When I was a kid, I had a friend who lived across the street and two houses down named Michael (the same Michael I mentioned on the Mr. Sketch article).  Michael and I are still friends to this day, and when we were kids, around 1989, we pulled a stunt that introduced me to one of my most favorite products from my childhood: Funny Color Foam.

We were playing at his house one day and for reasons I cannot remember, locked ourselves in the bathroom.  Michael busted out two cans of Funny Color Foam, one contained green foam and the other purple, and a can of hot pink hair dye spray.  We sprayed our hair punk rawk pink, as well as half the bathroom.  After looking like a couple of elementary school delinquents, we moved on to the Funny Color Foam, or simply, "Funny Foam" as we called it.

We sprayed the stuff everywhere.  My biggest memory is spraying it all in the bathtub and skating around barefoot on its slick ceramic bottom.  Of course we didn't clean it up, and eventually, I had to sneak out of the house and back to my own with pink hair (which I did holding a towel over my head as I ran across the street).  And while our moms secretly thought it was hilarious, our end results weren't fun.  Either way, I had a new friend in Funny Color Foam. 

The product, first introduced in 1983 by the Cac Industries, Inc. company, is a compressed foam not unlike shaving cream for bathtime.  It comes in 6 colors (pink, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple), each with a different animal on the can.  Recent variations have lost the animals in favor of cartoon kids on the can, however.  In fact, the can designs have changed several times over the years, as has the formula slightly.  But, fear not, anyone who remembers the Funny Color Foam in the '80s won't know the difference in the change of formula in today's. 

Yes, Funny Color Foam is still made today.  I recently acquired two new cans on the stuff, in green and purple colors, no less.  While I have no plans to recreate the infamous day I was introduced to Funny Color Foam and mess up my own bathroom, I couldn't have possibly picked any other colors for my re-introduction to it. 

One of the most distinctive things about Funny Color Foam, and one of the things I was looking forward to revisiting the most was its smell. Funny Color Foam has a wonderfully distinctive, child-friendly smell.  The company relates it to the smell of baby powder, and I guess that's the closest thing to it, but it's really its own thing.  You know how when you smell something from your childhood and it takes you right back? Yeah, it's like that.  And gosh darnit, this stuff makes me happy.

The product was a blast to play with in the tub; the possibilities were endless.  Okay, maybe they weren't endless.  Maybe you can only do one thing with it, and that's to squirt it out into a pile, but those were some good piles.  Piles that floated in the water, piles that sat on your head, piles that piled. 

The product is also cleverly purposeful, as it's also soap.  Now it makes sense! It's a trickery to get kids to bathe.  But it's a fun trickery.  Pair it up with some Scribble Stix and you've got 1989 in a tub.

A couple days after I thought I was finished with this article, I was shopping and ran across something that caught my eye that I was completely unaware of.  Funny Color Foam has been given an overhaul.

The NEW Funny Color Foam, pictured right.

Alright, there are some clear differences here so let's break them down. 

The FACTS: Funny Color Foam is now made by Kidhouse, but is still distributed by the original Cac Industries. 

The PROS: The size of the cans.  Originally, the product was 5.5 ounces, but now is a whopping 8 ounces.  2.5 more ounces to do damage with is always a good thing.  The new logo is a little less generic and more attractive to kids.  I guess that's good. 

The CONS: The can boasts a "New & Improved Formula" and all the colors have been given "cute" names such as "Green-O-Mite" and "Kool Blue."  I don't particularly care for either of those changes.  The new formula makes it smell a little less like itself, and that's a potential deal-breaker by itself.  And don't get me started on trying to dissect "Green-O-Mite." And speaking of colors, pink and yellow have been dropped by the wayside and the product is only available in purple, blue, orange and green. 

All things considered, I'm glad to still see it in stores in 2008.  The product can be found as single cans, 2-packs or bundled with a bathtime book.  Funny Color Foam is one of those amazing relics from the 80s that has stood the test of time and despite updates and small changes, has mostly remained true to what makes it work.  I firmly believe it's the reason today that I don't walk around with a dirt cloud around me. 

Oh, and did I mention this stuff contains butane?

Josh, 11/19/08

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