How to Properly Clean and Use Your Loofah Sponge

In every shower, there are products and sponges that suit their owner's tastes and style. Whether you have dry skin, flat hair, or razor bump issues, the products in your shower will tell a book's worth of a story about you and your family.

Of course, the shower and the bath are places to wash away dirt and dead skin cells, cleaning your body and wiping those troubles away as well. However, there's a big risk looming over most showers healthy outward appearance - the loofah sponge!

These wonderful inventions, whether you bought one that uses synthetic mesh or natural loofah fibers, are a great way to gently exfoliate your skin without damaging the planet with those little plastic pellets you could find in many of today's top exfoliating soaps and shower gels. (It's obviously less helpful if you buy synthetic mesh loofahs.) Although they help get you clean and they can come in your favorite color, loofahs can be a huge hazard to you and your family's skin, and their health, if you don't take proper care of it.

First off, each family member should have their own loofah, if they use one. This prevents the bacteria that will undoubtedly find it's way into the little nooks and crannies of your loofah from infecting anyone with something harmful. Second, you want to eliminate most of that icky bacteria and germs from appearing in the first place!

Cleaning your loofah is actually rather easy, but not many people that own one actually do it. (Big no-no if you're trying not to get sick!) About once a week, perhaps twice, fill a clean disinfected basin or your bathroom sink with some hot water, hydrogen peroxide, and a splash of white vinegar. Let it soak for about an hour, and then squeeze dry, shaking off any access water.

Letting the loofah sit around still soaking wet after you've just disinfected it sort of defeats the purpose, so if you aren't planning on using it directly after you clean it, blow dry it on cold with a hair dryer holding it about half a foot away from the sponge. Make sure you clean your loofahs separately - you don't want your sponge sitting in the same bacteria as everyone else's in your house for an hour!

Another common mistake that's often made with loofahs is that they are stored in the shower in strange ways. Shoving a loofah on a shower shelf or soap dish is a very bad idea if you want to keep it free of bacteria and germs. (And let me add, sponges would be pretty pointless if all they did was spread more germs and bacteria around your skin!) Hanging your loofah seems like the best idea - but wait! If you hang it from the faucet knobs, all of that residue that builds up from people touching it with un-showered hands will ultimately end up all over your loofah! Gross!

The best way to store your loofah so it stays squeaky clean is to hang it from a shower caddy. This way, the only thing it could touch is the wall of your shower and your body. If you're still nervous about cleaning yourself with a bacteria infested loofah, you could always take one more precaution: spraying your loofah with a home-made disinfectant after every shower!

It seems a bit much, but I do it almost every time I shower, and I exfoliate worry free knowing that my sponge isn't taking off my dead skin cells and replacing them with even older ones. Take a small empty spray bottle and add some water and peroxide. Lightly mist your loofah or loofahs after every time you take a shower, and this should help get rid of any pesky germs and bacteria you might have left over. (Don't forget, gently squeeze it dry with your now clean hands!)

Now that you're aware of the dangers a dirty loofah or sponge poses to your health and your skin, you can take the needed precautions. Set aside your germophobia and shower with a clean mind and a clean body!