Klean
Hydroelectric personal care system that eliminates battery waste by powering an electric toothbrush from shower water.
Overview
A sustainable personal care system designed for Colgate that generates electricity from shower water to power a battery-free electric toothbrush, eliminating battery waste while turning an everyday routine into a source of clean energy.
Problem
Electric toothbrushes create two problems most people never think about: batteries that die and end up in landfills, and shower water that drains away unused.
I proposed a question: what if one could solve the other?
Our solution
I designed a battery-free electric toothbrush powered by shower water, with a hydropower station that turns water flow into electricity. This eliminates battery waste while making sustainable oral care effortless for users.
Final Design
The Klean Toothbrush uses a hydropower-rechargeable battery and a removable brush head designed for longevity.
The Hydropower Station sits inline with the shower, generating charge with every use. Together, the two products create a circular system.
Klean App
The design philosophy is consistency builds change. Users can see how much power their shower generated, track brushing consistency through streaks, monitor brush head life, and participate in community challenges.
Daily tracking turns sustainable choices into automatic routines and not an obligation.
Problem
Every day, millions use electric toothbrushes powered by disposable batteries that die within months and end up in landfills, an out-of-sight, out-of-mind issue largely ignored by personal care brands. At the same time, the average person wastes over 20.7 metric tons of water each year from brushing and showering alone.
Two streams of waste. Both hiding in the same bathroom. The question became: could they solve each other?
We began our project
By reimagining personal care to turn water waste and battery waste into a single sustainable solution
Target Market Interviews
I surveyed 100+ participants on Dscout and conducted in-depth interviews to understand how people actually relate to sustainability in their daily routines.
Users refuse to compromise for performance
82% of younger consumers want products that are both sustainable and effective. They won't accept eco-friendly products that underperform. Sustainability has to earn its place.
An opportunity to connect two problems
People waste water daily while struggling to find charging outlets in small apartments. I realized two problems that appear separate are, in fact, deeply connected.
Skepticism of eco-friendly products
Users distrust 'green' claims that still rely on disposable power. Even rechargeable batteries become waste eventually. Credibility requires making the sustainability mechanism visible, and not just stated.
Problem statement
How might we eliminate battery waste in electric toothbrushes while making sustainable choices effortless for users?
Design Solution
Klean is a closed-loop personal care system with two components: a hydropower station that attaches to the shower and converts water flow into electricity, and a battery-free electric toothbrush that charges from it. No disposable batteries and no charging cables.
Ideation & Prototyping
Exploded View
The toothbrush is designed around a single constraint: pack a week of power into a handle that doesn't feel like a compromise.
A spring-loaded mechanism allows one-handed battery swapping. The silicon casing prioritizes grip without adding bulk
Hydropower Station
Making the hydroblades visible was a deliberate design decision because it transforms sustainability from a claim into something users can watch working in real time.
The opaque window exposes the turbine. The LED indicator gives instant, unobtrusive battery feedback.The system had to earn trust by showing its work.
Technical Constraints
How do you let water flow through a device to generate power, while keeping sensitive electronics completely protected?
The answer was a dual-chamber system: a water flow chamber housing the hydropower turbine, physically isolated from a sealed battery compartment. Water in and electrsicity out with no contact between the two.
Project Impact
Eliminate
battery waste in electric toothbrushes by powering the device entirely from shower water flow.
Shift
the model of sustainable consumer products from sacrifice and compromise to systems that work better because they're sustainable.
Make visible
the energy generated from daily routines, turning an invisible environmental action into something users can see, track, and trust.
What I learned
Speaking across disciplines
Engineers measured success in specs and marketers in brand alignment and sellability, users in trust and value. My role became learning to communicate effectively in all these languages.
Knowing which compromises matter
Design advocacy isn't about defending a vision at all costs. It's about knowing which compromises preserve what's core and which ones are fine to let go.
Bridging design and engineering thinking
The strongest solutions came when design and engineering informed each other, not competed. Working across both made me a better designer.
Making sustainability visible
Klean is a closed-loop system where components work in concert. The challenge was to design a system that works with the hydropower station, battery, toothbrush, and app create one seamless experience together.