I’m forever blowing bubbles
Our bottle of house bubbles has run out so we need to refill it with something bubbly. What shall we use? Washing up liquid? WRONG! I spend a long night testing every detergent-containing product in the house. Read on for the exciting results… I’ve rated each product by average number of bubbles produced, bubble life and other bubble properties. OK, I didn’t actually count the average number of bubbles or their average lifetimes (what do you take me for - bored?) but these were the general trends.
| Product name | Number | Lifetime | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asda washing up liquid | 0 | n/a | Just wouldn’t form bubbles |
| Ecover washing up liquid | 2 | average | |
| Flash all-purpose | 0-1 | average | Smell’s like a toilet |
| Sainsbury’s non-bio washing powder | n/a | n/a | Wouldn’t even form a film across the wand |
| Earth friendly dishmate | 1 | short | Heavy bubbles |
| Sainsbury’s shampoo | 2 | long | Heavy bubbles that bounce off fabrics |
| Herbal essences shampoo | 2 | long | Heavy bubbles that bounce off fabrics |
| Daily therapy conditioner | 2 | long | Heavy bubbles that bounce off fabrics |
| Simple shower gel | 3 | average | Satifying bubbles |
| Dove nourishing shower cream | 4 | average | Nourishing bubbles! |
And so the winner is… Dove! To be fair to Simple I should admit that i ran out of gel while mixing up the solution so I topped it up with washing up liquid making it a Simple-Ecover hybrid.
Well I hope you found that educational. Next week: how to plait your nostril hair.
October 11th, 2005 at 09:58
THESE ARE MOST INTERESTING RESULTS I THINK I SHALL INVEST IN DOVE FOR ALL MY BUBBLE NEEDS!
October 18th, 2005 at 03:48
UPDATE - it seems I was too hasty to publish my results. After a week the average number of bubbles for the Dove mixture had dropped below one and after two weeks it is unable to form any bubbles even after vigorous shaking. Back to the drawing board…
October 20th, 2005 at 01:17
Well it does seem like that science degree is going to some use
October 20th, 2005 at 09:16
I’d like to add a little to Tamlyns experimental delights. As a bubble show master at the science museum (yes thats right, that really is a form of paid work) we add glycerol to our bubble mix and i can safely say that our bubbles have small children convulsing in foamy ecstasy.