Our new Wouche Away™ Soothing Prebiotic Cleanser ~ from Eww to Ahh™
We are ecstatic to be launching Glyciome’s first patent-pending product, our Wouche Away™ personal cleanser for everyone in your family! You can learn more about how others are using this amazing product and why we love it! One of the main uses we have found for Wouche Away has been for reducing and/or replacing toilet paper (“TP”), which can be easy, cost-effective and NOT GROSS, I promise!
When I first heard the term “reusable toilet paper” I thought it sounded completely nuts and really gross. But I have an autoimmune “lady-parts” issue (vulvodynia/provoked vestibulodynia). I have always thought maybe TP was involved in making this worse and started to research what people meant by “reusable toilet paper”. Little did I know that something we use every day has no real safety regulation, causes potential harm, and can be so easily reduced or replaced in daily life.
- If you want to see why TP can be irritating … tear your brand cross-wise in front of sunlight, and look at all the floating fibers in the air. These can be left behind when you wipe, causing chronic irritation!
Although the environmental aspects of reducing TP use are a bonus for our family, this was not the primary driver for us. Each family that learns our Wouche Away from Eww to Ahhh system sees different benefits for their own use (less septic system stress, less water use, easier/cleaner potty training…). Here are some of the reasons to go from Eww to Ahh with Wouche Away and ditch the TP.
TP is expensive for us and the environment. Globally we use ~10 Billion Miles of TP a year – Enough to travel to the sun and back every 7 days. The 42 million tons of TP that we use each year, requires 712 million trees and over 1,000 million TONS of water to make.
TP isn’t regulated by the FDA. This means there are very few rules for what can be in a product that touches our private parts every day. In fact, the limited studies done have shown that TP can contain chemicals and fibers that cause irritation and more. Some TP contains high phthalates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), formaldehyde and semi-volatile chlorinated organic compounds (SVCOC) that elevate cancer and chronic skin irritation risk (Adjei et al., 2019; Majerovich et al, 2010). Even TP from recycled paper contains chemicals like BPA (Liao & Kannan 2011). When healthcare providers have proposed that chronic vaginal irritation could be from TP (we have a very high rate of vaginal irritation in our society), they were not able to get straight talk about what all was in these products “toilet paper manufacturers… refuse(d) to provide consumer information, claiming proprietary rights to trade secrets” (Majerovich et al, 2010). In young folks and our elders especially, use of dry TP increases vaginal and rectal irritation, itching and infection (Bruhl & Schmauz, 1998; Cemek et al., 2016). Although wet wipes help reduce irritation, their ingredients have been shown to cause mucosal damage and harm healthy bacteria, in part because the ONLY way to keep bacteria and mold from growing in wet wipes is to have a lot of preservatives or chemicals that kill bacteria in the formulation (learn more about ingredients in wet wipes).
- In contrast, Using dry wipes, that are wetted only as needed for cleaning, allows the use of our novel mild Wouche Away formula to optimize and support tissue health and pH.
I started on my journey to reduce and replace TP in May 2020 and tried many different Companion products to the Wouche Away, to find what worked best for me. I am squeamish about “poo” stuff so anything involving “wet”, “buckets”, “stains”, or a smelly bathroom was off limits. I have been using this system since December 2020, and others have adopted it based on the freshness, odor reduction and irritation prevention they have experienced. Now, I rarely have TP touch my front or back sides and my life-long irritation is much improved. Check out my step-by-step guide to reducing or replacing TP.
References:
Adjei et al., 2019 Toxicol Rep Nov 18;6:1263-1272.
Liao and Kannan 2011 Environ Sci Technol Nov 1;45(21):9372-9.
Majerovich et al., 2010 Canadian Family Physician 31 Mar 56(4):350-352
Bruhl & Schmauz 1998 Zentralbl Hyg Umweltmed Feb;200(5-6):562-70.
Cemek et al., 2016 J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol Jun;29(3):223-7.
https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/consumption/other-products/environmental-impact-of-toilet-paper/story
https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/cpg-sec-100600-status-facial-tissues-paper-napkins-paper-towels-and-similar-paper-products