Wellness Briefs

[Billiardnut]

I am very surprised the Wellness brief doesn't have a spot here in the diaper forum.

I just ordered a case of these after trying them out. Their absorbency and ability to stand up to wearing them for 8 - 12 hours is

very comparable to Abena and Bambino. In fact, I have wore Abenas for some time and was needing to order more however, they were out of large, (along with Bambino) so I tried the Wellness brief and I must say that I am very impressed with them.

My review is based on large Abena L4 vs. large Wellness brief. I am sure there is not much difference between sizes but dont want to mislead anybody

Crinkle sound is fair

Large is greenish color

Thickness is about same as Abena L4, they seem to get a little thicker as they get wet

Fit is a little odd and takes a bit to get it down. Now that I am used to their fit, they are snug and dont leak at all

They seem to wick wetness away - more than Abena does actually

They have a smell, not sure how to categorize it. It is not a bad smell, just a smell.

These are advertised as a 8 - 12 hour diaper and they will hold up to that - even with a major flood or two

Tapes are very strong and sticky. They have the double layer type that you can remove the bottom part and either re-tape it or reposition.

-- Only issue I have with tapes is that they are very sticky from their factory "position" If you pull to hard you can tear them, takes a kind hand to prepare them for the initial tape.

Tapes hold up to pulling and tugging to make tape - top tape stays as tight as you put it.

They do get a little baggy as they get wet - about the same as Abena

You can request a free sample at their website.

http://www.wellnessbriefs.com/

[AutieAB]

I am very surprised the Wellness brief doesn't have a spot here in the diaper forum.

There have been a couple of threads and I agree, they are quite good. The Dry 24/7 sticky might be of interest - to all intents and purposes, they're the same diaper AFAIK.

[square_duck]

I'm bumping this thread up hoping to get it pinned as I have used many of this brand and they really are a great product!

I wear a medium, which are blue. A note here though is that I ordered some "factory seconds" from DME (disposable medical express) at a severe discount, and even though they were factory seconds, they performed great! They hold a LOT, fit (me) well, are comfortable and most of all are discreet! They are thin enough for wearing under pants or jeans without the need for 'larger sizing' to hide bulk. The plastic shell is crinkly, but not to bad. If you wear underwear or plastic pants over them, the noise disappears.

As I said, they hold a LOT! They bulk up and swell up as they absorb more, and I have worn them until they were soaked, but I think they could have held more.

For me, the ideal set up is a disposable with some cloth lined plastic pants. I did this recently with a wellness brief and wore them for 12 hours...no problem. I did get tired of the diaper though, and like the dry 24/7, you just need to change regardless if it maxed out or not.

These are an 'extended wear' item, and work great.

My only issues are miner really, but only due to personal preference.

I like white diapers, but the blue ones are nice for 'boy' colors though this isn't really an 'issue'.

* they don't have any kind of elastic waist band I have some older wellness briefs, which DO have a nice waistband, and are a different color blue, almost a sapphire blue, which contrasts with the pretty white inner liner...very nice. I guess they got rid of the waist band to save on costs. *shrug*

But thats about it! They have all the other features that I want in a diaper. The stand up leak guards are great, and most everything else performance wise is outstanding.

IF you get the factory seconds you save a LOT of money, but they do have their issues, which I haven't had to date. I have had some 'pin hole' leaks, but f you wear the cloth lined plastic pants, that doesn't matter

They still fit well, but maybe the wetness indicter strip is off center (BFD) or some other 'slight' defect which caused them to be rejected.

Over all they are a great product at a great price....if you can get them. The last time I checked DME, they still had some, but in smaller packages. I got 60 (3/4 case) for $42.95. They currently have bags of 20 for $19.95, which is a H*U*G*E savings, if you don't mind that they are factory seconds

*Please pin!*

[flyfisher1]

Totally agree that the Wellness Brief are equal to or better than Abena. A great product for sure - definitely gets abit heavy and bulky after the 5th or 6th wetting. The Dry 24/7 is in the same class for sure. All 3 have excellent capacities, but because of that feature they all get extremely heavy, bulky, and saggy when full of pp. I personally wear my onesie buttoned with a couple of extra pins just in case to keep them from sagging down to far, especially when out in public.

[dmavn]

Yes, a onesie is a definite need I your using a premium diaper for more then one or two wettings. To me it is a waste if you are changing that early anyways. I was pulled in to my old position to train a new hire which unfortunately is 1500-2000 feet from the closest bathroom, so I am back to wearing dry 24/7's 24/7 now heh. With my urge incontinance I could usually get away with a pull up during the day and the 24/7's just at night and on long trips.

Unfortunately I only have one set of clothes that I can wear over these that include a baby blue polo onesie and a matching nylon tracksuit. Would be nice if I had more then one of these suits 'cus it is my favorite, but as it stands now I am wearing the same thing to work every day. At least until the rest of this spare tire comes off. I'm 5'4 and wear mediums as my "fat" diaper. I can still squeeze in to a small if I have to, but just barely.

The only problem I have found with onesies is trying to find ones that fit right. They should fit snug around the legs like a pair of underwear briefs and there shouldn't be more then an inch or two of extra material in the body to wear if you have your diaper on dry with a onesie only, and bend over and touch your toes you should feel a very slight pull down your back to the crotch, but nothing binding or taught. I get mine from easyaccessclothing, but most others I have tried have leg openings 3-5 inches too wide that I have had to sew by hand to make fit right and this is a crucial area when it comes to actually supporting a diaper in a normal active day.

Enough of my rant, I am a function before fashion type of person anyways. I really need to try the wellness briefs again. For some reason I don't recall them being as good as people are saying a number of years ago.

[gah!ghost]

Northshore recently started stocking them and I like ordering from them via Amazon due to the Prime shipping. You pay slightly more than some other places, but the shipping is free and two day and easily makes up for the cost difference in most cases. Anyway, they where all out of Molicare Super Plus Mediums on Amazon and I saw Unique Wellness which I have not seen before. I read a bunch of reviews and they seemed kind of all over the place so I decided to give them a try.

Only got them today, so haven't tried them out yet. First impressions though are that I like the plastic and they're relatively thick. In the sort of Tranquility ATN range. I think they would benefit greatly by an Abri-Let Maxi insert since those are all pulp and the Wellness brief seems mostly SAP. Unfortunatly I only have regular Abriform inserts at the moment, but I'm sure they'll help in the thickness and fast wicking department.

I think though for thinner high-SAP diapers I probably will still prefer the ATN or Molicare Super air active, the plastic backed ones with the breathable wings and stretchy tapes. I love those Molicares, just wish they had more pulp. They're like diapers from the future. The plastic/cloth mix is the best of both worlds for me and the stretchy tapes make what is already a comfortable diaper, due to Molicare's stretchy plastic, even more comfortable. Come to think of it, they might have done the stretchy tapes since with the cloth side panels there's not as much flex there as there would be with their plastic backing.

We'll see though about the Wellness briefs after I try them out.

[gah!ghost]

Quick review:

Fit and Comfort: The fit is okay, I would put them near the bottom of the middle of the brands I have tried. They stay up really well even when very wet. My problem is more with the leg gathers which aren't super comfortable and the cut of the seat. The leg gathers are kind of itchy and after wearing for awhile started to bother my skin. I have very sensitive skin, but I think anyone would get chaffed by them eventually. Especially if you where to wear them for the suggested eight hours. The cut of the seat, at least on me, didn't fully cover my rear. I'm not exactly wide of hip or large of butt either. My guess is a lot of girls would have even more issue with them.

Thickness and Padding: I woud put them somewhere between a Molicare Super Plus and a Tranquility ATN thickness wise. Like the later they have a pretty large portion of SAP and also a pretty good dryness layer. They swell up a lot when wet. The crotch is noticeably thicker than the rest as well, something I haven't noticed on other diapers. My one main complaint is again the seat which has pretty much the same width of padding as the front. I personally like a fair bit of padding in the seat just for comfort.

Plastic shell and Noise: One of the few things I do really like about them is the plastic. It's very smooth and slightly rubbery and for me causes less chaffing than anything else I have ever tried. If you sweat I could see the more rubbery plastic sticking to your skin but I pretty much don't sweat. Noise wise, they're a lot louder than I would have guessed based on how the plastic feels. Usually the more rubbery the plastic the less noise. They're about as noisy as the Abena X-Plus.

Absorbency: This is the thing they market like crazy for these things. All over their website and the packaging there's talk about how much money you'll save because you don't have to change as often. Their suggestion is that you change every eight hours. This I cannot see ever working. Maybe if you're in the desert and only drinking 12 ounces of water a day or something. I'd say four hours is probably more realistic. Maybe it could hold eight hours worth of urine but unless you have skin of steel I wouldn't suggest it. That said the absorbency is good, I would guess in the same range as other higher end diapers like the Molicare Super Plus, Abena X-Plus, and Bambino. Surprisingly they hold up pretty well to flooding as well given that they seem to be very high in SAP content.

Overall they're decent but at about $1.50 a diaper I'd rather buy Molicare Super ($1.09), Super Plus ($1.41), Abena Deltaform ($1.25), Abena X-Plus ($1.43), Tranquility ATN ($1.05), or even Dry 24/7 which are more expensive at $1.64 each but a much much better diaper. I'm glad I tried them but am unsure if I'll ever buy them again, if they where more like $1.00 each or less I'd be more inclined to buy them again.