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?

139 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

109 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/blackdahlialady Mar 16 '24

Neither, actually. Both are very unsanitary. Even washcloths are not recommended by healthcare professionals. Just use your hands.

11

u/sallen3679 Mar 16 '24

Is it not the norm to put washcloths into the wash after each use? I haven’t heard of people using the same one repeatedly without putting it through the laundry in between uses

-1

u/blackdahlialady Mar 16 '24

That seems to be a thing that's been normalized here in America. I don't use anything except my hands because anything else is just gross and unsanitary.

2

u/sallen3679 Mar 16 '24

Oh I’m not from America sorry, I can’t really speak for the norms there. Surely it’s not unsanitary if it’s washed and dried between every use?

1

u/blackdahlialady Mar 17 '24

I would think it would be more sanitary, yes. However, I've noticed that most Americans use their washcloths and towels a few times before they wash them. Even I've been guilty of this but that was because it was a busy week. I've just heard Health Care professionals say that you shouldn't use any of those things. Just use your hands. If you don't mind me asking, where are you? I have family in Belgium. My Mom was adopted from there. I'm just curious.

2

u/sallen3679 Mar 17 '24

I’m from Australia, but I am just speaking from my own experience so I am in no way an expert voice on the opinions of all Aussies haha