I am a huge fan of exfoliation, and if you participate in any type of Women's Health & Wellness - Body hair removal , exfoliation can prevent ingrown hairs by clearing the path for the hair to grow back properly. Depending on the sensitivity of your skin, you may only want to use a scrubby periodically, but I tend to use it as part of my regular routine (with soap) as a sort of industrial strength washcloth.
I grew up with washcloths, and natural loofah sponges, and later those synthetic balls of…netting? but I’m now convinced that “mitt” is the best type of ~body sponge.
For exfoliating in particular, there are also long strips (which I guess are good for hard-to-reach places?) and there are also gloves, but I think a mitt is clearly the best option: because it is sort of an extension of your own hand, you have the maximum amount of control.
My favorite mitt is synthetic and a little stretchy—basically the material that spa gloves are made of, but in mitt form. This is oddly difficult to find online (I think I found mine at a drugstore), so my new ones don’t have any kind of squish/stretch to the fabric.
This one is quite sandpapery, and even though there’s a tighter stretchy opening, I still think the size is more likely to fit a standard hand than the Korean ones:
This one is similarly sandpapery, and even the XL barely fits my (admittedly large-for-a-woman but not that large hands)
I also have a mitt from Ikea, that’s not sandpapery, but is still rougher than a washcloth. It might be a good option for folks who aren’t yet sold on intentionally sloughing off the top layer of skin 😅
(They also have cute ones for washing kids that I’m sure are not meant to exfoliate, but if I had a kid to wash, I would definitely give them a try, just for the convenience of having your hand so easily become a wash cloth.)
I might also try these at some point (they’re not meant as a mitt, but I feel like I could use them that way?)
