20% are watering down products to make them last longer, 11% are taking toilet roll from public loos, and 19% are brushing their teeth less than twice a day.
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00:00We've got 1 in 5 watering down products now. We've got 1 in 10 who are taking toilet roll from public bathrooms because of the pressures of their budgets.
00:12They're not able to afford these products. And then further impacts on people's self-esteem, the shame that comes with it.
00:22Isolation, people don't want to leave the house. They won't go to work or even school. So therefore you get the impact on mental health and just engaging with other people, frankly.
00:35So it's deep. It's, as I say, it's horrendous. And the stories are harsh. And everything we do every day is about facing into this issue and doing what we can about it.
00:46Inkind Direct believes that everyone should have access to these life's essentials. What steps are being taken to address the hygiene poverty problem and how can people support those affected?
00:56What we try to do is set out some short term things that we can do and some longer term things to face into the issue. Fundamentally, it's about conversation.
01:05It's about awareness. We need more people to know about this issue to break down some of the shame and stigma that comes with it.
01:14And like I said, that's what we're trying to do every day. That's what these kind of conversations do. They raise the awareness.
01:20They help people understand that this might be people that you work with. It might be people that are at the same school as your kids.
01:27And the numbers suggest it's everywhere and growing. So whatever we can do to understand it and do something about it, that's what we set out to do.
01:35There's ways to support our work through fundraising, through donation. £10 helps us get six hygiene packs out. A hygiene pack keeps a family clean for a month.
01:46So £10 could help six families. So that would be incredible. That's the work we're doing whilst we're engaging with corporates and businesses and organisations in some sort of longer term planning and solutions.