Slime is a worldwide trend, attracting attention from the many videos that could be found on platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. The history of slime dates back to the 20th century.
Though slime technology has changed over years, starting with James Wright in 1943. He created something that he considered a failure with synthetic rubber. A few years later a salesman for the Dow Corning Corporation was using said ‘failure’ to entertain his friends.
A guest had been intrigued and realized the potential of the product as a new toy, and advertised the product on “Howdy Doo Show” in 1957, Silly Putty had become a natural phenomenon. The toy in December 1968 even went to the moon on Apollo 8. During the 80s and into the 90s, various slime-based toys were introduced to the world by many manufacturers.
The slime boom started in 2015-16 when slime resurfaced during the rise of social media. Many teens began posting videos of slime and how to create it. With the rise of social media popularity came an increase of businesses that made money off of slime. Mattel Toy Company is often credited as the originator of slime, because of their ready-made slime kits, which were made of guar gum and sodium borate, also known as borax, that came in plastic trash cans in 1976. But, many others say that slime became a household name because of Nickelodeon TV in 1979. They had used the slime in various shows for years like “You Can’t Do That on Television”. We can’t forget the 1984 “Ghostbusters” movie that introduced Slimer, a short and plump green character who left a trail of slime. The ingredients used for the Hasa slime: Liquid Elmer’s Glue, water, borax ,lotion, and shaving cream
Hasa had a blast making slime. We let the borax dissolve into water. Many of us had our own opinions on slime consistency, from butter slime to fluffy slime, so we each poured as much glue as we wanted. We used little plastic cups to mix our slime in while others used the tables. We cleaned it after so don’t worry.
Between the messes and laughs, many of us had fun making the slime. The only thing we truly worried about was getting stuff on the carpet. At the end of the day, we added our slime all together to make a big one. It was fun, in a way that makes you feel like you’re a part of a community but also brings in that feeling of being a child again. As we get older we have this inherent expectation of having to grow into the image of what an adult is, but doing little things like this, making a mess and just having fun with something that some people may view as childish. It just feels right.
