Health Products: Nasal Strips

I suffer from allergies.  A lot.  Unfortunately I live in a place where tons of crops are grown and air quality plummets during the summer.  I also have two irresistible cats to whom I have mild allergies, although I wouldn't part with them for the world.  My husband is lucky and has few allergies.

My quest to find allergy solutions led me to nasal strips.  These claim to open up your nasal passages at night and improve your sleep.  I already take allergy medication but figured another thing couldn't hurt.  Let me preface my review by saying I use the name brand nasal strips on a regular basis, and they are extremely helpful.  While browsing the store, I found some generic ones at Safeway to test.  After all, it would be nice to save a few bucks.

I got them off the clearance rack for 50% off.

This is what the strips look like out of the box.  There are two in this sheet.

Instructions with a diagram.

The Good:  Nothing really, except the price.

The Bad:  These don't stick, at all.  I used the same procedure I normally use for my name brand nasal strips to remove oil and ensure maximum stickiness.  Nothing I did would get these to stay on for more than a short time.  They also didn't fit very well.  With a poor fit and no sticking, there was no point.  The half-full box is now decorating the bathroom.

The Verdict:  I would never recommend these.  They are a complete waste of money.  The name brand product is expensive, but MUCH better.  If you are concerned about price, look up the company and they will even send you a coupon and a free sample to try out.  If you can't afford the name brand at all, consider another option instead of this disaster.

Note: My husband actually found 6 boxes of the name brand (NOT Safeway) on their clearance racks recently.  At 50% off, they were a steal and I won't have to replenish my stock for a long time!