Ashlander creates new product intended to solve old problem

By John Darling
For the Daily Tidings
Posted Sep. 10, 2014 @ 6:40 pm
Updated Sep 10, 2014 at 6:51 PM

Shallan Ramsey of Ashland has found a problem that no one else seems to have recognized — and she has invented a fix for it, which she hopes will make her successful and wealthy.
The problem is that women need a safe, easy way to dispose of used feminine hygiene products, where they won’t end up in wastebaskets or trashcans, exposed to view of others — and won’t smell, or pose a hazard from blood-borne organisms, either.
Her simple but ingenious device, called MaskIT, is an opaque biofilm bag that you stick your hand into, enfolding the used pad or tampon (also the packaging, for the sake of privacy), turn it inside out, seal it with built-in adhesive and it becomes safe, sterile and covert.
“It’s impassable to fluids and won’t start to smell bad,” she says.
It was “born” Sept. 1 and may be found on shelves at Ashland’s Shop n Kart — where she demonstrated it for the press — and other retail outlets.
Over the past two years, Ramsey, 36, a single mom of three, taught herself all aspects of inventing, patenting, financing, incorporating, finding a manufacturer, packaging, marketing and doing it all in earth-friendly ways.
The biofilm is made from plant starch, vegetable oils and polymers that will compost in landfills. The packaging is degradable and done with earth-friendly inks. All manufacturing, shipping and other processes are done within a 30-mile radius around Fullerton, Calif., thus lessening costs and environmental impact, she notes.
“Finding a manufacturer was extremely hard,” she says. “I wanted it made in the U.S. but there simply aren’t as many manufacturers here, and it’s more expensive. So many manufacturers told me ‘no.’”
The light bulb went on for Ramsey as she beheld the endless array of feminine hygiene products but noticed a glaring gap in the end process.
“You can wrap them in a ton of toilet paper, which most women do, but that doesn’t solve the problem, really,” she says. “So many women flush them down the toilet, but sewage treatment plants hate that. People flush them in restaurants, too, causing big plumbing problems. If you have a septic tank, you can’t flush it. Lots of women take it outside to the trash can right away, but that doesn’t solve the problem. There were no solutions. It was literally ridiculous.”
If the product takes off, Shallan says it’s likely to be copycatted, but what makes hers special is that, “Although we are trying to build a successful business, it’s about way more than money to me. MaskIT is ultimately a reflection of me, and so I make business decisions I feel good about, even if that means paying five times more for materials to use compostable biofilm or twice as much to manufacture in the States.”
The product is explained at www.MaskIT.us, which also has a video showing use. It depicts a woman in the bathroom at a small party, struggling with where to dispose of used items, ducking the hug of a guy friend, dashing to a trashcan out in the open in the kitchen — all very embarrassing and with no good solution in sight. The next shot shows her using MaskIT, hugging the guy and popping it in the open waste basket with no worries.
“You never have to even touch it,” says Shallan. “It keeps everything discreet. No one has to know you’re having your period … Everyone loves it. They say they never won’t use it again.”
The clip ends with the slogan, “Keep your cycle under wraps.”
Shallan has conferred with large chains at business conventions and plans the national launch Oct. 1.