So, sometime last year I was perusing Sephora’s website and adding things to my love list, as I do, when I stumbled across this thing called Konjac. It looked like sponge, had a weird name, and sparked my curiosity. I later looked into it and found out it’s basically a facial sponge that’s made out of potato starch (that’s probably a simplified definition, but that will suffice for now). That particular sponge on Sephora’s website was $18 and I immediately thought “that’s one pricey potato.” So, I kept it on my love list and put it to the back of my mind to ponder later.
Fast forward to last month when I was perusing Target’s beauty section and adding things to my shopping cart, as I do, when I stumbled across a super affordable version of the Boscia one from Sephora! Plus, it’s made by EcoTools, which is only one of my favorite brands of cosmetic brushes from the drugstore. You better believe that hot potato (pun intended) jumped into my cart toute de suite!
This was an experiment in every sense of the word. All I knew about this sponge was that it can clean your face. I read the directions, and they were pretty straight forward. Basically, you wet it. It expands and gets pretty squishy. From that point, you can use it with or without soap. After you’re done, lay it flat to dry. It needs to be replaced every 1-3 months.
I tried it many different ways before I settled on one that worked for me. First, I tried it without cleanser. My skin wasn’t happy with that and I broke out quite a bit the next day. I also think I over-washed my skin, probably trying to overcompensate the lack of cleanser.
The next time, I tried it with my oil cleanser. That method was okay, but not my favorite. Since the konjac helps your cleanser foam, oil isn’t the best cleanser if you like a foamy lather.
The third time I tried it, I used my favorite fresh Soy Face Cleanser and I loved it! That cleanser is kind of frothy, but with the konjac it was more foamy. I avoid foamy cleansers because the ingredients don’t agree with my skin, but I do miss having a foamy lather on my face. With the konjac sponge, I can get the foam with the cleanser that is best for my skin.
Personally, I prefer the small shape to either an exfoliating cloth (sometimes called a muslin cloth) or a wash cloth. With a larger cloth, I feel like I fling water all over the place (or maybe I’m just messy…), but with the small konjac sponge I don’t do that. It feels like a gentle loofah for your face. I felt like it dried pretty fast, but no faster than a wash cloth that’s been draped over a towel bar.
I will say I felt impressed by the konjac sponge, once I figured how to use it. I like that it makes my cleanser foamy and it’s also pretty cute. I won’t be switching over to it 100%, simply because I use my hands to wash my face with oil or I use a cleansing cloth with other cleansers. It’s a nice little tool to use when I want a little extra foam!
Have you ever tried a konjac beauty sponge? What did you think of it?
