer: Sure. I got an email from the folks at CARER and we talked a little bit. They asked if I could do some product testing for them, and I had done that for some other manufacturers and I said, “Sure.” And because I’ve been dealing with this for so long, then they sent me product samples and we kind of worked with them. I worked with them to decide, if there were changes needed to be made in a couple the products we did, and they would send me a new prototype,e and then we’d find out what worked or what didn’t. So it’s been quite an interesting process, process for me, and I actually use the products too, so that’s great. 

Bruce Kassover: I think ‘interesting’ is the word. I mean, when we think of, like, product testers, you know, it’s like, if you’re testing for Pringles, you know, they give you a can and you taste it, right? But this has got to be a little different. So, so how does this process work? They send you products and you just sort of use them in your day-to-day? 

Gary Bauer: Yes, yes. They send me products and the nice thing is they got, they get multiple colors, and so they send me all the different colors, all the different styles to try and this particular waterproof pant, the, I don’t think there’s been a whole lot of change in the, in the product itself. But we worked on some, some early prototypes for some of those, and I helped them make some changes so that they would either fit better or they didn’t leak or whatever. So that’s been, you’d have to actually use them, of course, and, that was an interesting process. But I think it was helpful for them because they were able to make some product changes from some of the input that I was able to give them. 

Bruce Kassover: So that really is interesting. So you work with prototypes and these are products that are in development and, you know, what sort of things do you look for as a tester? What, what stands out as either, you know, positives or things for improvement when you’re looking at these products that are just in development? 

Gary Bauer: Well, a couple of things you’re looking for is the elastics and how well they’re going to prevent leaks. So it took a little while to make sure that everything was, you know, to make sure that they fit well enough to prevent any kind of leaks.

And so that’s been one of the things that, sometimes had to modify a little bit. So that was interesting. And also we’re dealing between metric sizes and U.S. sizing in inches. And so that was something they did a really good job, seeing the marketing material we’re receiving now in the U.S., I think they’re making some inroads into the marketing here in the United States.

Bruce Kassover: Now, these are products that are, that may be different than what a lot of patients are thinking of, but many times people think of disposable products, like when you think of, you know, children’s diapers for example. That’s not the case here. Is that right? 

Gary Bauer: That is correct. However, most of these products, a lot of these products get used over either disposable diapers, a disposable full style, or you can also use these over cloth reusable diapers. But these are reusable, it’s like a polyurethane, laminate. They’re waterproof. They’re somewhat breathable. So if I live in Texas with the heat, the breathability is something that’s important for me.

Bruce Kassover: So as somebody who’s had a lot of experience with both the more traditional disposable absorbent products and these, what are some of the advantages that you find a washable, reusable product has? 

Gary Bauer: Well, one thing, and one thing they have done as well is they’re working on a kind of a hybrid pull-up underwear, waterproof on the outside and it’s cloth on the inside, and you can add inserts here to increase the absorbency. When you look at the cost of disposable products, it can get quite expensive, especially for the quality products. So the reusable products are very handy. Now, these, just the waterproof pants, they are reusable of course.

But I normally use them, and a lot of people use them to cover the disposable product to prevent any leaks from escaping out on your clothing. So that’s one of the great uses for these products. 

Bruce Kassover: Oh, so that’s interesting. So you find that you can actually use them in coordination with a pad or something else that’s a disposable product that… 

Gary Bauer: Yeah, it would have to be. Mostly it would be like a pull-up style product, diaper style product. And these would go over that. I normally wouldn’t wear just a normal cotton pants brief over the absorbent product, over the diaper, and then put this on the outside. These are waterproof, but if fluid gets in them these, then it’s just going to come out when you sit down or whatever. So you, if you have something a little bit absorbent over the disposable product, you know, it’s one of those things you’ve learned. I’ve learned over years of trial and error. It’s not always fun, but now I’ve got a system in place pretty good and CARER has really helped out with these products, and I think a lot of people are beginning to discover that these can be one part of a system, that these are quite helpful. 

Bruce Kassover: So now I imagine that one of the questions that people might have about a reusable product is related to hygiene. Do you find that when it comes to cleaning and using them again, there are any issues or does it, does it launder just like another piece of clothing? 

Gary Bauer: They have laundry instructions. I was trying to, I should have read that. But, there are laundry instructions on every product and these wash just with regular, any kind of clothes you’re going to wash. They, there’s not a problem. Very, they do really well. I usually don’t put them, I don’t, I usually don’t put them in the dryer or, because that could shorten the life. It doesn’t, it, you can certainly dry them in the dryer, but I usually hang them up and in the bathroom and they dry in a day or so. So that works pretty well. 

Bruce Kassover: Another question I think people might have is about how bulky they are. Maybe they’re noticeable. Do they make any sound? Can you talk about that a little bit?

Gary Bauer: Well, that’s a good question because that’s something that a lot of people have a concern about. And I think especially if you’ve just begun this journey in dealing with incontinence, every little thing, you’re in a panic that people can hear or you know, they can, they tell that I’m wearing any kind of incontinence product.

And so these are the type of material they’re using, the nylon and the polyurethane, I think is quiet and I mean, I can get a little bit of crinkle now, but when you’re wearing it, when you’ve got clothes over them, nobody’s going to be able to tell. So that hasn’t been an issue for me. It used to be that a lot of the waterproof pants and these kinds of products would be kind of crinkly and would make some sound, but you know, most people around you, they’re not thinking about that or wouldn’t even know what it was that they heard it so. Not a problem for me. 

Bruce Kassover: Well, that’s very reassuring. Now, tell me this, as somebody who’s really literally on the cutting edge, you’re seeing things that are in development, sort of like the next generation, what would you imagine the future holds for these products? What, what sort of improvements in absorbance in general would you like to see, or what’s on your wish list? 

Gary Bauer: Well, one of the things that I’ve talked to the CARER people about, and I don’t know how practical it is for them to do this, but to make the same waterproof pants, but inside them do a layer, a light layer of cloth. Not to be used by themselves necessarily, but just sit so that there’s a little bit of absorbent material inside the waterproof pants so that you’re not wearing another layer like I’m doing, right, you know? 

And that’s something that would be really nice. I’ve found a few products out there like that. Some of them look great, and some of them aren’t so great, but the challenge is to get the cloth absorbent material inside of a pant like this. So that’s something I’ve mentioned to them a few times; you know, I haven’t seen a prototype yet, but I know they’re really good about looking at improvements and things that they can do. 

Bruce Kassover: Yeah, that’s one of the things that I don’t think a lot of our audience may really be aware of or appreciate is just how much actual technology and engineering goes into these products.

It seems like it’s just a simple thing, right? It’s just, you know, it just absorbs some fluid, but it really is like in a little engineering marvel, what you have to do to make this stuff work properly. 

Gary Bauer: It really is. And the technique of getting the absorbent material inside and where it does not wick moisture to the outside, there’s some things that have got to be considered on designing these things. So, I’ve found a few products that can do that a little bit. And that’s still kind of an evolving thing. 

Bruce Kassover: Well, I certainly hope that we see, you know, continued enhancements to the products to just make them, you know, more effective for everybody no matter what sort of condition you have.

So we’ve been talking a lot about care. Now, as somebody who’s sort of on the inside a little bit, I’m not sure if this is the right question for you, but can you talk a little bit about the customer experience at CARER? You know, how easy it is to order products, find the right products, to deal with the people over there?

Gary Bauer: We’re looking at their new website that I’ve seen recently, they’re very well laid out for the English-speaking population around the world. And it looks to me and the things that I’m hearing, reviews on the products with the website is very easy to use and seems to be pretty user-friendly.

The other issue is these products are shipping from China and they can take a little bit of time, but in my experience, every time they ship things to me, it’s usually about a week-and-a-half to two weeks. Very… and they have tracking. So, they seem to really be looking at customer service and a good experience. 

Bruce Kassover: Well, I would certainly hope so because you know, that’s how you make sales and keep people happy, is by giving them what they want. And I would also imagine that, you know, these are not, like, impulse buys; they’re staples and you know, you use them every day so that as long as you have your ordering timing set up properly, that shouldn’t really be an issue. So I’m glad to hear that. 

If I wanted to learn more about CARER myself, where would I go online to find them? 

Gary Bauer: Go to their website at caresspk.com, and that’s C-A-R-E-R. 

Bruce Kassover: So C-A-R-E-R-S-P-K.com. Well, I certainly hope that our listeners do that and you know, explore the products that are available there and, you know, find the, see if there’s something that’s right for them. Give it a try and see what sort of a difference a wearable, a reusable product makes. 

So that’s great to hear. So, as you know, this is Life without Leaks, and one of the things we always like to ask our guests before we leave is if they can share with our listeners one little hint, tip strategy, bit of advice so that they can live a life without leaks.

And I’m wondering if you might have one that you could share with us today. 

Gary Bauer: Oh boy, I’ve got several. But one of the things is with, if you’re using disposables and you’re going to use some kind of a waterproof paint over that, which I think is a really good idea, I’m usually wearing just a regular men’s cotton underwear over the disposable part, and then I’m using one of the waterproof pants over that, that gives some absorbency inside the pant, outside the diaper that can pick up any leaks that might happen. So I think that’s one of the things that I’ve learned. It’s taken me a number of years to figure this out, but that’s one of the things that’s been the most helpful to me. 

Bruce Kassover: Well, I certainly hope that people learn from your experience and benefit from it without having to have any unfortunate discoveries on their on their own. So, with that being said, I want to thank you for joining us today. This has been really interesting and, you know, really insightful. And I certainly do hope that people explore the world of reusable products and see that they don’t have to settle for things that they used to just because that’s the only thing that they see on a store shelf. So, thank you, that’s great to hear. 

Gary Bauer: Thank you.

Bruce Kassover: Life Without Leaks has been brought to you by the National Association for Continence. Our music is Rainbows by Kevin McLeod. More information about NAFC is available online at nafc.org.