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SIZING
The Northshore Supreme Diaper comes in four sizes:
•Small 22” to 32” waist or hip
•Medium 28” to 44” waist or hip
•Large 40” to 58” waist or hip
•X-Large 48” to 64” waist or hip
*NOTE: This is the FIRST product to receive all “very good” ratings in our reviews! Read the review and you’ll understand why.
The fit of the Northshore Supreme gets an “very good” rating due to the fact that they will definitely fit what their sizing says. I wear a large, as I have a 40” waist and prefer the larger fit of a large diaper, and I have NO doubt that the side wings are plenty large enough to go up to a 58” waist or hip. The leg openings are large enough, but not so large as to be loose if you are at the smaller end of the sizing.
CONSTRUCTION
The Northshore Supreme Brief has a white plastic outer covering. They have a printed wetness indicator, that is printed in liquid soluble ink that disappears when the diaper gets wet to indicate a need for a change. They also have the single line yellow “glue based” wetness indicator that indicates when the brief has reached a higher capacity than it takes to dissolve the water soluble ink indicator. The usable capacity of this diaper is SO high that the ink soluble wetness indicator vanishes before full usable capacity is reached. The wetness indicators are very faint though, and really should not be visible under a pair of thin white pants or shorts. There are two dual layer adhesive tapes on each side. The dual layer tapes have a blue tape that attaches to the plastic backing of the diaper with a white tape tab on top of it. When you need to unfasten and refasten the tape, you pull up on the white tape leaving the blue one behind. When you want to refasten the tape, you put the white tape right back on the blue tape and you have the same fit as you did when you first put them on! The ends of both the white and the blue tapes are very easy to grasp and should be no problem for those who have limited dexterity to fasten and unfasten. The tapes are VERY strong and DO NOT slip at all. The Supreme diaper has very tall and effective standing inner leak barriers IF you make sure to “activate” them when you go to put the diaper on. This is not at all a complicated process and pretty much involves just stretching the diaper out to make them stand up. There are directions for this on the bag. There is no elastic waist band at all on the Northshore Supreme Brief.
The plastic backing on these briefs is very strong. This plastic does NOT stretch at all when you move. I have seen no evidence of any kind of pinhole or plastic weakness AT ALL, and judging by the quality of this brief, I don’t think I ever will. The plastic backing is actually quite quiet for as strong as it is! If you were wearing this diaper under jeans, no one would ever know it was there. Under a pair of sweat pants, there may be some noise but VERY little. If you prefer a cloth like diaper, they make this EXACT same diaper in a cloth version called the Northsore AirSupreme Brief.
The Northshore Supreme has an elastic waistband at the back to help with fecal containment. What I have found is that the absorbency and rewet absorbency are SO fast and SO complete that wetness does not have a chance to run out of the waistband unless you have saturated EVERY INCH of the padding..and since the padding wicks so well, this IS possible before the diaper leaks, so a front waistband really isn't necessary. More on that later. The elastic at the leg openings is VERY effective at giving a snug fit around the legs and in the leg creases. If you fasten the lower tapes TOO tight, you will get some binding of the plastic which will pinch the skin. You should not tape the bottom tapes of this product THAT tight, as you will hurt its’ performance, as the leg gathers should flex and move with you to keep a good seal. My experience with the elastics is that if taped comfortably snug but not tight, they protect INCREDIBLY and don’t bind, chafe or cut the skin.
The standing inner leakage barriers on this product are incredibly effective. Really they are more for bowel containment than urine, as the padding absorbs SO fast that there is no need. They only come up a little over halfway up the front of the diaper but better than 3/4 of the way up the back, where they are truly needed and VERY effective. I have not found any standing inner leak barriers stuck to the inside of the diaper like I have on other brands. usually you have to run your finger along the leak barrier before putting the diaper on so that the barrier stands up. No need with these! Just “activate” the polymer and standing leak barriers by stretching the diaper out (directions on the bag) and they stand up!
Padding Size, Shape and Thickness
The padding shape on this diaper is the “figure 8” shape with good padding out toward the wings! While the padding does not wrap all the way around the sides, it comes far enough past the elastic in the front and back to catch any wetness or stool that might get past the standing inner leak barrier. The padding that extends out toward the wings in the front is about 1” to 2” narrower than it is in the back. This allows a good, less bulky fit but still gives enough padding to make this a very protective product.
The padding on this product is not all that bulky at all, as most of the absorbency comes from super absorbent polymers, which, judging by the fact you can not feel the polymer bumps on the outside of the diaper, must be either mixed in the paper pulp or sandwiched between two layers of paper pulp padding.. The padding is deceptively thin for as absorbent as this product is! Under everyday clothing, this product would not be obvious, other than an occasional plastic crinkle that you might be able to muffle by wearing a pair of tight fitting underwear over the diaper. The padding absorbs VERY quickly and wicks like crazy! I have managed to soak every inch of the diaper padding and still had no leaks out of the leg openings. In fact, I think the diaper would have actually leaked out the back of the waist first! I have never seen a disposable diaper that wicks THAT fast and that well. Usually that kind of wicking performance comes form cloth diapers. but does not wick well at all. The padding does swell to about 3 times its‘ dry thickness when soaked, but again, stays quite discreet under clothing due to the strength of the tapes and the cut of the product.It almost seems like the wetter the diaper gets, the faster/better it absorbs and wicks! It is really strange for a disposable...in a good way!
For those who are wondering about padding bunching up...the padding on this diaper DOES NOT bunch up! The construction of the padding and amount of polymer keep the padding in place and it does not even clump anywhere! I have not had padding quality problems either overnight/in my wheelchair or walking in my braces.
As noted above, these diapers have the two piece refastenable tape system, with the blue “under tape” that fastens to the plastic backing and the white top tape that adheres to the blue tape and is used for unfastening and refastening. Northshore uses a reasonably large tape tab with a generous grasping point at the end that make the tape easy to grasp when fastening and unfastening, even for those with dexterity/arthritis issues. This is why this product received a “very good” rating for ease of putting it on and ease of removal. The white tape can be unfastened from the blue one and refastened on the blue tape over and over again without any noticeable degradation in stickiness. The white tab can also be refastened on other ares of the brief where the blue tab is NOT, but then the white tab is no longer refastenable and may rip the plastic backing if unfastened.
The quality of the NorthShore Supreme Brief is amazing so far! I had one diaper that there was a little plastic “tail” left on one of the side wings, but I just cut it off and it never had any affect on performance or fit at all. I have found NO other quality issues...no padding outside of the are it’s supposed to be in, no tape problems, no pinhole issues and no elastic issues on the standing inner leak barriers OR the leg elastics. Time will tell if this kind of quality control will hold. If it does, there are many brands that could take some notes on this kind of quality!
Again, this diaper is all white, so should just look like regular underwear under a pair of thin white pants. The wetness indicators are faint enough that they should not be visible under even thin white pants or shorts. Now, as the yellow strip wetness indicator turns dark blue, it MAY be able to be seen, but I doubt it. So overall, appearance is decent.
The Northshore Supreme Brief is comfortable when put on dry AND when extremely wet! The lining on the inside is very soft to the touch and the standing inner leak barriers, while tall and super effective are soft and pliable and do not chafe. The tapes hold very well, so there should be no sagging or looseness as the diaper becomes wet. There is no elastic waistband to bind or chafe, so no worries there. Overall comfort is fantastic!
This brand of diapers is only available at Northshore Care Supply. The prices run as follows: $1.29 per diaper for the medium, $1.44 per diaper for the large and $1.55 per diaper for the x-large. These prices are DEFINITELY worth it for this kind of quality and performance! Don’t believe me? order a bag first and see. Drop an email to me and let me know what you think!
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