Ingenious Invention Promises Flyers a Safe, Clean Place to Rest Their Heads

The Head Defender not only provides peace of mind for germophobes, but also offers a common sense layer of protection from exposure to sometimes less than pristine aircraft cabins.

It’s often best not to ponder the cleanliness of any given seat on a commercial airline flight. According to the makers of the latest must-have product for frequent flyers, some passenger planes are cleaned as infrequently as once every three to four weeks.

Not to worry though. The brain trust behind the innovative Head Defender product has passengers covered or more accurately is helping passengers to cover their well-worn and oftentimes dingy airplane seats. The compact partial seat cover allows travelers to put an extra layer of protection between themselves and prior passengers’ germs.

According to the inventor, the proprietary construction of the easy-to-use airline seat headrest cover provides a clinically proven defense against infectious microbes including E. coli, Staphylococcus and MRSA. Rather than simply providing an antimicrobial barrier against infectious agents, the designers say the technologically advanced materials used to make the Head Defender actually work to destroy infectious bacteria on a cellular level upon contact. This sales pitch is not only helping nervous passengers to worry a little less while they snooze though their next redeye flight, but also allowed the Head Defender to bring home a gold medal from the 2015 INPEX Invention & New Product Exposition.

Company founder and Head Defender inventor Keely Watson says inspiration struck when he learned some eye-opening and unpleasant facts about air travel while he was researching ways to stay healthy as a business traveler.

“The Head Defender came about when I was a medical device rep and I had to travel back and forth to the east coast all the time […] I personally didn’t wan’t to put my head back on that headrest anymore,” Watson explained in a recent promotional video. “What I ended up inventing was the first-ever Head Defender.”

While the device’s cutting-edge design offers a reported 99.9% effectiveness against infectious microbes, the company also reminds us that the pocket-sized headrest cover also offers a bit of low-tech protection against other assorted ickiness including left-behind hair strands, dandruff, dried sweat, hair oils, seat grime and other unspecified bodily fluids – the thought of which makes the Head Defender sound like a bargain at any price.

[Photo: Head Defender]