Salux Beauty Skin Wash Cloth

I hate loofahs. HATE them. I, and I think many other ladies of my generation, went though my loofah phase in my tweens and early teens when it was the epitome of cool to turn your entire bathroom into a Bath and Body Works pop-up store (if I never smell Cucumber Melon again it will be too soon). Even though I was on the loofah bandwagon, I was always kind of grossed out by them. I could never get them to rinse clean after I was done sudsing up, which was a problem that only seemed to bother me. Sure, they made your body wash lather up, but then you couldn't get them to stop lathering, and you'd rinse and rinse and they still wouldn't be completely soap free. Would you leave shampoo in your hair? Would you leave soap on your freshly washed dishes? I hope not. So why was it seemingly acceptable for loofahs to just hang out in the shower getting scummy? I finally threw in the towel loofah and switched to using plain bar soap and nothing else. I went on like this for years and years, thinking that luxurious lather was just not in the cards for me. Then I discovered the Salux Beauty Skin Cloth.

I've spoken before about how I think Asian beauty products are infinitely better than all others. (Don't even think about buying a non-Asian eyelash curler. I will hunt you down and rip that crimping impostor right from your hand.) Salux, being from Japan, is yet another example of this beauty supremacy. It's not just a washcloth. It's an exfoliating, circulation-boosting deconstructed loofah. And you can rinse it completely clean. AND you can wash it in your washing machine. It's truly the most amazing, life changing thing you can put in your shower.

The Salux cloth can be a little intimidating if you aren't familiar with it. I read a lot of reviews on Amazon of Salux newbies asking if they could cut it in half, because it's just a long strip of gritty fabric. No, you cannot cut it in half. It'll unravel and fall apart, plus you're not meant to use it like a regular washcloth. Because of this potential for misunderstanding, I'm not only going to tell you about why you need a Salux cloth in your life, but also provide an easy tutorial for its proper use.

The Salux wash cloth is approximately three feet long and a foot wide. Turn it into a pseudo-loofah by bunching it up into a ball. There's no right way to do this, you just want it to be compact in your hand.

Squeeze some soap on that baby! You can use any kind of soap with the Salux, but right now I'm liking the Olay Sensitive Body Wash. You don't need too much soap, because the Salux can make a decent lather out of pretty much anything.

Once you've added soap, knead it into the cloth just as you would a loofah. It'll create a lather like you wouldn't believe. Plus, because the cloth is long and can be unfolded, you can easily clean your whole body, while giving yourself an invigorating shower massage. There's even a cartoon lady on the package to show you how it's done. (If you're into cartoon butts, get ready, because I'm about to make your day.)

The Salux washcloth is made out of a high grit nylon/polyester material that, when you first use it, feels like it will scrape off every layer of your skin. When I first opened my Salux cloth and felt it, my immediate thinking was, "This was a mistake." I'll try just about any beauty product, especially if it's a cult favorite. I was concerned about the rough texture of the Salux cloth though, because I can occasionally suffer from something called allodynia, which is a part of fibromyalgia that makes simple things like touch and temperature horribly painful. Tactile allodynia was never a huge issue for me, but I didn't want to tempt fate by showering with sandpaper. I decided I'd try it once, very gently, and if it caused me any pain I'd give up and add this to my ever-growing list of beauty blunders. The first time I tried the cloth, it was slightly uncomfortable, but not so much that I wanted to throw it out and give up. I kept using it and I quickly got used to the coarseness. Then I got addicted to it.

Now, after using a Salux cloth every day for about four months, I refuse to shower without it. I even take it on trips. I love that I can get a nice lather, and that it's easy to scrub my whole body with the cloth when it's un-scrunched. I don't know if my back has ever been this clean, actually. Plus, the grit of the cloth helps with circulation, and allegedly with cellulite reduction as well. Because of my aforementioned loofah aversion, I love that the cloth can be unfolded and completely rinsed clean easily, and I have a little hook on my shower caddy where I can hang it up to dry. Once a week I also throw my Salux cloth in with my laundry and it washes up really nice. (I wash it in a wash bag and hang it to dry.) I haven't noticed any loss of quality from washing, but I did notice that because I only had one cloth, I had to make sure that it was washed before my next shower. I couldn't risk not having my Salux available for even one soap sesh. So I bought three more. (The three pack is an insanely good deal on Amazon.)

Salux Beauty Skin Wash Cloth: $7 for one, $13 for three