Recipes

2-Ingredient Slime: What Really Works

Cornstarch and water, shaving cream and cornstarch, glue and detergent, shampoo and salt: 2-ingredient slime recipes put to the test, with better options.

By the Slime & Co editorial team · Published October 18, 2026

“Slime with just 2 ingredients” videos rack up the views. Some of these recipes work really well, some rely on products best kept away from kids’ hands, and many simply don’t work. Here’s our sorting, recipe by recipe.

What really works with 2 ingredients

1. Cornstarch + water

This is the champion of two-ingredient recipes: two parts cornstarch to one part water. You get an amazing goo, better known as oobleck, that turns hard when you hit it and runny when you stroke it. No glue, no boron, ready in five minutes. It doesn’t stretch like classic slime, but kids love it. Full recipe: no-glue cornstarch slime.

2. Shaving cream + cornstarch

Two parts shaving cream (the foam kind, not gel) to one part cornstarch make a dough as light as meringue that you can shape a little. It’s not slime, but it feels a lot like fluffy slime. Recipe: foam dough.

3. Hair conditioner + cornstarch

One part conditioner to two parts cornstarch: a soft, smooth, scented dough to use within the next few days. Recipe: cornstarch dough.

4. Glitter glue + bottled activator

If you count store-bought products as one ingredient each, washable glitter glue plus a bottled activator made for slime gives you slime from two products. Follow the directions on the activator, which contains boron like every activator does (see our activator page), and have an adult measure it.

What to avoid

Glue + liquid laundry detergent

This is the most widespread “2-ingredient” recipe in videos, and some AI search summaries even suggest it. It sometimes works, depending on the detergent, but detergent isn’t made to be kneaded with bare hands: ANSES (France’s food and health safety agency) and the DGCCRF (France’s consumer protection authority) have reported severe dermatitis in children. We don’t recommend it.

Glue + borax powder

That’s really three ingredients (you need water too), and above all it uses a powder that Europe classifies as toxic to reproduction and no longer sells to the public as a pure substance. Skip it.

What doesn’t work

Lots of “hacks” fail for one simple reason: for glue to turn into slime, you need borate ions, which link the glue’s chains together. According to the list of activators from Little Bins for Little Hands, none of these contain any:

• salt water;
• baking soda on its own (it helps contact lens solution work, but it doesn’t activate anything);
• shampoo;
• sugar water;
• cornstarch added to glue, which thickens it without making it set.

Videos showing “shampoo and salt slime” get, at best, a thickened goo that turns runny again, often after a trip to the freezer. It’s not real slime, and the result is a letdown.

The best compromise: 4 ingredients

If you want real, stretchy slime, the most reliable option is still the four-ingredient recipe: PVA school glue, water, baking soda and contact lens solution (check the label for boric acid and sodium borate). It takes five more minutes, but it works almost every time. It’s all in our easy slime recipe. If your slime is sticky, snaps or stays runny, the Slime Fixer tells you what to do next.

Quick recap

For more boron-free options, read our borax-free slime guide.

See all slime recipes →