How to use toilet paper foam

The basic steps

These are the directions for Foamie Gentle Toilet Paper Foam, and most toilet paper foams work the same way.

• Take three or four sheets of your usual toilet paper and fold them into a neat pad.
• Press the pump once onto the centre of the folded paper.
• Wait about two seconds while the foam absorbs into the paper.
• Wipe as you would with a wet wipe. There is no rinsing.
• Drop the paper in the toilet and flush it like any other toilet paper.
• Wash your hands with soap and water, as you normally would.

Why the fold and the wait matter

Folding gives the foam something to soak into. A single sheet gets saturated and tears. Three or four sheets folded together spread the moisture through a thicker pad, so it stays in one piece while you use it.

The two second wait lets the foam break down and absorb into the paper instead of sitting on top as bubbles. You end up with paper that is evenly and lightly damp, which is what makes it feel like a wipe rather than a wet patch.

Putting the foam in the centre of the pad keeps the edges drier, which gives you somewhere dry to hold.

Common mistakes

Most problems people have with toilet paper foam come from one of these.

• Too much foam. More pumps make the paper wetter and weaker, not cleaner. Start with one.
• Too few sheets. A single sheet tears. Fold three or four.
• Not waiting. Wiping straight away smears foam rather than using damp paper. Give it about two seconds.
• Very thin paper. Thin or one ply paper tears more easily when damp. Fold an extra sheet, or use a two or three ply paper.
• Pumping onto skin. The directions are to put the foam on the paper, not on yourself.

Using it in a shared bathroom

Keep the bottle on a shelf or the cistern where it is easy to reach from the toilet, so nobody has to stand up and walk across the room with paper in hand. If you have young children in the house, the label warning is to keep it out of their reach, so a high shelf works better than the floor or a low windowsill. Our toilet training guide covers how families handle that.

Because one pump is one dose, it is easy for guests to get right without instructions. A short note near the bottle, one pump on folded paper, is usually all anyone needs.

How long a bottle lasts

At one pump per use, a 60 ml bottle of Foamie gives roughly 400 uses. One person using it four times a day would get about 100 days from a bottle. A household using it ten times a day between them would get about 40 days.

At NZ$19.95 a bottle, that is about 5 cents a use. If you want to compare that with what you spend on wipes, our wet wipes cost per year guide sets the sums out in full.

Safety and what it is not for

Toilet paper foam is a cosmetic cleanser for external use only. Keep it away from your eyes, and if foam gets in them, rinse with clean water. Stop using it if irritation occurs, and keep it out of reach of children.

It is not a substitute for washing your hands with soap and water after using the toilet, and it is not a treatment for anything. It is simply a way to make toilet paper work like a wet wipe while only ever flushing paper.

Where to get it

Foamie Gentle Toilet Paper Foam is sent from Auckland by NZ Post, free across New Zealand on orders over $25. The product page has the full ingredient list and directions, and a sign-up to hear when stock is back if it has sold out. If you are still deciding whether foam is right for you, start with our guides on what toilet paper foam is and toilet paper gel vs foam.

Questions people ask