DIY diaper dissection: Handle SAP with care

Several readers have written in that they have diapers at various stages of Pampers' transition and they are planning to dissect them as we did here to see what is inside. This feels, frankly, revolutionary. However, please observe the following when doing so:

The most precautionary measures you could take would be to wear eye protection, a face mask, and gloves. Most would call this excessive, but we aren't telling you not to. Sodium polyacrylate dust can irritate your lungs and will irritate your eyes or mucous membranes if it comes into contact with them.

This means the most basic precautions you should take are:

• Do not inhale SAP when removing it from the diaper.


• Minimize direct handling of SAP and wash your hands well after doing so.


• Do not touch eyes, mucous membranes, children, spouses, etc. while conducting your investigations.


• Do not allow children to participate in your diaper-dissecting activities.


• If you are dissecting a diaper from some intermediate phase of the conversion to Dry Max (Pampers appears to have changed features gradually over their production line, rather than all at once) take photographs and send them to us at editors {at} zrecs *dot* com.

Have fun, and let us know what you find.

Questions for Pampers

We've compiled a list of must-know questions for Pampers and sent them on with a blogger who is being flown to the company's headquarters in Cincinnati for a tour and sit-down. We have also contacted Pampers directly numerous times (and numerous people there) and so far they will not return our calls. We'll publish these questions and send them to them via email later today.

A big step for us

We'll be announcing a major initiative later today that we hope you'll support. As we have researched the Pampers Dry Max issue it has become clear that there is really only one more place for us to go in researching these diapers (beyond our social media post, which we are working hard but also very thoughtfully on, and probably won't have up until Monday). Please stay tuned for an announcement of our plan, which we believe is a first for a blog like ours. [Update: Find out what it is.]