Sometimes we look at a product and think "who would buy that, and why?"
For me the "Flowbee" home haircutting tool comes to mind. If you're unfamiliar, it's a shaver you attached to your vacuum cleaner so you hair was pulled past cutting blades.
It was sold on late night infomercials in the 1990s.
Who wouldn't want to style their hair like this?
As fabulous as that looks, results did vary with most veering toward "yikes!" yet by 2000 the company reported 2 million were sold.
And *surprise* you can still buy one—for about $150.
It seems no matter how bad a product is, someone will buy it.
Reddit user NoBridge255 asked:
"Which product doesn't work as it should, but people still buy it?"
Unflushable Wipes
"Septic tank safe flushable toilet wipes."
"The gentleman that pumps our tank brought me outside to see the evidence when his hose clogged. Sorry about that, Clint."
~ TwinkleToesMamaFox
"Amen! I work water and sewer for the town I live in, 80-90 percent of the sewer issues are from a huge chunk of 'flushable wipes'. Yea, they went down the toilet then gathered up in the city's main!"
~ Uhhhhhhhhhusername
Don't Tear Here
"Any cardboard package with perforated 'Tear Here' lines."
"They never tear there."
~ nino2244
"As an engineer, one of my peeves is a product where the perforation is the structurally strongest part of the whole thing."
~ UlrichZauber
Useless Cleanse
"Anything that is supposed to cleanse, flush, or remove 'toxins' from one's body."
~ MR_NIKAPOPOLOS
"People forget that we have organs in our bodies that do this already."
~ augdog71
Brace Yourself
"Those silly copper bracelets that supposedly do everything from healing things to fixing your golf game."
~ cmparkerson
Printless
"Every printer I have ever purchased no matter how expensive is the flakiest of products I ever own. Wifi constantly disconnects, PC's constantly have connectivity problems with them no matter if it is USB, WIFI or ethernet or all three."
"When you finally connect to them unless you print on them every week they will no longer work, ink will leak, or be dry and the printer is destroyed."
"Get a laser printer? You now skip the ink drying issues but the other issues still remain. That device has dementia."
~ Slobbadobbavich
Lowest Bid
"Whenever something is marketed as 'military grade', I recall the DOD-procured wrench that broke on me right after I removed the tape from it."
~ QaPlaH1981
"Military grade simply means 'made within our generally vague specifications for the lowest price'."
~ richwarlockfinger
The Glitches
"The Sims 4 expansion packs."
~ imperialviolet
"I miss the days where games had to work out the box and didn't rely on day 1 patches or, hell, with The Sims it's like 6 months after they finally patch out 25% of the glitches."
~ McRibSucks
Bladder Uncontrolled
"Living with my mother who was incontinent near the end of her life….all 'medical supply' style adult disposable diapers. Depends and McKesson ought to be a shamed of themselves for putting out such godawful products."
"Thank God for the folks at Northshore Care. They actually made products that did what they were supposed to do."
"And it allowed my mother to sleep soundly at night and function throughout the day without having to worry about feeling embarrassed in front of others."
~ Flynn_lives
Ax The Axe
"Pretty sure no woman has smelled Axe body spray and thought ‘I really wanna have sex with him, he smells amazing!'."
~ frodosbitch
"As a woman I can confirm, I despise the scent of Axe body spray."
~ GirlMayXXXX
"Can confirm, makes me nauseous and want to run away."
~ Myhairison_fire
Can Mangler
"Every can opener ever purchased from a dollar store."
~ Theearthhasnoedges
"Man, it feels like every can opener these days. Growing up we had the same can opener for YEARS and now I feel like I need a new one every year."
~ dougielou
Fire Hazard
"Gas cans with their mandated safety spouts. It takes two hands to operate them."
"Very unwieldy, especially when filling small tools like chain saws. Often leads to spillage."
~ Fablabster
"The annoying irony is that they were created to stop spillage, yet they are so difficult to operate, that I have spilled far more fuel since the change than I EVER spill with a regular old funnel."
~ CivilRuin4111
Don't Tell Snuggle
"Fabric softener dryer sheets ruin the absorbency of your bath towels."
~ Other_Molasses2830
"Also ruins wicking fabrics—clothing that is designed to dry quickly"
"And ruins fleece—destroys the soft/fluffiness."
~ 0ttr
Viral Load
"Personal AntiVirus software. It all sucks and doesn’t effectively work."
"And even then, the most effective is actually Windows Defender which is built in and free."
~ pentesticals
Close Shave
"Disposable razors. Especially the 3-5 blade ones that cost a ton of money."
"I avoided shaving because anything other than a single pass from a trimmer would irritate the hell out of my skin."
"I tried out a unbranded basic safety razor, and the difference is unbelievable. Far less irritating that an electric razor and the disposable razors. Takes fewer passes to actually get shaved. And the blades cost pennies, so you can literally use a fresh blade every time if you heart so desires."
"I have no idea how the advertising industry convinced us that modern 3+ blades nightmares are remotely good."
~ SelectCase
🤦♂️🤦♀️🤦
"Memory soles. The ones you put into your shoes."
"I bought them, put them in my shoes, went upstairs and STILL forgot what I went up there for."
"Don't be fooled people. They do not work."
~ KittySpanKitty
I never bought a Flowbee, but I have fallen victim to can openers.
Many, many can openers. Pull-tops are my friend.
What products would you add to the list?
@WhiteHouse/X
