What do you need to know about your loofah

This post is inspired by Santiosmama. I went through her post and saw a lot of people unaware of disposing off their loofah. Full credit goes to her. I researched more about this topic and I want to share what I found. First of all, loofah can harbour mold and bacteria. You can see the mold and smell it too but it doesn’t go that way for bacteria. You hang your loofah up to dry in the shower area, it’s still technically collecting moisture or steam residue from your time spent using it. Dead skin cells lingering in a moist place is a recipe for dangerous bacteria to grow and multiply. So, I want to discuss what type of bacterias are growing on your loofahs and what they can do to your skin. It may have pathogens like staphylococcus, stenotrophomonas maltophila, and group B streptococcus. While these sound like big, fancy words you can just brush off, each one has a less-than-fun consequence. Staphylococcus causes acne, stenotrophomonas maltophila can result in respiratory infections, and group B streptococcus can cause pneumonia, bone and joint infections. So, what we should do? We should disinfect our loofah once or twice a week. We can disinfect by adding one part of bleach to nine parts of water. Let it sit for a while and we have a clean loofah. Try squeezing water out of loofah by paper towels or something and hang it somewhere outside your bathroom to dry. We should not use loofah after shaving as we can break our skin and those pathogens can enter through the skin. Also, natural loofah lasts upto three to four weeks, but the artificial one lasts upto to two months This isn’t all fiction. I read through research articles to confirm it. There are other products you can use instead of loofahs to avoid this hot mess. Other options include silicon brushes, washclothes (wash after every use), and even gloves. I am attaching this article for product recommendations. https://www.healthline.com/health/beauty-skin-care/loofah-alternatives