It all started when Marissa ask me if I wanted a shower notepad. Whaaaat? It turns out that, yes, there is a writing device specifically designed for the shower. Intrigued, I donned my black beret and turtleneck and headed to the bathroom to pen some poetry on the Aqua Notes Waterproof Notepad.
Aqua Notes retails on Amazon for $8. The set includes a 40 sheet pad that’s perforated for easy tearing, and an “aqua pencil.” The pad (which is 3.5″ x 5.25″) has two suction cups on the back. The pencil has a suction cup holder as well.
I expected the paper to feel a little waxy or stiff. Nope. It just seemed a little thicker and smoother than your typical computer printer paper. There was no indication that it was waterproof at all. The notepads are recyclable and non-toxic, with soy based ink and wind energy fueling the printing process. Which is really cool. But does it work? YES IT DOES.
As you can see, I was able to write with no trouble. The pencil and the notepad magically deflected all water, and the lettering was sharp and crisp with no smudging.
Ripping the pages off the notepad, however, was considerably more difficult than a regular pad. You had to line up the perforation just right. Unintentional bonus for those of you composing long poems – the wet pages stuck to the walls of the shower like a felt board. They stayed up there too! Pages stuck to my shower wall at 1pm were still going strong at 9pm. I removed them, noting that they peeled off easily and left no marks.
One problem I did notice was that after its initial use, the pad stays damp and the pages clump together. You really have to pull them apart. You can remedy this by taking the pad out of the shower for a day to dry out. But I will say this – even soaking wet and clumped together, the pad still worked!
The aqua pencil has an eraser, so we tested that too (writing in the shower is funny, but editing in the shower really gave me a chuckle). When erasing, the writing first appears to liquefy like ink. A quick brush of the hand or a spray of the shower nozzle, and it’s gone!
In terms of hardware, the suction cups held up well. For two weeks, the notepad clung to the wall, even after my kids discovered it and were sliding it, pulling it, and enthusiastically illustrating on it. Their testing efforts also revealed that once an individual page is removed from the shower, it takes about 45 minutes to completely dry.
And just in case you are wondering:
- Does the aqua pencil write and erase on regular paper?
YES, very well!
- Can the special paper handle ballpoint, gel, permanent, and washable marker ink?
YES! However, the washable marker went on smudgy and took longer to dry. - If you submerge the pad in a tub filled with several inches of water, does it still work?
The product test was a success, but would you actually use this in the shower? That’s totally up to you, but I will say that Katie found an online review in which a husband and wife used the notepad to jot down potential baby names. Eventually, one of those shower-inspired names became the baby’s name.
I defy you to find a cuter use of the Aqua Notes Waterproof Notepad.