A method for visualizing the horizontal air permeability of the wearer-facing side of a personal hygiene article such as a diaper (20). An air flow (100) is forced to circulate in the direction of the region of interest so that a previously applied powder (110) is removed from under the contact surface of a testing device (80) by the air flow proportionally to the horizontal permeability of the wearer-facing side. The horizontal air permeability of the surface can be visually assessed by observing the amount of powder (110) removed by the airflow. The method can be used to compare different diapers, in particular to highlight the higher air permeability provided by channels (26') at the wearer-facing side of the diaper relative to diaper not having such channels.
