NorthShoreAdam wrote:
Diapers, Pullups, Briefs, Underwear, ??What do you suggest??.....
Any and all feedback is appreciated. I am eager to make any improvements we can to help people feel more "normal" and better find the products the need. Think about when you first started out and the struggles you may have gone through, if any, to find the right products.Thanks in advance to all for sharing.
Sincerely, Adam
Great question Adam! The terminology that the various companies use to label their incontinence products is quite confusing, especially for someone new to incontinence.
To me (with regard to regular non-protective underwear) the word "Briefs" has always meant a medium to high rise pull-on style garment. Even the generic term "underwear" conjures up the same vision in my mind. Other terms like Lo-Rise, Bikini, Thong, G-String seem descriptive enough and in my mind leave little room for confusion as to the style of underwear being described.
But with regard to protective garments it's a whole other thing. The various companies label their products very inconstantly. For example Depends labels all of their pull-on style products as "Briefs", and I think that would make sense to most people. But then there is their "Adjustable Underwear" which I would think is a pull-up style but it has velcro tabs. At least to their credit, the style and tabs are clearly shown on the front of their package. Likewise their other similar product "Protection with Tabs" is labeled as "Briefs with Adhesive Tabs" and again clearly shown that way on the package. But I'm sure to many the use of the term "Briefs" is confusing since it's used to describe two very different types of their protective garments.
I can only speak for myself here but to me when referring to incontinence products "Briefs" (or the less desirable "Underwear") is a pull-on style, and a tape style is a "Diaper". I too fully understand the unfortunate stigma surrounding the word "Diaper" and here is my only suggestion to get around using that word to describe a tape style garment. I think the term "Protective Garment" might be able to be used. It is a bit generic but at least it doesn't directly conjure up a pull-up style garment.
When it comes to the various pads there is also some confusion in terms but for the most part I think that in the advertising it is critical to
clearly indicate that the item is a flow through type or a containment type pad. After that it's really only a matter of capacity which is another can of worms in itself. The "number of drops" system is again all over the place and the various technical systems don't really reflect what an everyday user can expect to experience. I will say that Northshore does a very good job of accurate descriptions in this area.
And finally, with my Wife and online I use the terms pull-ups and diapers. However when speaking with friends I use what I consider to be the most socially acceptable and immediately understandable term "Depends". Why, it's my way of reducing the impact on
both parties by not throwing an "uncomfortable" word in their face. It's also because unless specifically asked, it's really all they need to know and other more descriptive terms could easily be TMI (To Much Information). Sometimes I do feel that by using the now nearly generic term "Depends" I'm not doing anything to reduce the stigma attached to the word diaper but I guess I'm just not the rebel type. Hope this helps a bit.