Scrubbing away the grubby 1

I write this in my head with every shower so odd as it may be, I just have to write this.

One of the things I put quite a bit of effort into was finding the best solution for keeping my skin feeling fresh, clean and alive as I live out of a backpack.

At home I would have a fresh washcloth, one of those newfangled plastic round soap-up things, or a nice long loofa sponge.

On the road, a washcloth might be an answer but it can easily become rancid smelling. That big round thing is a space issue and would hang like a Pom-Pom from your pack to dry.

I love a loofa because it enables you to rub gently or scrub harder to give you as much clean as your skin needs. (If you are from a cool climate you will understand once you hit a tropical summer and you realize the dirt you are rolling off your body as you hang out with friends is your skin.)

But a loofa is round and quite long.

I tried the $2 thin pad that is loofa on one side. Not bad. It lasted 2 months in NYC winter, then had holes in it. I want something more durable.

Next, I found a nice, not-too-wide loofa. First I cut a slice. Too small.

My next attempt was my success. I cut a length of loofa to fit my soap dish. Then I cut it in the center so I have two long, not wide-around pieces. This fits in my hand well, provides perfect sizes surface area, and fits in the soap dish with soap in most cases.

How well does this hold up? I am 2 weeks into this trip so I will post an update in 6 weeks. [Update, it held up.]

FWIW: last time I traveled for 3 years loofa was my choice. At the time I was able to buy flattened ones though so didn’t cut them in the center.

[Update 2023: I should have updated this years ago. The loofa and soap dish created the issue of wet gooey soap and the need for a plastic bag. In 2018, Matador came out with my favorite solution to date. It invented the FlatPak™ Soap Bar Case and its Dry-Through™ technology. Here’s my 2019 article about the Matador FlatPak Soap Bar Case.