Foam wash vs wet wipes

What a foam wash is

Foam washes are sometimes called a bidet in a bottle, toilet paper foam or foaming toilet paper. They come in a foaming pump bottle, usually small enough for a shelf or a toilet bag. You fold some dry toilet paper, pump a small dose of foam onto it, give it a moment to soak in, and wipe.

The foam itself is a mild cosmetic cleanser, mostly water with a gentle surfactant to make the foam, often a humectant such as glycerine, and a preservative so the bottle keeps once opened. Some are scented and some aren't, so check the ingredient list for parfum or fragrance.

What a wet wipe is

A wet wipe is a sheet of nonwoven fabric soaked in a cleansing liquid and sealed in a pack. Palmerston North City Council says ninety per cent of wet wipes on the market are made from nonwoven fabrics of polyester or polypropylene, which don't break down well in pipes.

Wipes are designed to stay strong while wet, which is why they work well in your hand. It is also why they cause trouble in sewers. When Consumer NZ tested 11 wipes sold as flushable, all of them stayed intact apart from the occasional small tear, while toilet paper started breaking down within minutes.

Side by side

Here is how the two compare on the things that usually matter in a bathroom.

• What you flush: with a foam wash, ordinary toilet paper. With wet wipes, nothing, unless the pack carries the AS/NZS 5328 flushable symbol.
• What goes in the bin: with a foam wash, an empty bottle every so often. With wet wipes, every used wipe and every empty pack.
• Feel: a foam wash leaves the paper softly damp. A wipe is wetter and cooler on the skin.
• Dose: a foaming pump gives about the same amount every press. With wipes, the dose is a whole sheet each time.
• Portability: both travel well. A small pump bottle and a pocket pack of wipes are about the same size.
• Paper: a foam wash uses your usual toilet paper. Wipes replace some of it.

What it means for your pipes

This is where the two differ most. Toilet paper is one of the three things that Watercare and other NZ utilities say belong in the toilet, along with pee and poo. Everything else, including wet wipes, should go in the rubbish bin.

The cost of getting it wrong is shared by everyone. Water New Zealand has estimated that clearing blockages from wipes and other non-flushables costs at least $16 million a year, and Watercare says it spends about $5.5 million a year in Auckland cleaning up wastewater overflows from these kinds of blockages. A blockage in your own pipes is generally your cost, not the council's.

Cost per use

To compare fairly, work out the cost of one use of each. For wipes, divide the pack price by the number of wipes, then multiply by how many you use each time. For a foam wash, divide the bottle price by the number of pumps.

As a worked example, a 60 ml bottle of Foamie Gentle Toilet Paper Foam is NZ$19.95 and gives roughly 400 pumps, which is about 5 cents a use. You still use the toilet paper you would have used anyway. Our wet wipes cost per year guide shows how to run the same sum for your household's wipes.

Which one to choose

If you like wipes and are disciplined about binning every one, they work, though you live with a bin of used wipes and a steady supply of packs. If you want the damp clean without the bin, or you share a toilet with people who won't always bin them, a foam wash solves the problem at the source, because the only thing anyone flushes is toilet paper.

Whatever you choose, wash your hands with soap and water after using the toilet. If you want to try a foam wash, Foamie Gentle Toilet Paper Foam is on the product page, with a sign-up to hear when stock is back if it has sold out.

Questions people ask