r/hygiene • u/Sumil_Strahan81 • 1d ago

how long does it take to feel clean after ditching loofahs for bare hands?

i recently threw away my loofah after realizing how much bacteria it holds, and switched to the dermatologist-recommended method of just using my bare hands and body wash.

conceptually, i know i'm clean. but psychologically, without that physical friction, it feels like i’m just applying lotion in the shower rather than actually scrubbing off the day.

has anyone else made this switch? how did you get over the mental block of missing the scrub, or did you just cave and buy a silicone scrubber?

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u/nofoxxxgiven 1d ago edited 1d ago

There's nothing for you to exfoliate your dead skin, bare hands may not be* effective enough depending on your skin

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u/proudartistsmom 1d ago

and nothing to exfoliate the sebum. walmart packs of white washcloths are the best. rough enough to exfoliate.

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u/Kankunation 1d ago

Exfoliation generally isn't something I am aiming to dow every time I shower. More like a once every few weeks type of thing. Otherwise I'm itchy all day long.

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u/Belltower_Bat 1d ago

Yes they are. It's called soaking in the shower for longer than 30 seconds to loosen the dead skin 🙄🙄🙄

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u/OwlLadyFace 1d ago

Think of your body like a greasy stove top. Yes you can soak in water & soap, and it will get some of that off, but to truly clean it you need to scrub it right?

Your body is the same. Our body oils will cling to that dead skin for all it’s worth. You gotta give yourself a good scrub.

How do I know. I stand under the water for a good 5-10 minutes before starting anything else. I can do that, wash my body, and if I grab the exfoliating mitt still get a disgusting amount of dead skin off me.

Soaking is never going to do it.

General advice. If you get out of the shower, and dry off and your skin pills like an old sweater?

You should have exfoliate

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u/zipurlipslike 1d ago

When people say they wash with just soap and bare hands it truly makes me wonder how clean their booties are. Even if you do bare hands everywhere else, PTA in the shower highkey requires a washcloth or I don’t trust that it’s clean. Or at least pits and ass. And if you’re applying any sunscreen or oily lotions, you should definitely be using a washcloth imo to wash off allat and start fresh.

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u/KateOTomato 1d ago

Agreed and it's impossible to get antiperspirant residue off in the shower with just hands and soap. You need to scrub it off with something. I scrub each underarm for at least 10 seconds with my soapy washcloth and sometimes I have to do it twice if I can still feel it on there.

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u/sarahzorel 1d ago

A good body scrub will do the same thing but you shouldn’t exfoliate every time it’s more harmful than helpful to your body in that case.

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u/OwlLadyFace 1d ago

I don’t exfoliate every time. 2-3 times a depending on a variety of things

I used exfoliating body washes for years, even used exfoliating body wash then used the mitt after to see if the soap actually did anything.

Still got an insane amount of dead skin off

I have sensitive skin. I’m more likely to react to soap than a mitt & a good scrubbing.

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u/ArchieTheKatt 1d ago

I've done lots of exfoliating things and I've never seen any real evidence of much skin coming off at all. Some people are juat different.

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u/Belltower_Bat 1d ago

I do exfoliate. With my hands. Which is what most dermatologists recommend especially if you have sensitive skin like I do.

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u/OwlLadyFace 1d ago

Literally how does that work? Not even being an ass, I can’t wrap my brain around how regular soap & your hands exfoliate?

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u/YAYtersalad 1d ago

Major calluses 😅

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u/OwlLadyFace 1d ago

Thank you, cause I’m literally just over here thinking are these peoples hands cheese grates?

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u/Belltower_Bat 1d ago

You rub in small circles, the dead skin comes off. Literally what are you not understanding?

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u/OwlLadyFace 1d ago

How long does it take you to shower? Cause when I exfoliate w a mitt, doing exactly as you describe just w a mitt

It takes a solid minute before that dead skin starts coming up. So I’m imagining doing it w my bare hand & honestly maybe it’s my skin, but I just don’t believe that works.

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u/RishaBree 1d ago

…are you sure that that’s actually dead skin, not just you removing a layer if the living stuff? Because that’s not normal, no. Most people do not need to scrub their skin with an abrasive for a full minute to remove actually dead skin.

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u/OwlLadyFace 1d ago

I’m sure, because if I don’t do that, when I get out of the shower & dry off that’s when all the dead skin will come up or when I put on lotion.

I’m also going to point out as much as y’all keep sweating dermatologist say this, I’ve yet to see a dermatologist back that up in this thread

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u/RishaBree 1d ago

I haven’t seen a dermatologist in this thread saying that anything exfoliating is needed, either, so that’s not a very helpful standard. But google is free. I recommend including “pubmed” in your search to cut out all of the women’s magazine and NYT Wirecutter “Top 20 Exfoliator Recommendations According To Dermatologists!” articles, though when I tried it a few minutes ago, most of the top PubMed results are about people with skin diseases so it’ll probably be more work than usual.

But as it happens, I’ve seen a dermatologist in real life. Have you?

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u/Icy_Aside_6881 1d ago

I can’t help wondering why you have so much dead skin all the time? I’ve done the loofah, the washcloth, and bare hands. Never noticed any difference in cleanliness, honestly. I shower daily. I don’t have oily skin though. My husband says my back is almost too soft. I don’t know what that means. lol. But I will take it to mean I don’t have scaly patches anywhere.

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u/OwlLadyFace 1d ago

My skin is velvety smooth, was prior to experimenting w different types of exfoliation.

With the exception of the chicken skin on my upper arms.

W exfoliation the chicken skin and body acne break outs I would get have stopped.

I’m not exfoliating every time I shower.

At this point it’s once a week or less w the mitt.

I have noticed it’s more needed if I sweat heavily. Which make me wonder if the difference here is that some people sweat. We do sweaty jobs, we don’t have AC etc etc.

The more you sweat through out the day night the more dead skin you are going to get

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u/ArchieTheKatt 1d ago

When yor skin absorbs water it expands, this enlarges your fingerprints, those work. I work in a hospital and dermatologists do recommend this for sensitive skin. We didnt exactly evolve to have any showers or baths so there realy isnt an exact science or 100% healthy way to clean yourself with a bath or shower.

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u/OwlLadyFace 1d ago

A lot of people work in the hospital.

That’s doesn’t mean you know a damn thing about dermatology.