That's right, folks - we only need $100 more in donations to fund our proposal to subject yours truly (and anyone else I can convince) to repeated patch testing using Pampers Dry Max and previous Pampers diapers. Thanks to consumers like you, we now have our:

• Urine money: We've identified a brand of synthetic urine which "contains all the ingredients normally found in urine and is balanced for pH, specific gravity, creatinine, and several other urine characteristics," as well as satisfying the very important criteria of probably not smelling like urine!


• Dry Max diaper money: One small package should do it.

The other $100 we need to fund this project will cover bandages and medical tape to construct patches, a dermatologist co-pay to address any nasty rashes, and the cost of having a reader ship pre-Dry Max diapers to us to use as our control group. Our goal is not to replicate the kind of heinous rash parents are reporting from using Pampers Dry Max diapers; we aren't even sure that would be possible to replicate in adult skin testing (elbows and wrists, thank you very much). Our aim is to do comparative patch testing of pre- and post-Dry Max diapers under a variety of conditions - dry, wet, and wet with synthetic urine - to see if either of them cause a rash on an adult subject and, if so, if one of those rashes is worse than the other. If Dry Max diapers cause bigger, longer-lasting, or faster-acquired skin rashes, we think we'll have some significant user experience and a compelling story to contribute to the Dry Max debate.

But this project can only move forward if concerned consumers can chip in another $100. The $130 we've raised so far has come in five, ten, twenty, and twenty-five-dollar increments. If you're interested in seeing this proposal become a reality, click here to join us. The funds raised are used solely to cover our material expenses for this project, not to pay us for our time or efforts. That's on us. All donors will be provided access to a private newsletter sharing our ongoing progress on ZRecs Research projects, and we'll seek advice from the group as we develop new ones.