People are increasingly unable to afford the items required to feel clean and healthy, a charity has warned - a development that should surprise no one who has glanced at the price of laundry detergent lately.

Rosemary Ashworth, deputy chief executive of The Hygiene Bank, told BBC Radio Surrey that the "face" of hygiene poverty had changed and it was now affecting people who previously felt financially secure. "We're at a bit of a tipping point so now feels like the time to do something about it," she said, in what may be the most British understatement of the year.

Janice Sedgwick, a volunteer at the charity's Guildford branch, said needed items were things like "toothbrushes, toothpaste, shower gel, shampoo, sanitary pads and laundry detergent." But she noted people were also struggling to get products to keep their houses clean - because apparently the 21st century has decided that basic sanitation should come with a subscription fee.

A recent survey of 3,042 UK adults by The Hygiene Bank and In Kind Direct suggested one in five (18%) had experienced hygiene poverty in the last six months, or someone in their household had. The charities said two in five (41%) of those affected said they had experienced it for the first time this year. So if you're new to the club: welcome, the membership dues are a bar of soap.

The Hygiene Bank said the phenomenon "can create a vicious cycle, affecting health, confidence, education, work and social participation." Ashworth said: "It's not people who [you] might necessarily expect experiencing it. It's working families. People who previously felt financially secure... It feels like a problem that is worsening."

Tom May, from Guildford-based mental health charity Oakleaf, said a common issue was women needed hygiene products on a "certain basis," though stores were "pretty much empty by the end of the week." The Hygiene Bank is urging people to donate essential products or money for National Hygiene Week, which ends on 11 October.

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In related news that is somehow both separate and exactly the same: 'People tell me they haven't eaten in days,' more than 13 million living in poverty, new figures show, and poverty impacts Surrey residents, report finds.