Why I stopped using Konjac Sponges

I came across a tweet by a lifestyle blogger and Youtuber a while ago that read “If you don’t have money, you cannot see your true beauty. Money is a skincare routine”. In spite of knowing how true this is, it had me thinking a lot of skincare related thoughts like, “Does this mean ‘no money, no healthy & beautiful skin?’, because, even when we talk about “low-budget and affordable skin care products”, they’re “low-budget”, not free. You get my point right? 👉🏽 Good!

So it’s accurate to say you cannot have a complete skincare routine without money. Notice I included ‘complete’? That’s because, there are some steps in a skin care routine that you can make do with what you have, like cleansing your face… with your hands (Let’s not think about the cleansing products and focus on the ‘equipment’, shall we? *winks*).

This brings us to konjac sponges. Have you ever heard of them? For the sake of those who haven’t, they are gentle cleansing & exfoliating sponges made from a konjac root mostly found in Asia (Korea). What caught my attention about this sponge asides it being all natural is its suitability for sensitive skin. That was all I needed to try out this plant-based cleansing sponge.

Looks hard but softens when soaked in water

I used konjac sponges for a few months, changing them every 3 weeks and I was getting quite addicted to them until this happened…

I had a conversation with someone that changed all of that. Just before getting on the Konjac sponge train, I researched and checked up how to clean the sponge. This was very important because of my acne-prone, sensitive skin (if you’re a regular on my blog, you’d know this). I needed to make sure the sponge would not be a transmission agent for dirt and I was somewhat satisfied with what I saw. The major cleansing method I adopted was soaking the sponge in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes and leaving it to dry in a clean place. I wasn’t quite satisfied with this, but my love for the aftermath effect from using the konjac sponge mattered more at that time.

Back to the conversation that changed all that, I was telling a friend with whom I share similar skin struggles with about the sponge and explaining to her why she should also jump on the konjac sponge train and that’s how we begun dissecting how hygienic the sponge is…

After use, the ideal thing to do is hang the sponge in a well-ventilated area to dry, then, soak in water for a few minutes before next use, right? Now, there is no way you’d hang it for a few hours and certain particles (that obviously cannot be seen with visible eyes) won’t cling to the sponge. And soaking in water before use isn’t gonna completely rid of them. You’re thinking what if you soak with hot water right? That could work, but I’d rather completely avoid using any thing that could harbor dirt on my face than go through the stress of sterilizing everyday and hoping the sterilization method I use is really effective.

After the conversation, I had no intention of quitting my use of konjac sponges because my face really does feel thoroughly cleansed after use, but, I just couldn’t bring myself to using the sponge without the conversation replaying in my head. Maybe if I don’t have an acne-prone skin, I wouldn’t mind so much, but I do.

In retrospect, since I abandoned Konjac sponges, I realized the following;

1. I have one less thing to worry about during my morning and night skin care routine.

2. I stopped having constant breakouts here and there; for no reason. Which means, my acne-prone skin does better with using my hands to wash.

3. Using a Konjac sponge is nowhere as effective in deeply cleansing your pores as a toner or a deep cleanser is.

4. The struggle attached with packing a konjac sponge when traveling, especially when it isn’t completely dry has been eliminated.

At the end of the day, this is my 2 cents. If you use Konjac sponges and it works for you. Awesome!

Have you used Konjac sponges? What’s your opinion? Did your face like them? What differences did you notice?

P.S: I apologize for being unable to post in the last two weeks. It was as a result of unbeatable circumstances. I hope you missed me? I missed me too..*winks*

Look out for another post next Sunday.

❤️ always,

Jasmine 🌸