Teens Have Invented The Best Form Of Self Care And It's Slime
Updated Oct. 29 2018, 3:52 p.m. ET
If you were a fan of Nickelodeon growing up then there's a good chance you were obsessed with slime. Slime everything. Slime at awards shows, slime during trivia programs, slime during competitions, whatever was going on in that channel and it involved a live studio audience and some people, you best believe that someone was getting covered in green goo. And as gross as it sounds, there's something that's inherently comforting about slime. Maybe it's because it reminds us of the womb and the amniotic fluid we were floating around in, or maybe it's because we grew up associating it with our favorite childhood shows, but whatever the reason, '90s kids absolutely love and adore slime and everything slime related.
Remember seeing commercials for Floam when you were a kid? It and other kinds of slimes are back in a big way with teens—but this time, it's all homemade, and colored like Tumblr aesthetic in a jar, and used for anxiety relief and ASMR. Basically, it's the most Generation Z thing I've ever seen, and I love it.
Something about perfectly manicured hands mixing bead- and glitter-filled, squishy slime has the same calming effect on me as other weird internet trends like ASMR videos (or, if you're more disgusting than me—no shame in that—pimple popping videos).
But more than those videos, you just kind of want to reach through the screen and start playing. It's like the first time you saw a fidget spinner—even if intellectually you know the whole thing was stupid, you definitely wanted to try one, right?
Recipes for slime are also all over the internet, and it's pretty easy to make—your basic recipe just calls for glue, borax, water, and food coloring.
Finally. Cooking I can get behind.