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Now You Can Absorb Caffeine Through Your Skin

by Jenny Hollander

The smell of coffee might be lovely, but what if you could bypass that pesky drinking-it-issue?

Somewhere, baristas are shaking in their Converse: We've had caffeine drinks, energy shots, caffeine patches, but now we apparently have spray-on caffeine. Yes: Sprayable Energy is an odorless, colorless, sprayable hit of caffeine that, once on your skin, will absorb into your bloodstream and provide you with that sweet, sweet rush.

Sprayable Energy is an Indiegogo project that set out to raise $15,000 for production and accidentally made $36,000. "Welcome to the end of tired," reads the project's official page. "We've developed a liquid you spray on your skin to get the energy you would from coffee or energy drinks."

Finally, a legal alternative to cocaine!

Unlike energy drinks like Monster and 5-Hour Energy, which, by the by, have been linked to dozens of deaths, Sprayable Energy is comprised of three ingredients: caffeine, water, and an amino-acid compound that helps your skin absorb it. Here's a handy visual:

It's cheaper than buying coffee on a daily basis — $30 for a month's worth of spray — and one of its strongest marketing points is that it doesn't contain the sugar or chemicals of its competitors. "Never be concerned for your health when using caffeinated products again," says the pitch. And, unlike coffee, the spray apparently won't spike when it hits your system, causing you to crash an hour or two later. It promises to make you feel "naturally awake," rather than jittery.

That said, the "it's too good to be true... BUT IT IS!" ethos of the product sets off some red flags. Notably, the FDA doesn't regulate this kind of product, meaning it won't have to face any kind of human trials before it hits the market. Sure, human testing will occur... but only on the people who buy this unprecedented, one-off product. Typically, products billed as "too good to be true" turn out to be, you know, too good to be true, like these sixteen so-called "groundbreaking" products.

But maybe we're too cynical. Give us six months, and perhaps we'll be permanently enveloped in a wonderful, fluffy cloud of spray-on caffeine.