There is possibly nothing worse than knowing you have B.O. when you’re out in public. You sit there tossing and turning, folding your arms or holding them down to your sides in hopes that no one will know you’re the source of the pungent air around them. If you can Smell it, they can smell it, and this is no good for your self-esteem. Well have no fear, because now there’s a gadget that’s designed to make sure you never find yourself in that predicament again.
The Kunkun by Konica Minolta, a world-renowned design company known mostly for their work in healthcare or business solutions, is a small pocket-sized device that literally smells you to make sure you are on your hygienic A-game.
Hiroshi Akiyama, the creator of KunKun, brought up the idea to the firm after he began to worry about his own body Odor. According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, many men begin to feel this way after the age of 40.
The main reason men worry about body odor is because you don’t know it’s bad until it’s really bad. “It’s difficult to recognize your own smell,” said Daisuke Koda, a co-designer of the KunKun said in a statement.
How the KunKun Works
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The KunKun, which is actually Japanese for ‘sniff-sniff’, is a small device that you can discretely carry in your pocket without anyone noticing. The device goes to work when the user places it next to their armpit. When the device is close enough, it begins ‘sniffing’ for certain odor-causing chemicals, such as ammonia or isovaleric acid. The device is also able to detect the presence of 2-nonenal, a greasy odor that is often present when older people perspire.
Once the KunKun has detected the chemicals on your body, if they exist, it communicates its finding with an application that you can download onto your smartphone. The idea behind the app feature is so that you can see any progress made each time you use the device.
Who Does The KunKun Cater To?
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Short answer – everyone. The KunKun is ideal for anyone who is worried about the way they smell. “We can give relief by telling people how smelly they are and freeing them from the anxiety of not knowing,” assures Koda when talking about the KunKun’s target consumer.
Even though the device was brought to fruition by a team of males in their 40s, it is versatile enough to be used by basically anyone from the 14-year-old girl who wants to make sure she is not the one who is stinking up the locker room, to the guy in his mid-20s that gets extra nervous on first dates and is prone to excessive perspiration.
Sweating is a normal thing for every person, and with it comes a not-so-pleasant odor. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, but if reassurance that you don’t smell makes you feel more confident and better about yourself, then give the KunKun a try! The device is expected to become available to consumers this Summer.
