Bodyflik: a Squeegee for your Body
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.25.06
Wendy Brodie was tired of doing laundry. “I have three teenagers, and they think the Magic Towel Fairy washes and dries everything.” To save water, energy and a lot of housework she invented the Bodyflik, it's shape inspired by french curves used by draftspeople. It removes up to 75% of the water on your body, reducing towel usage and saving hundreds of gallons of water, not to mention the power and fuel required to run washers and dryers. To top it off, it's made from recycled plastic. Sometimes the simplest of ideas can make a huge difference. Available online for less than ten bucks at ::Bodyflik via ::New York Times
So she "invented" the strigil?
Or you can just use your hands. They work great and are multifunctional and biodegradable. I've been doing that for years.
Dear Brodie Family,
It's a strigil and towel racks are for drying towels so they can be reused.
xxx ooo
For what it's worth, neither the Bodyflik website nor the NYT article say she "invented" anything. Only the Treehugger summary of the NYT article says that.
I agree about just using your hands, though. That's what I've done for decades.
And for what it's worth, the strigil was designed to "scrape dirt and sweat from the body." (Wikipedia) This thing's apparently specifically for water.
Hey cranky people --
A strigil was used in ancient roman times to scrape dirt and oil off your body. Looking at some examples, I wouldn't want to use one post-shower to dry off. And towels do eventually need to get washed, especially when used by teens, who tend to leave them balled up on their floor for a few days.
Granted, air-drying or shaking off helps, and I can't imagine getting teenage boys to use this, but give the woman some credit.
I find that a thin wash cloth works well for drying the body. Just wring it out a few times. Great for traveling.
Mirofiber towels such as those used to clean cars are great for absorbing water and wringing out to almost dry, but they feel strange against the skin. You can buy similar towels in larger sizes in camping stores.
LA: my first reaction on seeing this thing was that it would be great for camping so that I didn't have to pretend to dry myself with those horrible microfibre towels.
Living in coastal Australia, I find the summer humidity almost prevents air drying the body, we hang towels outside when possible, finding that a combination of wind and indirect sun keeps the towles pretty clean.
I often shave after a shower, leaving myself to air dry, generally the only bathmat and a small towel get wet.
I agree that microfibre towels are pretty lame on the comfort side of things, great for camping, but not so great for everyday use.
Chalk me up for the hand scrape method too. The Bodyflik is neat, but to me, it's yet another unnecessary product to add to the pile of doodads that consumers love to buy.
Yup, I just use my hand after taking a shower to flick away a lot of the water.
Even MORE enviro-friendly.