This Genius Device Turns Toilet Paper Into Baby Wipes & You Need It Now

If you've ever dealt with the aftermath of a baby wipe flushed down a toilet, then the Fohm Home Starter Pack is something you want to know about. An ingenious device that turns ordinary toilet paper into an actually flushable baby wipe with just a little bit of water, it's budget-friendly, eco-friendly, and won't destroy your pipes. (See, don't you want to know more about it?)

From the moment we bought our first child home, my husband made the kids promise us one thing: Don’t flush any baby wipes down the toilet. So paranoid were we that we’d have to hire a plumber at 3:00 a.m. to unclog an overflowing toilet that my husband banned baby wipes from our house entirely. And well, then, we had two more babies, so back in came the wet wipes. But now they might be taking their leave once again, thanks to Fohm, which basically eliminates the need for baby wipes altogether.

So here’s the problem with baby wipes. They’re bad. Like, really bad for the environment. And the flushable wipes aren’t as eco-friendly as you might think. They disintegrate into micro-plastics, which then are eaten by innocent little fishies swimming about in the ocean. Which is what makes Fohm ($49, fohm.co) so fabulous. Fohm is a pH-balanced, paraben-free, and fragrance-free cleanser that converts your current TP into a wet wipe. That’s right, no special toilet paper is necessary — whatever roll you’ve got in your bathroom will work.

The Fohm Home Starter Pack comes with a dispenser and a 6-week supply of cleanser (refills are available for $7 for a 1-month supply). That’s definitely cheaper than buying baby wipes in bulk — and you won’t be wreaking havoc on the earth’s oceans, either.

The Fohm design is also kind of brill. You just put the toilet paper underneath the dispenser and the touch-less system dishes out the exact amount of cleaner you’ll need in order to have a shiny hiny. Being able to put the toilet paper underneath (and never touch the mechanism with soiled hands) is infection control at its finest. Plus, it’s white, so it’s going to match whatever décor you have in your bathroom.

And if we’re getting real here, sometimes toilet paper just doesn’t get the job done. I don’t need to go into specifics, because ya’ll know what I’m talking about. Fohm allows your TP to do double duty on your… well, you know.

Sure, a moist wipe certainly feels nicer on the tush than toilet paper. Which is why it might be hard to break the baby wipe habit. But couldn’t you just wet your toilet paper, slather on some soap, and call it a day? Not really. “Fohm uses the exact same type of cleanser that you find in a baby wipe, except Fohm's cleanser is paraben free, pH balanced, alcohol free — some wet wipes contain alcohol and it leads to dry or irritated skin,” Jerry Staub, co-founder of Fohm, tells Romper.

If you’re perplexed as to how much you’ll need to squirt to be clean, Staub offers some explanations: “You’ll need just the normal amount of toilet paper that a person would typically use,” says Staub. “So for 1 ply toilet paper it could typically be 4-5 squares, for 2 or 3 ply toilet paper, that could be 2-3 squares.” And while a baby wipe tends to be woven (and therefore stronger), “adults who use toilets don't have as extensive needs,” reports Staub. “Any type of toilet paper (whether 1 ply, 2 ply, 3 ply) holds together well when used with Fohm due to the viscosity of the foam.” Thanks for the potty talk, Jerry.

Now, it’s probably not feasible to carry Fohm around in your diaper bag, but at least for all the diaper changes you do at home, or for the adults in the house that want a cleaner bathroom experience, it’s a much more eco-friendly option than wet wipes. No ifs, and's, or (you know what’s coming), butts about it.