Most Ping Pong Balls Caught in Shaving Foam on the Head in 30 Seconds

This record was way harder than it seemed. Jonathan and I have spent multiple sessions over several months trying to break it. Finally, during quarantine for COVID-19 and after analyzing the last 2 officially approved Guinness World Record attempts (and practicing like crazy since there’s nothing else to do), we broke it. And we broke it big.

The record was for the most table tennis balls caught in shaving foam on the head in 30 seconds (team of 2). The previous record was 22.

This record does have its controversy. The official Guinness rules state that no part of the body can cross the 2-meter line which is usually interpreted as touch the ground on the other side of the 2-meter line. I asked for clarification and they simply repeated the rule verbatim. I looked up the last 2 official record holders: Dude Perfect of YouTube fame (who got 21) and the latest who got 22.

Here are a couple images from their attempts:

Is Tyler’s arm crossing the plane of the line? That’s totally fine if my arm is allowed to cross the plane too.

Take a look at the feet. (This was a miss, but understandable with a live adjudicator and totally forgivable to approve).

The current record holder with “no part of the body may cross the line rule” clearly being interpreted as no part of the body may cross the line and touch the ground on the other side of the line.

Following the same interpretation of the rules Jonathan and I finally got 29 ITTF approved Table Tennis balls caught in shaving foam on the head in 30 seconds (this after I lost count how many attempts over the last several months… and the attempts are frankly messy).

After lots of practice and experimentation, we decided that gel shaving foam was no good and the $1 Barbasol was the way to go. The balls also don’t stick to the sides very well so we settled on a giant bowl to be the best strategy. The bowl had to have lips that lifted up at the edges so the balls didn’t roll off. Finally, the balls needed to settle in the foam to stay on so the bowl needed to have an inch of foam above the top of the head.

I’m so glad our wives go so much enjoyment out of this record attempt. The quarantine has taken its toll on all of us and as you can see in the video, our wives are no exception. This one was so much harder than I expected but that made it all the more satisfying when we broke it.

Here are the links to the 2 videos I referenced: