I hate cleaning. Try coming home to a sink full of dishes after spending an afternoon with a beaker full of poly acrylic acid residue; unmotivated does not begin to cover it. But, you know what I do love? Chinatown! In this odd instance the two overlap, in the form of Melamine foam. That’s right, I buy my cleaning supplies (and veggies) in Chinatown. I found this gem In the basement of my favorite Chinese grocery store  (despite its being a Japanese product).

So adorable! Looks very much like another white foam product you say? Just like Mr. Clean Magic eraser, but the bald man aint got nothing on “Muscle-y Rectangular Prism King”. Made by BASF, melamine foam is the sole component of magic cleaning erasers. The functionality of the product is completely mechanical, there is no secret powerful surfactant within the sponge, just the foam. But, how? Well, Basotect® is a foam created from thermoset resin melamine.

(image from BASF and How Stuff Works)

By generating a open cell foam structure from the glass-like resin, the extremely hard polymer becomes highly textured on a micro scale, and soft and flexible on a macro scale. It feels just like a regular sponge. Rather than “magic eraser” this product could more accurately be called a “magic resurfacer”. Abrasion is the powerhouse behind the effectivity of the cleaning eraser.