You don’t need a loofah or a sponge to actually get clean in the shower. Your hands and soap are enough.
“But you need to exfoliate!” – Your dead skin cells naturally fall off on their own. Most of the dust in your house is dead skin cells. You don’t need to forcefully rub yourself in order for this process to happen. Soap and your hands will wash away the dead skin cells on your body. Human skin is sensitive, you are not a snake trying to shed its skin.
“You wouldn’t wash your dishes without a sponge” – Sebum doesn’t harden onto your skin like cooking oil does to dishes. Soap is more than capable of removing the oil on your skin and the bacteria on its own. You also usually don’t have food stuck on your body as we tend to remove that with a napkin asap.
Loofahs and sponges are plastic waste that need to be regularly replaced as they are absolute bacteria bombs. Even if you wash them in the washing machine, that is just a way to release microplastics into the world and they will eventually degrade and break apart anyway.
Natural loofahs should be considered a torture device. My cat’s claws are more gentle on the skin. I refuse to believe anyone can stand actually rubbing that onto their skin every day.
The shower gloves start smelling weird really fast, should probably be washed after every shower meaning you would need a minimum of 3-4 different pairs depending on how fast you can wash and dry them, they don’t lather properly and I couldn’t notice a hygiene increase, actually left feeling dirtier than washing with just my hands.
The people who actually need to scrub their skin are blue collar workers, doctors and anyone working with the sickly, bodily fluids, chemicals or actual dirt and mud. The people who swear by the loofah or the sponge are usually impeccably clean city people who only get muddy once a month when it rains. It just feels like a ruse to get people to spend more, buy more and waste more products when they don’t need it.
I do own an exfoliating sponge that I sparingly use and it’s an okay product. I still enjoy using my hands much more and everyone is entitled to their own way of cleaning themselves, as long as they actually do. Where I draw the line is when people start shaming others for not using these products and basically calling us dirty sewage monsters when it really isn’t the case.
As long as you use water and soap, you will come out cleaner than you went into the shower. Striving to be the perfect clean entity is weird and damaging to your skin in the long run.
Comments
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
WHO are you trying to convince????
Are you bothered by other people grooming MORE than you choose to???
I use a wash cloth… haven’t bought a loofah or sponge for years.
I used to think like this but social media pressured me into using a wash cloth a year ago. Now I’ll never NOT use a wash cloth. I feel much cleaner and skin is softer.
Oh. My mind went somewhere else until I read the details of your post
Bro’s never heard of a washcloth.
OP is clearly a big hand plant (shout-out to uncle Jack)
wait until they learn they don’t technically need to shower every day
Washcloths exist. They’re gentler than a loofah or sponge, are reusable ad infinitum, and aren’t made of plastic.
What are you on about?
Ah, that moment when something minute pisses you off and suddenly you can write a 12 page analysis about why it sucks
I feel you
Skin cells naturally fall off, yes, but exfoliation helps the process along. My pet lizard naturally sheds her skin, but giving her a bath with very gentle brushing helps remove stuck flakes that bother her. Exfoliation is also good for circulation, prevents clogged pores and acne buildup, brightens up skin, and makes it feel softer and smoother.
Coffee/sugar scrubs are great for exfoliating too and definitely more environmentally friendly.
I completely agree with you, but sometimes my skin needs a bit of rough treatment to feel clean.
I never use a loofah or wash cloth and always get complimented for how good I smell so if there’s a difference it’s negligible. Also my ass is so hairy that if I were to use a wash cloth I’d need to put it down to detangle with my hands halfway through anyways.
I think it’s only unpopular in the US? I had no idea wash cloths were a thing, still don’t know what they are exactly or where I’d even buy one. No one I know uses anything other than their hands.
Just use your tongue, jeez
Reading the comments, I never realized this was a contentious issue.
I usually just wash with my hands. However I will say that exfoliating your legs before waxing them does help to prevent ingrown hairs or those hairs that the wax will not remove so there is some benefit. Also the occasional exfoliation does make my skin feel softer.
Reading the comments, I never realized this was such a contentious issue.
Is this unpopular? I thought rubbing soap/ body wash across your body with your hands was how people showered?
I’ve always just used my hands. I guess that is how I was taught as a young child. Washcloths and loofas are disgusting!
Yes your hands are enough and loofahs are gross, just like OP said. I’d never want to rub my body with a friggin bacteria colony.
Exfoliation is nice though. I use a sugar scrub for that
The zealous desire for purity taints the world.
You don’t technically need to exfoliate, but it helps.
Lol comment section was fun to read. I’m with you. Hands all the way.
Trust in your body
I actually agree with this. I use a long soft-bristle brush for my back because I can’t reach it with my hands and a gentle silicone scrub pad thing for my face because I get acne and and have a habit of picking at it so it helps reduce the acne and smooth out peeling areas I picked at. No need to scrub the rest of my body unless I get dirty. Loofahs and washclothes and stuff store bacteria and get gross so quickly unless you disinfect it frequently. I disinfect my soft bristle brush and store it in a dry spot so it doesn’t stay wet and get gross. The silicone scrub pad is non-porous so I can leave it in the shower without it getting gross, but I still do disinfect it regularly as well. Exfoliating is only really helpful if you are real dirty or have some skin issue which it would help, like if you get acne after shaving exfoliating can help prevent that. And even then it should be gentle! The only aggressive exfoliation I can get behind is when you’re smoothing out somewhere with thigh skin build up, like your knees or balls of your ankles can get. I mean it’s literally just like sandpapering your skin, there’s no reason to do that on healthy and normal areas of skin. Dead skin cells are necessary as the top barrier of your skin and the unneeded ones will naturally come off over time with regular cleaning. If we had no dead skin cells on our skin we’d be absolutely fucked lmao.
This commercial should clear some things up.
*Loofahs are not plastic. Those are “poufs.”
I wish people would stop calling “poufs” loufahs. They are 2 different things.
The pouf is a plastic/nylon fake “loufah,” but it’s NOT a loufah.
All that said, exfoliating is good for you and yes, you can own multiples and toss them in the wash (why wouldn’t you????), and a washcloth (hello?) will work just as well. No harm in not using either sometimes, though. Everyone has different needs in this regard.
Don’t you waste shit loads of gel that way? Sponges absorb shower gel and release it slowly. Your hand just loses it the moment it touches your body or you tip your hands?
If it’s a bar of soap you mean then fair enough!
I admit loofas are a bit pointless. Sponges though? That’s just cost effective!
I use a dry brush before shower, then hands/soap most days. But considering the “do you wash your legs/back/ass crack? Or do you just let soap run down from torso?” Debate from a while back, as long as you are regularly getting soap and actively cleaning the majority of the time, then you’re probably fine.
If I don’t use a washcloth or exfoliate some other way regularly, I get skin flakes all over my towel when I dry myself. It’s not fun.
My dermatologist agrees with you
As with most hygiene or cleanliness related topics, it is subjective and depends on many factors.
Technically, according to skin experts and doctors, using only hands is enough for most people.
I also wash with my hands. I’m aware it uses a little more soap (although I always use 3 pumps of soap anyway cuz I like the number 3) but if I can wash my hands in the sink without a towel, I imagine I can wash the rest of my body just fine without one, as well. That’s really the only reason I need, although you make a lot of other good points as well
Ok but I am naturally very hairy on my legs and using a loofah or washcloth helps with the unpleasant sensation of rubbing wet hair with my bare hands. Idgaf which way is “better,” I am way more willing to actually scrub at all when I have a tool to do it without direct skin contact.
My hands may be perfectly fine at cleaning my legs, but my hands hate my wet, soapy legs. And no, I will not shave or wax because that is sooooooo much more work than just using a small towel.
I prefer to exfoliate every now and then because I like the feeling of my skin being smooth, and also it helps with the acne on my back and shoulders. But you really don’t need to unless your skin is really bad.
Tbh it’s refreshing to hear an argument that isn’t just “because hands work”. You make convincing points. But I still think washcloth are cleaner, as someone who hand wash after gym.
not when you have keratosis.
Hey I’m a dermatologist and I agree with you completely. A lot of my day is trying to reverse this habit in people
As someone with Keratosis Pilaris, no—you are wrong. Some people need to mechanically exfoliate daily.
I just use a wash cloth. They get washed with the towels. Seems pretty efficient.
I’ll take it even further. You shouldn’t shower every day and you shouldn’t wash your whole body when you do. Pits and crotch is all you need to wash (unless you’re actually covered in dirt). Constantly washing the natural oils off your skin is bad for your skin.
some people in the hygiene subs are so weird. they give a whole goddamn speech about all of the products the use and why. i can promise you that you will be clean if you only wash your hair one time. i promise you that you will be moisturized if you just put lotion on your body. and like you said, they are judgy as fuck too. i was watching a hygiene tips video one time, and the girl was deadass like “you only wash your body once, which is why you smell like shit.” wtf? washing your body once, with soap, should clean you properly.
“You’re dead skin naturally falls off.” Mine doesn’t?? If I don’t exfoliate I literally have dead skin falling off me like snow. I’m honestly not sure if I should be embarrassed of that but it’s the truth lmfao. I’m white as snow so it’s hard to tell but I do indeed have to exfoliate or else when I get out of the shower I literally leave hella dead skin on my towel which grosses me out lol. And as far as I know I don’t have a skin condition causing that. Idk why you’re so mad about exfoliation but it’s pretty common.
Yeah, but I can’t reach my back without my scrubby brush so there is some precedence at least?
Nope. I need a rag or my deoderant wont fully wash off.
My skin is much cleaner and softer when using a wash cloth, which is then laundered after one use.
I insist on using them, my husband goes without.
And guess what – we don’t care what the other person does.
Almost like bathing is something personal and no one else needs to be inserting themselves into the issue unless there is a major hygiene issue.
My partner wears work boots 5 days a week, 8 hours a day minimum. He used to just use his hands, but one day I was sitting next to him after he showered and I could smell his feet. I asked him, did you shower? He said yes. I asked, did you wash your feet? He said of course. I told him to get back in there and use a loofah on his feet. Smell was gone. Need I say more?
Some people like to exfoliate
Most of the dust in your house is dirt from outside the home, or if you have carpets the fibres of the carpet breaking down from being walked on. But otherwise you’re not wrong.
To anyone going hands only, I have one genuine question to ask – How are you scrubbing your ass? I use a washcloth, so lathering it up, spreading my cheeks and giving it a quick scrub is really simple for me. But if you’re just using hands, does that mean you’re sticking your fingers in there? How do you get a proper lather going to ensure you’re fresh down there?
I was a good 35 or 40 before I realized how many white men didn’t use washcloths. There was a conversation at work on this subject and two white guys said they just use the bar of soap and everyone else was shocked.
There must be a good 25 washcloths in my house at any given moment.
I seriously doubt hand wash only folks are doing a good job washing their asses. But that’s just me. If you wanna be nasty, more power to ya.
There’s this tiktoker that said “hygiene is cultural” and i agree. We’ll never be able to get people to all agree to one thing when it comes to bathing. It also depends on location/weather. Where I’m from, using just hands wouldn’t be considered thorough, just like it wouldn’t be thorough to just wash the upper body and expect that soap scum to flow down to the bottom and “wash my legs”. To each their own I guess
Yup, and adding to this you also don’t need to wash your hair daily, it even gets healthier if you don’t, use cold water as much as you can.
And bacteria thrives in loofahs
Reminds me of the Sheldon quote:
“Why do you suppose a man would be ashamed of having a loofah? I myself prefer to have my excess epithelial cells slough off naturally, but I don’t condemn those who seek to accelerate the process.”
Totally agreed with this and it really depends on the person. I work in the medical field with sick people everywhere and have skin that is more prone to acne around my body, so using a loofah is pretty much a necessity, but if you go I to work and don’t do anything laborious or yucky, then showering once a day with your hands is fine
I use a loofah purely because I am lazy… I blop my body wash on it and go to town. Using my hands requires this balancing act of trying to keep my soap on my hand without it just falling right to the floor.
hey, as long as you’re getting clean and not stinky, idc what you’re doing. i personally use a washcloth (fresh cloth each shower) bc i don’t feel clean unless i’m scrubbed.
I can smell OP from here
i just don’t want to “caress” my body, it feels weird, i just use a fucking sponge, that, IMO, also scrubs better than soapy hands
My butt has nooks and crannys that require more coarseness than my hand can offer. Just me?
It’s not really an unpopular opinion when nearly all dermatologist would say the same
Florida resident here. I use real sponges found in the Gulf of MEXICO. Not plastic. Just creatures.
set of cheap washcloths, wash them once you use them 🤷♀️ you buy them once, no microplastics, once they’re dead you can use them to clean around the house. they last much longer and are much more sanitary than a loofah or a sponge
I use 5x more soap if I wash myself with my hands instead of a loofah
I have never used just my hands to wash myself. I’ve always used a wash cloth or a loofa. I use an African net cloth now. But I also bathed/taught my kids to wash with a loofa/washcloth. It’s weird to me that people just use their hands but whatever it doesn’t hurt me so do what you want. I’m gona use a cloth though.
I started exfoliating my arms bc my forearms would have all kinds of little bumps, I think ingrown from how fine my arm hair is. Well, those bumps are gone now. So not for cleaning purposes per se but exfoliating does play an important role, for me at least.
I’m a painter so just a big no here home boy and to address your unwashed gloves….. you do wash your clothes ? Wash the looters at the same time every time that machine runs I put my gloves in there
Nah, whenever I’ve had to shower with just my hands because I forgot to pack all my toiletries for a trip or something, I still feel gross and not even half as clean as I usually feel after a shower afterwards.
The soap doesn’t “bubble up” and washes off your hands too quickly for it to be consistently applied across your body. Beyond its texture, your hands’ shapes also aren’t conducive to covering your whole body.
Also, I have PTSD from shitty roommates who would smell like wet dogs after their showers and leave the bathroom with that musk too.
“As long as you use water and soap, you will come out cleaner than you went into the shower.” Kinda really showing your standards there… Could say the same about just using water or wet napkins to clean yourself.
Does OP think people in cities don’t work manual labor jobs? Only city people swear by the loofah is a funny statement
You’re wasting a lot of soap. A loofah will get you cleaner with half the soap.
If our hands werent enough then washing our own hands would be pointless.
Taking a shower with your hands is enough. People are weird.
Would much rather clean my asshole with a wash cloth that can be thrown in the washing machine thanks
Soap goes further with a luffa. End of.