From Virtual Reality to Disrupting $500B Personal Hygiene Market: The Story of an Eastern European Inventor

Siim Saat, who worked in Wolf 3D (now named Ready Player Me) and was the inventor behind 3D body scanning pod for virtual reality avatars, decided to tackle a subject that people are ashamed to talk about – bottom hygiene. Recently the product was tested at the South Pole (photo) by Finnish Antarctica Expedition.

It is really astonishing how many people walk around with a dirty bum in our hygiene crazy world. Market surveys in the US, Europe and Australia show that roughly half of the population uses only toilet paper for wiping. But this is clearly not hygienic. Would you also only use paper to remove feces from the hand? Of course not, because we all know that skin will still be dirty. That’s why you need a bidet or toilet paper gel.

 

The same surveys showed that clean underwear is very important for people. It is a number 1 piece of spare clothing people take with them when traveling and both sexes constantly rate dirty underwear as one of the most disgusting things and a major turn off. Besides better hygiene it also helps to keep underwear spotless, no more embarrassing stripes.

 

 

Comment from Siim: “Bottom hygiene is a taboo subject that does not receive the attention it deserves. Dirty bottom is disgusting aesthetically and a contributing factor for urinary tract and hemorrhoid infections. Current solutions are either expensive (smart toilets), hard to install and not portable (bidets) or wrecking the environment and sewers (flushable wet wipes). That’s why I decided to do something about it instead of just talking about it. That’s how SATU laboratory was born”

 

For Siim, the main challenge was how to create a product that cleans and moisturizes but does not ruin regular toilet paper (so fingers stay clean when wiping). Toilet tissue is designed to break apart when coming in contact with water or moisturizing components. It was a challenge that some of the largest toilet tissue and wet wipes producers in the world were not able to solve. But we did it. Testament to quality is that some of the largest toilet paper manufacturers have given their approval that this product works with their paper.

The product was tested (photo) by Finnish Antarctica Expedition. Everything you take to Antarctica is super expensive and no trash is left behind, so you need a product that does not create extra waste and can withstand tear and wear. The results showed that the product is a good solution even in extreme conditions.