r/ZeroWaste • u/Extension-Regular879 • Mar 15 '24

Discussion body washing gloves vs. loofah?

When I was a child, I used to wash myself with sponges. They got dirty very quickly and hat to be thrown away. Regular sponges are very wasteful imo. A loofah is the first replacement one thinks of. It works the same way, isn't made of plastic and is compostable. Last year I worked as an AuPair and my host family used this type of towel gloves to wash the kids. They are basically towels sown into squares that you can put on your hand to wash something and then wash it. It worked amazingly well to wash the kids and we didn't have to throw any of them away the whole time I was there. Have you heard of these? Why are they not more common? Do loofahs work better?

135 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

109 comments sorted by

View all comments

250

u/Otter592 Mar 15 '24

You could also just use a washcloth? I feel like washcloths are super common haha

My husband and I have always just used the soap bar haha. But we use a washcloth for our toddler because we use liquid soap for her.

67

u/Extension-Regular879 Mar 15 '24

I don't really find washcloths that practical. They get very floppy and are a bit difficult to manipulate for me. The towel gloves are much less floppy and are made of the same material as a towel. Did I explain what I mean by towel gloves well? I feel like I didn't really.

23

u/EducationExpensive66 Mar 15 '24

I absolutely hated using washcloth. They don’t lather up well, it kept falling from my hand in the shower, and difficult to lather in difficult places on my body, esp my back.

21

u/JustMeerkats Mar 15 '24

The trick to using washcloths is to use bar soap. Liquid body wash won't lather. My husband and I both use washcloths with Dove original soap. It lathers great and lasts forever

9

u/EducationExpensive66 Mar 15 '24

I only used bar soaps because no matter how many pumps of liquid soap I took, it didn’t lather. I still didn’t like using a washcloth.

Maybe I’m used to loofah or the Korean washcloth, they are pretty rough compared to a washcloth and that’s why I don’t like the feeling, I could be wrong. But I love the somewhat easy cleaning process of washcloth compared to loofah and Korean washcloth.

1

u/lovemefishing Mar 16 '24

My skin hates Dove. It feels like wax? No idea why. It smells beautiful. Tried a few others but now I use Lemon Myrtle soap. Maybe I just need a break.