Good Bloke Co.

For sustainable eco-conscious people when it comes to showering, besides a good natural bar soap, there is a loofah to consider. Commonly loofah is referred to a plastic jumbo mesh sponge but it actually is a naturally grown plant, sometimes spelled as luffa; it’s a sustainable biodegradable product that should replace plastic mesh sponges in every household.

Using a showering sponge will improve your cleaning game. It helps to exfoliate your skin, saves soap and stimulates blood circulation while you shower. Most loofah-alternatives are made with human-made materials, often plastic, and are not environmentally friendly. A natural loofah not only a self-growing plant from cucumber family but also is a back-yard biodegradable product after its disposal.

Outside of shower, loofahs can be used as a replacement of a conventional dishwashing sponge or a brush. Many households already replaced their plastic sponges with natural to our planet luffas.

What to expect when buying natural loofah from Good Bloke

We source our loofah from Vietnam. There, each plant is cleaned, dried and pressed for better transportation. Once you receive your loofah, you will need to soak it in water for about 5 minutes. This will be enough for the plant to open up. You will definitely find some seeds inside that were not cleaned during the initial drying process, that is nothing to be scared of, just collect those seeds and throw them away.

After soaking is done, your luffa is ready. Remove it from water and squeeze it dry. Unless you’re going to use it right away, keep it in a dry place.

How to clean a loofah

There are many articles written about how to keep your natural loofah clean. All of them are pointing at the fact that if you don’t dry loofah thoroughly, it may develop mold. As anything organic and naturally made, loofas can mold if kept in humid environment and not used for a long time.

One way to keep loofah clean is showering or taking bath with it all the time. Your body wash, or better natural bar soap, will be cleaning it for you as you clean yourself. All developing bacteria will be washed away from loofah with water the same way it’s washed away form your body. Squeeze it dry and keep it in a dry place between use.

Another way to keep loofah clean is to soak it in a diluted bleach mixture (10%) for about 3-7 minutes. There is a written study from 1993 that suggests doing that weekly to reduce a rick of bacteria contamination.

These practices are not just applied to natural loofahs; they are recommended for natural sea sponges, plastic loofah-alternatives and other showering supplies. It all depends on how often you use it and the humidity of the environment you live in.

As our personal take here is – if you use natural loofah regularly and keep it dry between use, you will not encounter any problems with them.