What is Loofah And Know Why We Use It

Let’s talk about your shower loofah. That colourful, frilly, plastic thing hanging in your shower. People really love using loofahs for the cleansing experience that they give. These popular shower accessories that are meant for exfoliating your skin also come in natural variants where they are made of sea sponge or dried corals. Let’s talk more about them. 

What Is A Loofah?

The current variants of loofah are made from dried gourds soaked in water. The rough finished exfoliators originate from luffa: dried fiber from the vegetable of a similar name. Luffa or loofah (organically Luffa aegyptiaca) is a plant developed individually from the pumpkin, squash and gourd family, Cucurbitaceae. Hundreds of years prior, the luffa plant was brought to this country by European pilgrims. They intended to train it in the New World. So here we are trying to know the various benefits of trying to include a loofah in your bathing regime. 

Benefits Of A Loofah

Exfoliating is to skincare what flossing is to dental cleanliness. In case you're not scratching off dead skin cells and your dry flaky surface once a fortnight, you can say goodbye to beautiful, supple and glowing skin. So while you’re at it, do it the correct way. Here’s how a loofah helps to achieve that: 

1. Exfoliates Your Skin:

Loofahs that originate from the luffa plant have a number of skincare benefits. With its fibrous texture, it gently exfoliates the skin without scratching it or causing irritation caused by harsh chemicals. It also helps to remove the buildup of dead skin cells accumulated over the surface of your skin. This removal is important because without it the skin looks dull and rough. It helps the healthier skin lying underneath come affront and makes your skin feel smooth, light, clean and radiant. 

2. Alleviates Your Mood:

A long luxurious bath with a loofah sponge also has noticeable effects on your mood. The delicate, shedding massage it offers further develops blood circulation, causing you to feel stimulated and empowered. Like any back rub, it additionally lessens muscle tension and soothes pressure. A luffa wipe shower might be exactly what you want to kick your morning off right.

3. Cleanses Your Skin:

The gently rubbing action of loofah helps to get rid of any dirt and grime that has accumulated your skin over time. Over the course of time, dirt gets lodged in our pores and becomes difficult to remove by normal bathing practices. However, a gentle swipe of loofah can truly give you a squeaky clean skin. 

How Often Should You Use A Loofah?

Ideally, loofahs are meant to be used daily or every time you have a bath. However, after repeated use, loofahs can also be a bacterial paradise if they are used continuously without proper cleaning techniques. Additionally, using loofahs over and over again can also result in an irritated, red or even inflamed skin due to excess rubbing action. This is also why you shouldn’t use them over freshly shaved skin. 

Therefore, it is important to understand, based on your personal requirements, how frequently must you use a loofah. People with dry skin types can use loofahs once a week and with normal or oily skin types can use it twice or thrice a week. Either way, you must 100% clean it properly after every use and leave it a proper place to dry. You must also not use wet loofahs or the ones that someone else has already used. 

How To Clean A Loofah?

One of the most important things you must know while owning a loofah is how to clean it because unclean ones can be a playground for bacteria and may cause skin conditions like acne or worse. Therefore, it is important to clean your loofah after every use and put it in a cool, dry place outside your bathroom to dry. Here is how you can clean your loofah properly: 

After using it for 4-5 times or every week if you are a daily user, dip it in a mixture of diluted water and 10% bleach for 5 minutes. 

Cleanse it thoroughly with cold water and dry it out in a cool place. 

If you are a bathing enthusiast or consider squeaky clean skin the helm of skincare, loofahs are your holy grail. But you also need to be extremely careful while using. So on the off chance that you love stirring up some foam when you're in the shower, the least you can do is ensure you're cleaning your loofahs. 

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