Exfoliating like a mime artist (The Body Shop Exfoliating Gloves)

Member Name: carly_pussycat

Product:	The Body Shop Exfoliating Gloves
Date:	27/12/06 (312 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, effective

Disadvantages: Too harsh for neck/chest

Before I start this review, let me make one thing clear: I LOVE exfoliating scrubs, and although these *could* replace those, I shall continue to use them!

Phew….

I noticed these white ‘exfoliating gloves' in the Body Shop the other day and decided that £3.50 was not a lot of money to waste so wanted to give them a try.

The gloves are just like a normal pair of gloves, only very rough and slightly see-through. They have an elasticised strip around each wrist to avoid them slipping off during use, which is great because they do slide around a tiny bit during use (although not so much that it is annoying.)

When you initially put the dry gloves on they feel very ‘scratchy’ as they are made of coarse synthetic material – luckily when you wet them them they become less coarse, although still abrasive. On using them I discovered that they are the easiest thing in the world to use; any old moron could do it! You just slip them on your hands whilst in the bath or the shower and away you go.

I normally use these gloves with a moisturising shower gel to make my skin doubly soft but you can use any kind you like – just your normal brand. You will probably only need to use a small amount of gel on the gloves as they tend to encourage the gel to produce a generous lather. Once lathered up you just exfoliate as you would normally (in large circular motions). I have found that one great advantage to using these gloves is that although I can reach my back with my hands, I often find it a bit challenging to exfoliate it but with these I can manage it more easily.

I find that the gloves are still very abrasive even when wet. They are brilliant for use on my legs and arms because my arms are fairly resilient and I always need to remove dead skin from my legs but found them slightly too harsh for areas of sensitive skin like my neck and chest. Oh, and NEVER use these without shower gel – I did once, with just water, and it itched like hell afterwards!

After using them, just take them off and ring them out then leave them somewhere warm to dry off. No hassle.

Using the gloves doesn’t feel as glamorous as slathering expensive exfoliating cream all over your skin but they really do the job without all the gritty mess in the bath/shower. One disadvantage I can think of is the sensitive skin issue but I can easily solve that problem by continuing to use mild exfoliators on sensitive bits.

I would certainly NOT recommend these gloves to people with dry and/or sensitive skin. Other than that, they’re great! (oh and my boyfriend finds it amusing when I use them because I look like a mime artist…)

There really is no need to waffle on for ages about these gloves as I’ve said all that needs to be said – just get yourself out and buy a pair. After about 6 months the elastic in them goes a bit funny so they're a bit baggy (more difficult to use) and the gloves will wear out slightly but at that price it's still cheap to buy a new pair!

Find them in The Body Shop @ £3.50

Summary: A good cheap exfoliating product to use in the bath/shower