Instructions


Can you just pour it into the stream of water filling the bathtub? Sure. But I thought you'd appreciate some tips for best use, especially because I expect some people to use this product who've been afraid to use bath foams before, and so may be unfamiliar with how they work. Both my father and my friend Ed, being unfamiliar with such things, made the mistake of adding it to a full tub of standing water, and wondered where the bubbles were! Just remember that bubbles are mostly air or gas; see also general hints below.

regular bathtub:

Use 1 to 2 tablespoons (15-30 mL).  To make the most foam, add it to about 2 inches of bath water, and then, kneeling from outside the tub, with fingers spread and palms horizontal, use rapid opposing long arm motion to splash the water very hard.  It's like trying to clap very loud, but with your thumbs instead of your palms facing each other.  When the foam stops rising, rapidly fill the bathtub with the rest of the water.

To get rid of the foam, splash just a little with bar soap, unless the water is completely "soft".  To preserve the foam, don't use soap unless the water is completely "soft".  In other words, keep soap far away until you want to get rid of the bubbles (for instance, to help drain the tub); this advice does not apply if your water goes thru a water conditioner or if you add enough water softening bath salts.  If you want to wash while saving the bubbles, use a liquid or gel or Olay beauty bar instead of soap. It may seem strange in view of how soap lathers, but the product of soap and water "hardness" is a powerful defoamer; Olay bar contains hardy any actual soap.

whirlpool, Jacuzzi, or other jetted bathtub:

There's no danger of runaway foaming from this material in a tub with built-in jets, if it is the type whose air intake is inside the tub, i.e. facing the bather.  the heavy wet foam will rise only as high as the air intake and then be recycled.  The following instructions are for the Vita Bath; adjust as needed for your model.

Use 1 to 2 teaspoons (5-10 mL).  Aim jets down.  Run water at least high enough to cover water intake; this may be done with the bather in or out of the water.  (If the controls are remote, of course you'll need to turn on the jets before entering, or have someone else operate them while you're in.)  The air intake (the little screw cap on the inside wall of the bathtub on the same side as the water intake) whould be opened as fully as possible without the cap's being completely removed.  (The cap protects the works from hair.)

To get rid of the suds, if the water has at least some hardness, close the air intake completely, direct the jets upward (if the water is deep enough that it won't be thrown out of the tub), and run the jets while dissolving some bar soap in the water (if you haven't used soap already).  When the foam has noticeably diminished, stop the machine.

portable spa units:

I refer to the type sometimes resembling outboard motors that clip on to the edge of the tub. There's no danger of runaway foaming. Open air intake fully. When water is high enough and device is running with bather seated, pour 1 tablespoon into water just ahead of the intake.

external blower spas:

These are the ones with a hose running from an air pump that sits on the floor to a pad or other diffuser that sits on the bottom of the tub. Because the air intake is remote from the tub, runaway foaming is theoretically possible. With bather outside tub and water at desired depth (anticipating bather's displacement), add a small amount of my formula while running the blower. Wait to see the height the bubbles reach. Add more as desired, and wait again. When satisfied, enter tub. The bather's body will break much of the foam and decrease the amount of additional foam produced.

hints

Nothing says you need to use hot, or even warm, water.  It's refreshing in cool water.  also, nothing stops you from adding scent to the water.  my foam develops its full density after settling a few minutes.  If you fully soften the water with Calgon or other phosphate-based bath salt or water softener, it will make a greater volume of foam, but the foam won't be as dense -- the individual bubbles will be larger.  If you have softened water, Epsom salt added at the same time may help harden the water enough to give its full foam density, but will make using soap harder.
 
My formula will prevent soap from leaving a bathtub ring, provided you don't use too much soap in water that's too hard with too little bath foam.  If you don't use soap, you may find that you don't need a fresh water rinse after using the foam, because it doesn't feel sticky; you can just towel it off.  If you do rinse, you'll notice it rinses off easier than many bubble baths.
 

kiddie pool:

Do not use my liquid formula in water with pool chlorine except for chlorine dioxide.  Ordinary pool chlorine or liquid bleach will react with it and stink.
 
Use about 2 oz. of my formula by splashing as for bathtub, but after filling pool with water to final desired depth; use your hands in the same place just after you add the mixture there; extra hands can help.  Alternatively, you can foam it by adding it to the water stream as you start to fill a dry pool from a hose with a nozzle making a strong jet directed sideways along the wall of the pool.  Drain pool after use.  My formula is harmless to grass.
Water from a garden hose can be very cold.   For more comfortable kiddies, fill pool early in a place where it gets sun on top of a dark surface, and where later shadows protect the kids from sunburn. Remove debris just before adding the suds and kids. Click here to see the inventor demonstrating it to kids and parents in 1988.

outdoor jetted hot tub:

Do not use my liquid formula in water with pool chlorine except for chlorine dioxide.  Ordinary pool chlorine or liquid bleach will react with it and stink. Trichloro-S-triazinone does not seem to have this problem in a jetted outdoor tub.
This is for tubs that have an external air intake.  Runaway foaming is possible, so be careful.  Use 2-3 teaspoons (10-15 mL) with full aeration.  Wait several minutes for foam to build up.  If you are then satisfied the foam isn't getting as high as you want, add a little more.  The foam will not achieve the density it does using that amount in a bathtub.

To get rid of the material without draining the water, keep the aeration going while you skim off the suds.  Let the suds build up again and skim them again, etc.  By patiently skimming the suds repeatedly, you will eventually leave the water practically free of surfactants. The foam helps float and trap dead skin flakes, leaving the tub and water cleaner after skimming.