A guide to floral foam videos, the slime videos of 2018
For what seemed like eons, but was really just most of 2017, the internet was deeply into slime.
Though slime videos are still a mainstay of the Instagram Discover page, our natural inclination to change things up has led us down the path to other forms of ASMR entertainment, including soap cutting and kinetic sand slicing.
Elsewhere on Instagram, another ASMR-friendly trend is emerging in the form of crunchy, squishy, glitter-heavy floral foam videos.
But first: what is floral foam?
You likely know floral foam as a craft supply used in floral arranging. Traditionally, a florist might use a block of foam saturated in water to secure cut flowers inside a vessel. The ASMR creators of Instagram, meanwhile, have discovered its alternative use as a highly absorbent, delightfully sliceable first class ticket to Insta stardom.
Dry floral foam straight from the shelves of your local craft shop has a malleable quality that makes it perfect for crunching and crumbling on camera. When wet, floral foam becomes heavy and fragile. With just a squeeze, soaked foam disintegrates into a murky green liquid.
But while the sopping remnants of a craft-store staple aren't Instagram-worthy in their own right, the most successful foam crushers add glitter to the mix, lending the foam and its sparkling guts a galactic quality.
An example:
Should we be crushing floral foam with our bare hands?
According to Australian floral retailer Koch & Co, floral foam is made with formaldehyde and other not-so-fun chemicals, and should be handled while wearing gloves, ideally in a well-ventilated area.
Still, those going without gloves don't need to panic. Per a piece on floral foam safety from the Sydney Morning Herald's Liam Mannix, the craft supply isn't as toxic as one might expect.
Per SMH:
"The foam is made with two toxic chemicals, but is not necessarily harmful. There is almost no phenol or formaldehyde left in the finished product – less than 0.1 per cent of each chemical."
But while floral foam won't do much damage to your body, as the piece and florists have noted, dumping the non-biodegradable residue down the drain isn't great for the planet, something viewers should keep in mind.
Who's doing it?
A few accounts to check out:
1. @issafloralfoam, the self-declared "FLORAL FOAM QUEEN" of Instagram. (She's also on YouTube.)
2. @turdtwig, a popular account that features all sorts of ASMR clips. If you're looking to watch a car run over a block of floral foam topped with egg shells and skewered with dry spaghetti, this is the account for you.
3. @asmrfloralfoam shares a mix of wet and dry floral foam videos to suit all your crunchy ASMR needs.
4. @floralfoamluver has more than 117,000 followers and is the place to see a potato masher destroy a block of foam.
5. The #floralfoam hashtag, featuring thousands of videos for your perusal.
Happy viewing! Don't forget to wear headphones for an optimal experience.
