© 2024 New Atlas
Around The Home

Body Dryer offers an alternative to the yucky ol' bath towel

By Angus MacKenzie
April 11, 2014
Body Dryer offers an alternative to the yucky ol' bath towel
Time to toss out the towel?
Time to toss out the towel?
View 5 Images
The Body Dryer is reportedly capable of drying a damp person in 30 seconds using compressed, ionized air
1/5
The Body Dryer is reportedly capable of drying a damp person in 30 seconds using compressed, ionized air
The Body Dryer features strategically angled vents to provide optimal water removal
2/5
The Body Dryer features strategically angled vents to provide optimal water removal
The Body Dryer’s air stream and angles can be personalized through different shaped air nozzles on the footplate
3/5
The Body Dryer’s air stream and angles can be personalized through different shaped air nozzles on the footplate
4/5
Time to toss out the towel?
5/5
Time to toss out the towel?
View gallery - 5 images

Update Apr 15, 2015: In an update on its Indiegogo campaign page, the Body Dryer team has announced that it will not be bringing the Body Dryer to market despite gathering pledges six times the campaign goal amount. The corporation launched to manufacture the Body Dryer is being shut down and assets sold. Contributors will not receive a full refund, but according to the company they will receive a 100 percent refund for shipping costs, with the remaining money being shared equally. It is estimated this will see contributors refunded about US$45 for each unit pledged towards.

From Dyson’s Airblade to more straight-forward designs, hand dryers are run-of-the-mill these days. Now a team of designers out of the US has turned the idea upside down to create the Body Dryer.

According to Tyler Overk from the Body Dryer Team, the body dryer is designed out of a need to “replace bacteria filled and environmentally harmful bathroom towels.”

The Body Dryer is sturdy enough to support a 325 lb (170 kg) person and is reportedly capable of drying a damp individual in approximately 30 seconds using compressed, ionized air. It has strategically angled vents to provide optimal removal of the water and the air stream can be personalized through different shaped nozzles on the footplate that develop a cylindrical tunnel of air around the user. There's also the option of hot or cold air and a digital scale is built into the unit

The Body Dryer team has already more than doubled its US$50,000 crowd funding goal through Indiegogo. It's anticipated the unit will sell for US$250 should it make it to market.

Product page: Body Dryer

View gallery - 5 images

Tags

Around The HomeBathroomIndiegogo
27 comments
Angus MacKenzie
Born on the cold, barren Canadian plains of Calgary, Alberta, Angus MacKenzie couldn’t decide between marketing, automotives or an entrepreneurial path - so he chose all three. With an education in automotives and marketing, Angus has rebuilt the carburetor on his 1963 Rambler Ambassador twice, gotten a speeding ticket in an F430 once, and driven & photographed everything from Lamborghinis to Maseratis to various German and Asian designs. When not writing, Angus has for the past six years been Editor-in-Chief for elemente, an internationally recognized architecture/design magazine.

Most Viewed

Load More
27 comments
Daishi
Most people who use public showers will tell you to wear shower shoes unless you want athletes foot. They get rid of the towel as a potential source of bacteria but replace it with another object that can't be sanitized as easily. Wearing flip flops on it would restrict its airflow.
Your hair is the most difficult thing to dry and its too far away for this device to have any real impact on it.
The water dripping off you would be blowing back up at you. The "ionized air pulling water off you" sounds like a gimmick from some overpriced junk I'd see in skymall.
For 5 times the cost of a space heater you could probably build a better solution for public areas that blows air both downward and from a wall like a clean room air shower: http://i.imgur.com/tq6cNpO.jpg
It looks like the only other product I see on the market intended for this application in a wall mount is almost 2k but meant to be installed in a shower.
You could probably build a heated tower fan meant for this application for about $150 reasonably and it doesn't look like there is a similar product on the market currently.
DomainRider
Is there any evidence that "bacteria filled ... bathroom towels" are an infection risk?
Given that our skins normally harbour a huge variety of bacteria and fungi, and that these are the ones most likely to be found on a personal towel, it seems unlikely...
If one of these dryers overheats, does it blow smoke up your a***?
kraftzion
What is icky about a bath towel? It not only drys you it keeps you warm by slowing evaporation. So your going to stand on a device that everybody has stood on which is going to blow the water that has dripped off them on to you. And make you cold while doing it. Not me I'll take a clean bath towel.
John Banister
The design of the Tornado Body Dryer is what I think of when I imagine this sort of device. I wonder if this one will only work on the bottom half of fat people. It'll be nice to see more competition in the body drying market, though. If these designers could use that sort of compressed ionized air to provide a successful 30 second dry time for bidet toilet seats, that would be very nice.
Tommo
"The Body Dryer is sturdy enough to support a 325 lb (170 kg) person" Oh well, that probably excludes about half the American population!
Ed
Yeah..something about standing on a plugged in electrical device, dripping wet doesn't make me feel too safe! Besides...you see plenty of "body dryers" in sci-fi movies that are far better than this thing! My idea of a full body dryer would be similar to those Tornado/Hurricane simulator booths you see in shopping malls throughout the USA. Now *THAT* would be a fun way to dry off!
sk8dad
A 325 lb user would find the upper body drying times unacceptable.
Bob
Maybe if I weigh myself while the air is blowing upwards, I could lose a couple pounds. After a dip in the pool I would be heading for the regular shower to get the chlorine off my body and out of my hair. And as someone else pointed out, standing on a wet floor with a power cord stretched across it doesn't look too safe. A $20 box fan safely mounted up on a wall would probably do just as well.
Tshulthise
The video shows zero evidence that this product works. Think about it, is the air going to magically hug your skin and blow water off of all of your body? If they claimed it would dry your feet I might believe them. I really can't believe so many people gave up their money in the crowd funding campaign.
Did you notice that they didn't show it drying the girl after she got out of the pool? It also showed the girl's hair COMPLETELY DRY after she stepped onto the body dryer after getting out of the pool. Deception to sell. Anytime you see a marketing campaign that uses deception to try to sell its time to run as fast as possible. This marketing campaign reminds me of the CubeX 3D printer marketing campaign where they showed objects printed by $100,000 printers setting on their $3000 printer to make us believe it would work that well.
The description and video do nothing to give me any confidence that this product can replace the towel. So sorry for those who's hopes led them to ignore critical thinking and throw money at this thing.
Desmond FLechner
when I found that I needed far less dependency on the large bath towel was when I realized how quickly the evaporation took place (with the exception of my hair wherever they currently are) by me having to spend wiping up clean the tub or shower cabin, rinsing thoroughly and drying it off with appropriate squeegee linen.
All these hygiene related default chores after a reasonable bath or shower involves some time and with the wall vents allowing fresh-flow of air... the body dries up rather speedily too... no need of the towel or even the bathrobe either to step into the master bedroom unless the sweet lady neighbor happens to need your help with her kitchen sink at that very moment!!! - LoL.
The palm-size hand-linen bathing glove used during the cleansing within the tub or cabin is in itself an incredible accessory to dry oneself B4 stepping out onto the floor, being 97% dried!!!
I use a superb Pro hairdryer just to finish my hairs and since the room itself is kept at a good hydro-controlled rate of about 60%, its relatively quick and short with the drying up duration hence, this gadget is good only for true invalids
Load More