The truth about your body sponges, loofahs and poufs

How many of you use a body sponge, loofah or pouf? Did know that these products can be a serious breeding ground for some nasty bacteria and germs? I challenge you to cut your body pouf in half and you will be amazed by what you see. It may be black inside, almost mouldy looking; this is all of those nasty bacteria and germs that you are spreading around your body during washing, which you are trying to clean and exfoliate.

So why does the pouf etc harbour so many bacteria and germs when we soap them up and rinse them clean? When we have washed and 'Cleaned' our poufs we assume that they will dry within a few minutes. Well unfortunately they don’t, when they are damp they tend to invite bacteria in to all the nooks and cranny’s of the pouf. Additionally all our lovely dead skin cells commonly found on our body poufs provide food for nasty bacteria, making it a great place for them to live. It is advised that we should renew our poufs every 3 weeks, that’s nearly 20 poufs in a year! At £3/£4 each that can add up to quite a lot of money.

So why would we still want to use these things full of bacteria and germs? Well I can tell you why I used to use mine, because it lathered up my shower gel, left my skin soft and glowing and got rid of all those dead skin cells and my built up tan. However since I cut open my body pouf and have done some research, I have not used mine since. It went straight into the bin that night.

I have now found a product that has none of these bad points and all of the good ones! I now use Dermalogica's Ultimate Buffing Cloth. The Buffing cloth is quick drying, hygienic exfoliating cloth which helps polish the skin to a silky perfection. Because the body cloth is fast drying it doesn’t invite all those nasty bacteria and germs to live in there. It is a cloth so is long and can reach those hard to reach areas like your back. It lathers and foams up giving you a lovely lather in the shower. The Dermalogica Ultimate Buffing Cloth is also machine washable, so you can pop it into your laundry once a week and it will stay fresh and clean with no nasty germs and bacteria. The Dermalogica Buffing Cloth is only £12.20

For best results in the shower I use one pump of Dermalogica's Conditioning Body Wash with my Buffing Cloth. Dermalogica's Body Wash is a soap free body cleanser which helps prevent over drying on the skin like some shower gel products. It leaves your skin clean and soft, is free from artificial fragrance and Parabins, and with its botanical extracts provides a natural lather. The above really does leave your skin feeling refreshed clean and more importantly germ free.

I hope this post will now make you more aware of all the nasty's that live within something that we all believed would be good for our bodies. Keep checking back on this blog for more useful hints, tips and tricks from your local beauty expert!

Hannah x