If you’re one of the rare people whose media consumption is even lower than mine, you might be unaware of the atrocity that Kleenex has recently rolled out (I found out about it in a coupon insert).
I hardly even have words to explain how completely ridiculous it is.
But I will try.
Kleenex’s latest invention is the disposable bathroom hand towel.
“Families have not had a practical alternative to traditional cloth hand towels in their home bathrooms… until now.”, they intone, as though we’ve all been pining away for something to replace that disgusting, germ-filled, washable hand towel.
Seriously? The bathroom hand towel we’ve been using for decades upon decades upon decades is suddenly insufficient?
Haven’t we been hearing about how the overuse of antibacterial products is making is more prone to illness? Without exposure to germs and bacteria, our immune systems suffer.
I really don’t understand the thinking that says that every. single. thing. in your life must be free of germs and bacteria. If you’re in a hospital, or you’re doing surgery, I can understand this.
But I don’t live in a hospital, and no surgery ever happens at my house. We just do not need to be that clean.
Plus, think how silly it is to use a disposable hand towel while still keeping some other reusable items around. I quote Kleenex again:
“Regular washing of bathroom hand towels does not ensure clean hands.”
The conclusion they want to you to draw is that Kleenex disposable hand towels DO ensure clean hands.
Using this logic, we can conclude that regular washing of underwear does not ensure clean, um, nether regions. Should we look into disposable underwear, then?
And what about socks? Maybe our feet are full of germs (shoes are dark! and moist! and bacteria probably grows in them!), and they’d be sparkling clean and sanitary if we came up with one-time-use socks.
As I said, I’m quite convinced that a little exposure to bacteria is good for us, and that keeping our homes TOO clean is bad for our health.
But even if you cast those concerns aside, these towels are a failure from both a green and frugal perspective.
This product is trash-producing from start to finish, which is in the best interest of Kleenex’s bottom line. If you have to keep throwing a product away, you have to keep buying it, which means you’ll keep giving your money to Kleenex. I’m not completely opposed to disposable paper products, but I think it’s silly to use a paper product when a viable, simple, not-at-all-disgusting alternative is available (this means I will use hand towels in the bathroom, but I will not be switching to cloth toilet paper).
What about the cost? I haven’t seen these in my grocery store yet, but Drugstore.com sells a 6o-pack of these “towels” for $3.49.
If you live in a small household, a 60 pack might last for a while, but in my house, we’d go through a 60 pack in no time flat. If the six of us each dried our hands just 4 times a day, we’d use 24 of these towels in a day. So, a 60 pack would last us all of about 2 days. That means a week’s supply of these would cost over $11.
<Kristen faints>
No, Kleenex, I won’t be buying your new product.
I’ll just be here in my happy bacteria-filled house, using these out-dated, germ-filled, sickness-inducing pieces of white cotton to dry my family’s hands.
It’ll be tough, be I think we’ll survive. 
P.S. Did I mention how ugly and institutional I think Kleenex’s product looks? They try to convince us that these are sleek and stylish and that they go with any sort of decor, but I’m totally unconvinced.
{ 110 comments… read them below or add one }
i’m with you on this. saw these in a sunday insert. just ridiculous! there’s a time and place for disposable products but replacing a hand towel in my bathroom with these is not one of them. like you, our family will stick to the washable hand towel.
Oh. my. gosh. I totally agree with you, Kristen! And as for needing to be germ-free in a hospital? They are the WORST places if you want to avoid bacteria. I will stick with my reusable everything! (thank goodness no one will ever produce reusable toilet paper!)
Oh, I didn’t mean that hospitals were germ-free. Quite the opposite. I just meant that it is more important for hospitals to be sanitary. People with compromised immune systems, wounds, IVs and other such things are in hospitals and so germs are much more dangerous to them than they are to the average household (plus there tend to be more germs at hospitals anyways, so there needs to be more anti-germ efforts there).
Wow! I am mortified! In a time where average people are looking for inexpensive, earth-friendly alternatives to current disposable products, this company comes out with a product that is totally against that line of thought. We’ll be sticking with our hand towels as well. Shame on you , Kleenex!
Yeah, I’m very surprised that they thought this would be a good business move in a time where more people are getting interested in reusable items. I can’t imagine that this product is going to do really well on a long-term basis.
I personally hope to see it die.
We use NO paper towels, or napkins–all cloth for us in the kitchen. About a year and a half ago, we replaced all those with cloth in the kitchen and have been perfectly happy with the results. I certainly won’t be taking backward steps and replacing CLOTH with paper towels! I think this is pretty ridiculous and I’m sorry, but I really hope this is one of those products that has a massive flop.
What a nonsense! I give it six months …
I am so with you on this one. We grew up with very few Dr. visits, and little meds outside of plain aspirin. My adult peeps and relatives always told us a little dirt is healthy. We drank from the same water glass at the kitchen sink, did not have sanitizers in the dish water, nor alcohol and clorox everywhere you looked. We all managed to live past our 60′s heading toward 90. Imagine that!
Have you seen the commercial for this product? Basically it’s a split screen, and one side is a family using a hand towel throughout the day and the other side is a family using these disposable towels throughout the day. The point is to make the cloth towel look gross and overused, but all I think of when I see it is “Oh my gosh, that’s SO wasteful!”.
I recently went to a sports game and sat in a suite (with work), and they had something similar to these disposable towels in the bathroom. It was nice there, but I can’t imagine needing it every day.
No, I haven’t seen the TV commercial…just the print version in the coupons, and that was irritating enough! lol
If I’m feeling masochistic, I may look up the other one to see if it’s on YouTube. =P
When I saw this product in a tv ad, I was really shocked that in today’s ‘everything must be green’ society, a company would come out with a product like this. But they are feeding into people’s germaphobe fears. I bet during the flu season, this product will be flying off the shelves like purell.
as a side note, we only use cloth too!
When I first saw the ad I wondered what in the world. I mean you live in the same house with your family breathe the same air share kitchen space etc. plenty of other ways for germs to get passed around. I guess next will be a suit similar to the one the “Bubble Boy” wore for so many years, then we could live in a sterile environment and never have face to face contact with other people and their germs. By the way did anyone elses grandmother use to say ” a child must develop their own immunity let them get dirty and grow” or was min the only one?
I have seen ads for this product as well. I immediately hated the waste factor. On the superficial side, I think a box of paper towels in the home bathroom gives it a real “public restroom” feel.
I know! It’s so….not homey.
I actually bought a box of these when they first came out. None of the towels have been used.
The reason I bought them is that guests so often feel uncomfortable using other people’s nice, clean (freshly-washed but germ-ridden?) hand towels. Whenever we had company, I always laid out a little pile of towels – equal to the number of guests – in hopes they would use them. (I still follow this practice, as well as providing the Kleenex towels.) They use the bathroom…..but none of the towels! So – are they wiping their hands on our used towels? Are they wiping them on their own clothes? Or are they (HORRORS) not washing their hands??!! Now, THAT bothers me more than the rare use of a single disposable towel.
However, the whole thing backfired on me because no one is using the Kleenex towels, either. So I foolishly spent money I can’t afford on a non-reusable product that taunts me every time I go to and from the loo.
I’m not germaphobic, but I cannot stand the thought of people using the bathroom without washing their hands, especially now that I have a major illness and am on immunosuppressants. (This makes one more prone to life-threatening infections.) I try to put friendship above cleanliness concerns, but it does give me the heebie-jeebies to eat at the homes of people I know for a fact do not wash after using the facilities.
Bet you $2 my mom will get some. Unless her newspaperless state and habit of ordering online means she remains blissfully unaware.
I wonder sometimes that we come from the same family. I can always tell when she’s visited because the paper towel roll is heavily depleted. My parents don’t recycle, I almost had to fight my father to get him to use a plastic bag I had in my hand instead of a new one the vendor had to dig up, and their consumption of paper goods is scary. I have no idea why we do things so differently.
WilliamB, still trying to come up with a good way to use rags instead of paper towels. (It has to do with the arrangement of my kitchen.)
Mine hang on my oven door, and I also have a simple hook on the wall near my sink, if that helps at all.
Kristen, I know you had some info on your cloth napkins, could you send it here again. Pweeese.
I think I may give it a try because we go through way too many paper napkins at the table maybe even 2-3 per person at one meal time. We are only a family of four but still, *good* napkins are a little pricey. AND, do you hand wash them so they don’t mold because I may not wash laundry only every other day or so (twice a week at the max). Just wondering… Thanks for any response. 
Stef – I remember Kristen posting that she uses damp washclothes for her kids at most meals. That’s what we do with our little munchkin, and they’re super-cheap when purchased en masse at Target. Napkins are kind of fun to make if you have a sewing machine, too – just pretty cotton fabric and straight seams for all the edges.
I have several hooks in the kitchen above a bin. I put wet or damp washcloths/napkins on the hooks, and every morning dump the dry ones into the bin. That’s what we used to do when I worked at the coffee shop with all of our rags. At the coffee shop, the laundry guy only came once per week, and we didn’t have any problems with smelly laundry.
o thanks, I’ll consider your advice! I shall peek around Target soon or sew some myself, sounds easy, I do have a sewing machine too, lol!
I am so appalled I can’t think of anything to say.
I mean, seriously??
*Stacy sobs*
Stacy
Hands out a hanky…
Whether this goes over or not will depend on how savvy and persuasive Kleenix is with advertising. I doubt our mothers and grandmothers would have ever envisioned paper diapers 50 years ago so I won’t predict this absolutely won’t fly. I do predict it won’t fly at this house — at least not in my lifetime!
And yes, they are phenomenally ugly.
I saw a commercial for this over the weekend and was rendered speechless. I’m actually quite surprised that this product made it to the market. You would think someone in the sales department would have mentioned that “low waste” is the “in thing.” I guess our fear of germs will always outweigh our desire for less waste.
Waiting with bated breath for disposable socks and underwear…
Gotta make more money…money…money. Gotta have more products…products…products. And more shelf space…shelf space…shelf space. That’s how the American economy works! How do you like that instead of the Kleenex hand drying song?
On his episode about food safety, Alton Brown specified that using a towel in the kitchen for washing your hands is not sanitary and a paper towel should be used. So on those occasions when I’m handling raw poultry and require that I not cross contaminate the room I’ll use a paper towel. Otherwise, yeah cloth make the most sense.
Back in my grandmother’s day (she grew up very poor on a small farm) their towels were made from the feed sacks. Of course, so were their clothes at times.
Maybe Alton is the exception then. I have seen many different t.v. chefs picking up raw meat and either wiping their hands on a towel and continuing , or skipping the towel and just grabbing ingredients with their dirty hands.
If I am working with raw meat I will wash up really well and use a regular kitchen towel to dry. Then set the towel aside. If I need to wash my hands again during cooking other then raw meat I will use a different towel. The “meat” towel will get tossed in the laundry right away.
I would also be on the NOT buying list for this product. What are they thinking?
I read somewhere that what you purchase is your way of voting on what continues to exist in the world.
And it’s so true! That’s what I think about before I purchase something I’m not sure about or I don’t need. If you don’t like paper towels, don’t purchase them. If you don’t like these stupid disposable towels, don’t purchase them. Every dollar you put into a purchase is a vote for it to keep existing.
So…How do you really feel? *Lisa chuckles as she revives a fainted Kristen…tee hee.
Utterly ridiculous “invention” in a time when our landfills are bursting and we’re faced with leaving our children with more garbage than healthy living land.
Peace.
just a quick question…how do you personally keep your white hand towels so white? i am about ready to toss all my white er, gray, towels away because i cannot get them white again. (btw, hanging them to dry on a clothesline is out because our neighborhood association doesn’t allow a clothesline.)
Oxygen bleach works pretty well for me. But it might be your water making your towels gray. You could try adding vinegar to the rinse cycle.
Since sunlight isn’t available to you (although I wonder if a sunny inside spot would work?), you could go even more oldf-ashioned: boiling your clothes. I’ll dig up the technique when I get home.
I’ve used all three methods below. The one I return to is straightforward boiling with dish soap, as specified by Loupy’s grandmother. If the clothes are really grungy I boil them longer. After boiling I throw them in with the next machine wash because I don’t want to rinse and wring by hand.
The original Heloise whitener
1 c. dishwasher granules
1 gallon water, very hot
.25 c. bleach
for hot water textiles
Soak for 30 min – do not stir.
Wash as usual.
for lukewarm water textiles
Dissolve soap in hot water.
Add bleach.
Let cool.
Soak for 30 min – do not stir.
Wash as usual.
Works on dingy pillowcases, T-shirts, socks, and babyclothes.
or try Mary Ellen’s Magic Elixir
Soak for 30 minutes and wash as usual.
1 part Clorox 2 powdered bleach
1 part Dove dishwashing liquid
water as hot as the textile can take
Loupy’s grandmother’s method
This is (groan) really gonna reveal my age (as if y’all didn’t already have that figured out). My grandmother taught me how to keep those cloth diapers really white by boiling them on top of the stove with good, strong lye soap – or any good detergent.
For really grungy white socks and tees, Loupy would boil them on top of the stove, using an enamel pan, using Heloise’s treatment. If you’ll think about how white hotel sheets and towels are – it’s because they launder them in extremely hot water, much, much hotter than we have at home. Loupy’ would feel safe using Mary Ellen’s mix to soak colored items.
so just what happens if you DO have a clothesline. Might be worth testing the system. Or you could get creative and design a low-impact drying thing that doesnt use clothesline – I am envisioning something like a patio umbrella skeleton with clothespins. It doesnt take long to dry things like cloths and napkins unless you live in Seattle in the rainy season or coastal maine like I do. Even here, tho, we manage.
I hope this fails miserably. What won’t they do for a buck? Do they not consider that people will question their practices and concern for our environment? Maybe this is what they were thinking – “Let’s just pump all the trash we can into the environment under the pretense of a false phony load of crap. It’s ok, we’ll make money.”.
Oh my — appalling! But your piece is hilarious and deserves a wider audience. So funny and to the point!
Kroger sells these. That is the first time I’d seen them. The only reason I noticed them is that they have to have their own little display stand. I was getting toilet paper and looked at them. It didn’t make sense to me. I do keep some paper towels on hand, but that’s more to do with MRSA outbreaks that my Mom has, and when one of us has a nasty cold. This way the person who needs to use the paper towel can. I might go through 6 rolls a year. However, THIS….I’m not buying. I keep a towel hung up over the towel run on the door, we wash our hands in antibacterial soap, we dry our hands on the towel. We replace the towel the next morning. Bleach is a wonderful thing.
This truly makes me sad.
Do you use antibacterial soap because of your mother’s MRSA infections? (Dreadful situation; I’m so sorry your family is going through that.) Most people just don’t need to use antibac, and it’s actually quite bad for the environment the way even everyday hand soap and dish soap contain the stuff.
I must be one of the rare people whose media consumption is lower than yours, because this is the first I’ve heard of these towels! But, I’m linking to this post on my own blog because I swear I could have written it myself.
Hope that’s okay!
this is a real shame
I’ve been thinking of buying some bar towels so I can just handwash them. . . since they aren’t so thick
but no, this product is not weasling it’s way into my home.
I have tons of people through my home on a daily basis, at least 5 and sometimes up to 10 other than the family. We use cloth towels for everything, no paper. yes even the family uses cloth tp. I do keep regular tp around for the therapists to use! even with changing the hand towels 2 times a day, it hardly is noticeable in the amt of laundry I use, and a hot water wash takes care of the germys.
I recently saw a commercial for these as well, and was like WHAT?!? Seriously, have that not heard that green is the new black? Plus, the economy is in the garbage and we’re all trying to pinch pennies here and there…why would we go by yet another disposable item? So, basically, I hear ya’ Kristen. Good job bringing this hot topic up!
I am sooo glad soemeone is finally talking about these! I agree with you, this “total annihilation” attitude towards germs we seem to have taken in America the last few years is ridiculous. I think it is more harmful than it is good. Maybe that is why children are allergic to everything under the sun nowadays. One of my friends practically hoses down her house with bleach constantly, because she has 3 small children, but I would hesitate to use it around little children. I don’t even use it in my house.
Also, you’d think Kleenex would want us to get sick, then we’d use more tissues. But tissues aren’t $3.50/60 i guess.
Oh, that’s funny. I never thought of that before…but yeah, tissues won’t bring in quite as much revenue.
I saw the commercial for this recently and I too was shocked! The commercial shows lots of people using the towel, and finally a dog pulling it off! It was a little absurd.
I’m reminded of a friend’s family I used to see when I was growing up. There were 5 of them, and each had a different colored hand towel in the guest bathroom. Even guests had their own specific towel. I agree that germs are necessary, of course, but if you’re crazy about it then perhaps different towels for each family member is a better idea!
As a side note, I find this amusing because some time in the near future (when we run out!) I’m going to try to wean us off paper towels completely! So definitely will not be adding something else disposable and expensive, even for my family of 2!
Great post! As soon as I saw the commercial (a couple of weeks ago) I just had to roll my eyes – what a wasteful product.
Battra92, I understand the fears of cross-contamination when cooking but I still don’t use paper towels. I have a big stash of kitchen towels and rags, when I’m cooking say chicken and handle the chicken, I wash my hands (“surgeon-style”, a long scrub, remembering to scrub finger webbing, nails and going about halfway up my forearm), shut water off with my elbow (I am a strange and talented woman) and grab a rag/towel to dry. Your hands will be clean if you wash them properly and then the towel is just wet, not wet and filled with salmonella. If I’m really feeling concerned, then the rag/towel that was just used to dry off with is tossed in my kitchen laundry basket (yep, I have a tiny little hamper in my kitchen to collect all the cloth that gets used) and I grab a fresh rag the next time I have to wash anything.
The only reason Alton Brown recommends using a paper towel is because it seems few people know now to wash their hands properly these days and his producer wants to avoid any sort of litigation issues if someone gets sick using one of his recipes and tries to use the fact that he didn’t warn the viewers of cross-contamination risks. It’s easier to say “use a paper towel” than to re-educate people on hand-washing.
Fabulous, fabulous post!!
I couldn’t find the commercial, it had been removed from youtube. But, the hand drying song is upsetting, implying to a child that their hands are only clean if it is done the “kleenex” way and “no yucky old towel” is gonna ruin my day or something like that. Ugh!
Yes, I thought the song was stupid. And I hate the idea of teaching my kids a song with a brand name in it…it almost seems like brainwashing (obviously, I don’t mean that literally! I just don’t like the idea of pummeling our kids with branding from birth.).
Singing the ABC song works just as well, and is educational as well. I understand there’s an Elmo song as well but I haven’t heard it.
Thank you! I recently saw a commercial for these and at first I thought it was going to be about how to reduce paper towel waste by instead using washable towels, you know, a “GO Green” PSA of sorts. But instead it’s about these awful Kleenex hand towels. It’s like they are purposely going against the entire green movement and have created something that is totally unnecessaryand a complete waste of money and landfill space.
I am also totally agreeing with you on that we don’t need to have our homes clean to the point of sterile. A little dirt & a few germs are what we need to build up our immune system.
Thanks for writing about this!
I 100% agree! I saw the commercial for these about a week ago, and about died. What a stupid, STUPID product to launch in a time when we are all trying to reduce our waste. And I also totally agree about our homes being “too” clean…give me a break! I really hope to see this one fall flat…what a bonehead move on Kleenex’s part.
Since we’ve all survived using regular hand towels so far, why change it? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I can’t really see some wide spread hand towel plague forming anytime soon. But who knows.
Not to mention, isn’t this going the opposite direction of Being Green?
Shame, Kleenex. SHAAAAAMMMME.
Hate the tv ads. Kleenex needs a wake up call.
Amen Kristen!! I have been a reading your posts since seeing you on CBN a few months back and when Kleenex came out with the commercial I knew you would not support the product.
WELL SAID!!! I FIND IT AMUSING THAT THE SAME PEOPLE WHO ARE CHRONIC HAND-WASHERS AND BACTERIA-FIGHTERS STUFF THEIR BODIES WITH FRENCH FRIES, SODA, AND SUGAR ON A REGULAR BASIS. INTERESTING!
bad move, Kleenex! I’m losing even more respect for the company. I was appalled when I saw the first ads and coupons.
U*N*B*E*L*I*E*V*A*B*L*E!!!
I can only imagine that all the frugal blogs are getting a lot of milage out of this one.
for those of you who want to hear the “clean Hand Song” http://www.kleenex.com/HandTowels/handdryingsong.aspx
after reading FG this morning i went to the Kleenex web site to see their sales pitch.
Another un-green aspect of this product is the packaging if you use a box every other day that’s quite a bit of cardboard to recycle.
at $3.50 a package I can almost get thrift store towels and throw them away after only one use (just kidding).I’m so frugal that when my towels start to fray they become cleaning cloths, otherwise known as rags. When the rags are no longer usable they go in the compost. Cotton towels are biodegradable
Actually, I have seen a few frugal blogs that are actually supporting this product because of affiliate revenue and are endorsing it! Just goes to show how many in-it-only-for-the-money bloggers there are who really don’t care about the ethics involved in advertising or endorsing. But, that’s another topic altogether and I’m glad that Kristen seems to take pains to walk that line with integrity.
Ha. If you ever seen me hawking a coupon for a product like this, you’ll know I’ve lost my marbles. I like some affiliate programs, but I always promise that I will never, ever try to promote a product/service that I don’t believe in. That’s why I have ads for things like ING Direct…I love ING to death, and I want you all to experience their fabulousness along with me.
I routinely change out my kitchen towels every morning, and more often if one gets dropped on the floor or I clean up a particularly icky mess. I suppose maybe I should clange out the bathroom hand towel too…..germs must be a good thing as my family of 6-9 (depending on the day of the week) rarely have colds and never get the stomach flu. (now watch us all get sick this weekend since I’ve said that)
That green box reminds me of “hospital green” and grade school bathrooms. Why would I want that in my house? Not to mention that it would clash with my decor.
We should all post our dislike of this product on Facebook!
I have never heard of this product but it’s ridiculous!
Although we are a paper napkin, paper towel, paper plate free home,
I can see that these might be useful in a few weeks when we will
have 13 family members staying for the weekend.
But definately not an everyday product!!!!
I could not believe it when I saw this ad! We are try to cut down on our waste, not increase it! The good old cloth towel is good enough for me and my family!
I had this entire blog post written in my head! I saw those at the store yesterday and I just about fell over. I work in health care and have to wash my hands roughly 30 times a day, and we use paper towels every time. It is the absolute least I can do for the environment to utilize cloth towels at home. I’m ashamed to see this kind of waste in this day and age
I’m with you on this one Kirsten, and happy to see that I am not alone. This is just another of an increasing number of obsessions with health and safety that are conversely making us less safe.
My elder daughter and I are two of the hundreds of subjects of a longitudinal study of pregnancy and childhood being carried out by the Institute of Child Health in Bristol. One of their many findings is that an obsession with cleanliness in the home could be leaving our children open to illnesses such as eczema and asthma. The press release can be found at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac/documents/too-clean-for-our-own-good.pdf.
Thanks for sharing that…it was so interesting to read. And I now feel much better about the fact that my children don’t always wash their hands before meals and the fact that they don’t get baths every single day. lol
Seriously?!? If it ain’t broke…
Hilarious!!!!
Very well said. My mom is a nurse, and says the same thing. Only less comical, lol.
the upside here: when the product flops I can buy it at a reduced cost… and find an actual (good enough) use for it.
This is one of the most entertaining posts I’ve ever read! And I completely agree with you, cleaning companies have a great way of trying to convince us that unless we buy their product, our homes will be so discusting and germ-filled that they will be unlivable. It also brings to mind another commercial that I’ve seen recently, where a company compared people’s home toilets as being just as unsanitary as public toilets. It showed a woman and her young daughter finishing up in the “potty” at home, and the mom used her foot to flush the toilet as if she were going to catch some deadly disease if she touched it with her hands! Come on, people, we’re not that dumb!
Yeah, that’d be called manufacturing a need, I think. If they can scare us into thinking our homes need to be degermed, then we’ll buy more product! And more product! and they’ll make lots of money!
My home bathroom gets yucky sometimes, but it is never as icky as a public restroom. =P
I am definitely one who likes my home to look hotel-like in the sense of order and chic-ness. However, this goes to the cold side of hotel living and is disgusting. When I first saw your tweet I thought, she’s got to be kidding. Nope, Kleenex has officially lost their minds! Who on earth would use these (short of a germaphobe)? They are cold, institutional looking and wasteful. I’m so disappointed in Kleenex.
I haven’t seen any ads about this product. The first I heard of it was yesterday at the Non-Consumer Advocate. I won’t use it so I usually just ignore products like this and their ads. I thought the swiffer was dumb when it first came out, never bought one either. But they sold and still sell plenty so there will be people who buy this. Also how do you think they got so many people to start using bottle water, never thought that would happen.
I don’t even have hand towels we have a bath towel hanging by the sink which gets changed every couple of days. This reminds me of the time I was ask to do a survey and they ask about my Kleenex use. I told them I didn’t use them, you would have thought I was fixing to ask to use their shirt. Needless to say they moved on to the next person.LOL
How much was the coupon for? Because you know if there is a coupon someone somewhere will buy.
I don’t even remember, because I didn’t for a moment consider using the coupon! lol
When I saw an advertisement for this product for the first time, I immediately thought of YOU and how you’d be repulsed with this new product. Um, I believe my suspicion has proven true.
In a world that’s trying to become “greener”, I would be willing to bank on this product failing miserably.
That’s too funny because you’re not the only one who immediately thought of me after seeing the product! lol
Thanks for another great post Kristen!! Not sure if someone else mentioned this yet or not….have you seen the hand soap dispenser that is automatic? This is to help you from touching the germ infested pump on the soap….ummm don’t you wash your hands after you touch the soap pump? Just sayin! I think these two things go hand in hand. Absolutely ridiculous!! I bet there are all kinds of people lining up to purchase both products. Thank you media for making people think they need things that are totally unnecessary. I really hope these companies will someday get on board the green/frugal band wagon.
OK…..Here goes nothing….I bought these.
….waiting for everyone to stop screaming, pick yourself up off the floor and wipe up the cup of coffee you just dropped, before I go on with my reason…..no lightening strike from above so I will go on.
I read this blog everyday with my morning coffee, I have learned to bake bread because of this blog and many other things and I post comments, so I did not feel it right to hide behind a computer and not confess. Will I use these, yes, BUT not for the purpose they are being marketed for, that is COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS! I have and will always use my good ol hand towels that I wash and reuse and have for my entire life in my bathroom and kitchen. So why did I buy THESE…..because I had coupons…strike 2 against me on this one I got mine for $.99 versus their over $3 original price. So what am I going to use these for? My husband uses 1-2 paper towels when he comes home from work to wash his hands, why, because he sometimes uses chemicals at work and even for as harmless as the ones he uses are suppose to be I don’t want him wiping his hands on a towel the rest of us might use. Even if he has his own towel I don’t want it washed in my machine with my other towels to possibly contaminate them. I worry about this enough with his work clothes.
Reason 2, we are avid fisherman in the summer we catch a lot of Walleye which need to be cleaned (all the leftover fish parts are used for fertilizer in the local farmers fields). Wiping fish slime hands and knives on damp washable towel while camping with no access to a washing machine over 3-4 days will create a stench like nothing you have ever smelled, including attracting large horse flies. Disposable is the only way to go in this situation.
Wouldn’t you LOVE to know what our grandparents thought when Kleenex came out with the disposable snot rag to replace the hanky? I am very curious to see if this Kleenex product will survive. I do not think it wil.
Kristen, PLEASE don’t block me from your blog, I love reading it every day!
Kristin
Oh goodness, Kristin! You should never feel like you HAVE to share anything here. Obviously I don’t share every single detail of my life here, and I’m the author, so you as a reader should feel no burden to share more than I do.
And the only reason I will block someone from my blog is if they are creepy, threatening, or consistently rude and you were certainly none of those.
If you got these cheaper than paper towels, I can see why you bought them….paper towels definitely have their place.
Am I the only one worried about how many tree’s they are cutting down just to make it easier for us to dry our hands? Yes these are wasteful but dont forget about the tree’s needed to make these.
I mean seriously people, how lazy can we get? This is the biggest most stupid idea ive seen in a while. Talk about bad timing for Kleenex. Right now people are so much aware of green washing and just plain bad products. Did Kleenex really think we would fall for this idea? Stupid stupid stupid people.
Think I will stick to my fabric napkins, fabric hand towels and wash them over and over again. No tree’s will be harmed and hardly any energy is used to wash them. I line dry all my clothes. This is the biggest waste of money and resources ive seen this year.
A Big Fat Amen to this… and to everyone’s comments concerning it! I too was baffled when I saw the the ads in a magazine recently. For anyone concerned about their hand towels, maybe they just need to consider washing them a little more often! I’m thinking Kleenex might need to re-evaluate their PR department.
I’m working to remove the paper towels from the kitchen. I use wash rags all the time but the one hang up we have is when we fry food (Yes, I fry food–I know it’s bad for me). I didn’t mind using cloth towels for that but cleaning them was tricky. Grease is hard to remove without using some nasty cleaners. Someone please share how they remove grease from rags? If I can do that, the paper towels are gone and my husband (who’s the only one who uses them to dry hands) will have to use the cloth towels. Thanks!
I have not come up with a solution for that yet. I don’t fry a lot, but I do cook bacon and I need some sort of drainage/absorption for that. The best I’ve been able to do is put a paper towel on top of some other sort of paper product, like coupon inserts, thus reducing the need for actual paper towels to one.
Of course, this isn’t any more green, as paper is getting thrown away, but it is cheaper at least!
I’ve always read that it’s not a good idea to put grease-soaked items into the washing machine or dryer, so I’ve never tried to use cloth for this purpose.
This picture popped in my head………..young child using many of these towels and plugging up the toilet.
I saw this on a TV commercial recently (and I was drying my hands at the kitchen sink with a cloth towel) and I just shook my head and thought “SERIOUSLY?!”
I do wonder one thing – maybe a house guest would like these? Perhaps a guest that is at someone’s home for a visit would feel more comfortable using a paper towel than using a family cloth towel? I don’t know… We don’t have guests all that often, but when we do I put out some pretty, folded paper towels (with pretty designs) in a little wire basket – most of the time the guests don’t use them, they use the cloth towel
These are crazy though, but I can name a few friends who probably already have them in their homes because they are germophobics!
When are they going to come out with disposable bath towels and sheets?
I think they’ll have a least a LITTLE trouble selling those. Even hospitals use cloth towels and sheets!
This is worse than the i-maxi, i’d buy the i-maxi (if i brought an i-pad) before this. Hilarious.
I am so glad you posted about this product! I noticed it recently when I was clipping coupons out of the Sunday paper. I had the same reaction that you had. Aside from the ridiculous germ phobia business, I feel like it just promotes laziness… and purchasing yet another product to “save time.” UGH!!! I hope there is public outcry against these. Well said, and thank you!
I had not heard of this product. I hope it fails, fails, fails. What a waste of environmental resources and of money–although on that latter point, that’s the whole idea, from Kleenex’s standpoint, I’m sure. I’m kind of afraid there is a large segment of the U.S. population who actually will go for this product, unfortunately.
Oh this makes me gag. More trash!! I can’t believe it
i agree with you its ridiculous.we do need to be exposed to bacteria and germs.i am a little bit of a germaphobe,but not to a point where i cant see the ridiculousness (is that a word) of these things.people can go nuts with this kind of stuff,antibacterial hand sanitizer,antimicrobial soap,and who knows what else.aside from needing to be exposed to germs and bacteria this product and commercial doesnt make sense,because when your hands touch your regular cloth hand towel they are clean,you just washed them right,so how are you getting germs on the towel if your hands are clean.anyway for these companies to make a buck.
My thoughts exactly when I first saw these advertised! I would rather change my hand towel daily or more often than go through several boxes of these each week! Killing too many trees and too many dollars!
I hadn’t heard of these, but they are now added to my “don’t even go there” list. If this lasts past the product launch, watch for a barely noticable decrease in package size and a big announcement that it is greener because it “Now Uses X% Less Packaging!!!”
Kleenex blows on this one.
This appeals to my inner Monk. . .but really. Aren’t wipes more efficient? The only time I really use things like this is when I’m on the go anyway. It’s a pretty spendy papertowel dispenser; I think I can get them from yonder club as a namebrand for much less for the times when you do need a thousand papertowels all at once. Don’t ask. My puppy and I have differing ideas as to what kleenexes were really invented to do, bless him.
I’m curious, though. Are they going to sell one with lotion in the paper like the puffs?
I totally agree!! Not very green or frugal and yes we do need some bacteria in our lives. I won’t be buying them!
By this logic, when is someone going to make the disposable bath towel?
This is insanity. Why must all these products create so much more waste? I had the same thought when Purex introduced their new laundry sheets. Have we really gotten that lazy that we can’t put detergent and fabric softener in the washing machine? We need the convenience and waste of a laundry sheet?
How sad.
What’s next? Disposable bath towels? Sheets? Clothing?
I know… WHAT was Kleenex thinking????? When I first saw the commercial I thought it was a joke. I laughed out loud! In my opinion, it’s a completely wasteful product to have in the home. I thought we were trying to move away from that kind of waste.
I’m also so tired of the hysteria behind sanitizing everything… it’s good to be clean… but some germs are good for us and promote a healthy immune system.
I think it’s an epic fail… or at least it should be!
Anyone notice that the eeeevvviiillll, gerrrrm-infesssted, old-fashioned hand towel used throughout the day by the whole family in these commercials is a single wash cloth, and not even a full-size hand towel? The Kleenex offering appears to be smaller than a hand-towel, but larger than a wash cloth, so it ‘wins’ in that respect, too.
I agree that it is a wasteful, costly, completely-unnecessary-in-my-life product, but, we, the readers of this and similar blogs aren’t, alas, ‘normal’ modern consumers. Our opinions probably won’t mean a thing to the sales of this product. What I’d like to see is is a counter campaign, maybe by the Cotton Council, encouraging people to use cloth napkins and rags and towels and anything else they could think of. As much as we’d like to see straight Public Service Announcements asking people to use more re-usable towels and napkins, it would probably really take a for-profit entity to do it. Unless someone could persuade Oprah to champion re-usable napkins and towels…
(I’m trying to figure out what major entity would be good for getting out the “don’t worry about the germs in your house, since they came off of you, anyway” message, too)
Looks like I will be boycotting Kleenex to show them what I think of their wasteful new product.
I saw these coupons in the newpaper a couple weeks ago. To be honest, I didn’t even clip them. My family doesn’t use paper towels at all, (there is actually a roll sitting under my dresses that has been unopened for about 3 months. I’ll eventually open it to have something to drain the greese off ground beef) A dish towel is perfect for the kitchen, and we have three small towels hanging up in the bathroom for handwashing.
I honestly don’t think I would use these if they were free.
I am in total agreement!! I am sick of new products being thrust at us under the guise of absolute necessity, the ones that really bug me are the Kleenex Cotonelle for kids range, flushable wipes to make wiping their bums easier, come on!!! I’m not scarred for life from using normal bog roll and the little printed sheets especially for kids and as for those disposable hand=towels, seriously we would go through a pack of those a day in our house!
I totally agree! What the hell is wrong with our society? I blame Purell. I had a woman at my work ask me once if we had hand sanitizer because her hands were dirty. When I directed her to the bathroom, she said ‘but….they’re dirty.’ Apparently purell is magic. Another father asked if we had any hand sanitizer for his kids. I directed him to the bathroom and he said ‘well….we have some in the car.’
Have you seen the lysol hands free soap dispenser (http://www.shoppingblog.com/pics/lysol_no_touch_soap_dispenser.jpg)? Its because the plunger thing on the soap dispenser is dirty and OMG you might get sick. But I would think 99.9% of the time when you touch the soap plunger you are planning to WASH YOUR HANDS so why the worry? Judging by what I see kids to this would waste money because they’d want to play with it. (And its not like you can just put any old soap container in there you have to buy specific lysol ones.
These companies are playing into fears that germs will kill us all dead tomorrow. Now, there are people out there that do have friends/family/themselves with weak immune systems but not all of us and I’ll stick to my regular soap and water and hand towels, thank you very much.
I didn’t know about these until reading your blog. While I can’t say I’ll buy them (because I know I won’t), I *am* interested to see how well they do in the market.
Which is not even why I commented. I commented because of the part of the post where you talk about one use socks, and it brought to mind an odd little thing that happens in my house that I thought I’d share with you:
My partner told me on our first date that if he won the lottery, he’d always have a new pair of socks to wear. Every, single day. Because they just don’t feel the same after they’ve been worn and washed. So every year, as part of his birthday present, I buy him 366 pairs of socks (I get them from a wholesaler). He wears each pair only one time. Then they get washed with the laundry, paired up and put into a huge Rubbermaid bin. When the bin is full, we take it down to the local homeless shelter and donate them all.
They love it at the shelter because one thing the homeless never have enough of are socks (and a lot of people don’t think to donate them). So, while I cater to his totally frivolous desire (which causes him a shocking amount of happiness), we’re still able to be frivolous in a responsible way.
I do agree that we have way too many antibacterial products (I do not use them), but I love these hand towels. First of all, they are not antibacterial. The issue with overuse of antibacterial items is similar to that of overuse of antibiotics, the development of resistant bacteria. Second of all, are you sharing your dirty socks and underwear with other members of your family for a week or two before washing them? Perhaps you take them off and leave them on the towel rack for the next person to use?
I am quite sue you get enough bacteria in your life. Don’t worry too much. But if you are concerned perhaps you could try the underwear sharing thing.
hey, we have the same towels!