Is the Body Dryer the New Black?

Could the demise of the bath towel be at hand? That is exactly what Tyler Overk and Jason Ryu hope to accomplish. The duo is composed of the developer and CEO, respectively, of a Nyack, New York, startup. The company has created the Body Dryer, a new piece of person hygiene equipment that they believe will revolutionize your after-bath regimen.

What is the Body Dryer?

With a sleek, futuristic design that would make George Jetson envious, the Body Dryer at first glance appears to be the love child of a bathroom scale and a high-end air purifier. In practice, that hypothetical union is not as far-fetched as you might first believe.

How Do You Use It?

When a user that is fresh out of the shower, bath, or pool steps onto the Body Dryer, internal motors force a circular column of ionized air upwards at “strategic angles.” In less than a minute–about 30 seconds or so–the water has been pushed off of your body and you are perfectly dry. No muss, no fuss and no towel to launder.

For your comfort, the ionized air can be adjusted to blow hot or cold. While your body is drying, ultraviolet light on the unit sanitizes and disinfects your feet. To top it all off, the Body Dryer also works as a conventional scale.

How Did it Come to Fruition?

Overk says that the Body Dryer was inspired by the unpleasant knowledge of the amount of germs and bacteria that are present and spread when we use and reuse towels to dry our bodies. When one looks at the results of recent studies, it is easy to see that he has a point.

Dr. Charles Gerba, a professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona, has performed a great deal of research on the bacteria that can be found in the bath towels that we use on a daily basis. When you dry off with a towel, skin cells will slough off of your body and stick to the nooks and crannies of the fabric. Bacteria can feed off of those skin cells and live quite comfortably in the woven material of the towel.

Dr. Gerba has performed tests on towels and found an alarming presence of fecal bacteria, E. coli, and even salmonella. Also, if the user has any sort of a wound or skin infection, those can also be transferred to the towel. Most people hang up a towel after drying off and reuse it. In many families, members will grab whatever towel is handy and use it without a second thought.

“So really, every time you think you’re wiping your face off, you’re putting your face in a towel full of E. coli–you might as well stick your head in the toilet and flush.”

Contrary to what you might think, your washing machine does not normally kill that bacteria, unless you are consistently using very hot water and bleach with every load. In fact, some studies show that bacteria can even live in your washing machine, spreading the contamination to other loads.

What’s Next for the Company?

With those thoughts in mind, it seems that the time for the Body Dryer has definitely come. The company applied for a patent for the machine in 2012, and is currently crowdsourcing to raise the funds necessary for their production. They have raised about 60 percent of their goal. If all continues to go well, the models should be available by September of this year. If you like the concept, you can invest in the Body Dryer through their Indiegogo page.

 

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