HAIR TRAPWinter 2019 | Human-Centered Product Design course | Northwestern University
Many of us have cringed at a shower wall littered with the long hair of a sister, friend, or long haired relative. Hair Trap is a device that removes hair from hands and shower surfaces, then disposes of the hair without the user having to interact with it. Developed through research, user interviews, and user testing, the Hair Trap catches hair off shower walls, floors, and even off hands to make cleaning off hair less difficult and disgusting. The bristles are designed and tested to effectively trap hair in one swipe and be soft on your hands, while the squeezing mechanism removes hair and grime from the brush without having to ever directly touch it.
MARKET & USER RESEARCHFrom surveying over 30 individuals, we identified shower cleanliness and clogging as a problem area. We began with competitive product analysis and user interviews to identify the biggest pain points in shower cleanliness, our potential target user, and what products were already on the market and how they were succeeding and failing.
Some responses from a survey we sent out regarding cleaning hair in showers
Competitive product analysis of current market products
From surveying and talking with users, we found that one of the largest issues with shower cleanliness was hair clogging drains, and that users were frequently disgusted by hair of unknown origin or that was not their own. Users were quite animated in their disgust with hair and cleanup options:
“It’s wet and clumped and stays in drain and you have to put your hand in drain and it NEVER unsticks from your hand.”
“There’s a grate along one edge that fills up with everyone’s hair and the only way I know how to clean in is with a paper towel and just grabbing chunks of hair. It’s pretty nasty.”
“I don’t get how people just leave their hair everywhere!! It’s just so gross and I don’t want to clean it up.”
A review of competitive products showed that current solutions attempt to stop hair from entering the drain or drag it out of the drain, but these solutions eventually allowed clogging buildup and required the user to interact with ‘gross’ material. We saw a gap in the market for a solution that dealt with hair before it ever had a chance to enter the drain.
IDEATION AND PROTOTYPINGAfter performing market research and competitive analyses, we brainstormed and created some initial prototypes to test with users.
USER TESTING We did multiple rounds of user testing and interviews with our initial prototypes, and followed a testing plan and recorded feedback to inform our design. The average of the results of 30 user tests are tabulated below, with acceptable results based on specifications highlighted in green.
FACTOR TESTING Using the results of our analysis and feedback from our users, we developed a new design. There were different factors that would affect the performance of our design, so we used the design of experiments method to determine how the relationships between different factors affected our our outcomes. We choose 3 factors: bristle material, bristle shaping, and bristle spacing, and tested to determine which combination of factors yielded the highest hair removal with the least number of attempts.
FINAL PRODUCTThe final product consisted of a combination of cone bristles (better for getting hair off of hands), cylindrical bristles (better for getting hair off of surfaces), and a press release mechanism that sweeps the hair into the garbage without the user having to come in contact with it. The center white piece was 3D printed and the clear acrylic body was laser cut and glued together.
