Health Benefits Of Luffa

Although you may call them a luffa sponge, these long, fibrous bath accessories come from a vegetable source and not a sea creature. The luffa plant, a relative of the cucumber, produces large gourds that leave a durable network of fibers after treating and drying the fruit. The resulting mildly abrasive scrubber exfoliates your skin and enhances surface circulation.

Exfoliation

The outermost layer of your skin, the epidermis, naturally sheds dead skin cells. Normal friction removes some of these shed cells, but others remain in place, dulling your complexion or turning it ashy. Exfoliation helps this natural process along, using gentle friction to brush excess skin cells from the surface of your skin. Removing dead skin cells not only improves the look of your skin, it also sweeps away places where bacteria and soil could collect.

Improving Circulation

Any friction on your skin increases localized blood flow. Capillaries, the tiny blood vessels closest to your skin, naturally expand when stimulated. You've made use of this response if you've tried to warm your hands by rubbing them together to create friction and stimulate blood flow. A luffa has a similar effect, stimulating increased circulation to areas that you scrub with it. Unlike harshly abrasive scrubbers and sponges, a luffa's firm but elastic fibers are round in cross section and are less likely to scratch skin.

Myths

luffas have been touted as a solution to cellulite deposits, but rubbing any object on the surface of the skin cannot change the structure of the skin's lower layers. Cellulite, the dimpled fat deposits that typically appear on the thighs and hips, is no different from subcutaneous fat elsewhere on the body. Like other types of fat, no amount of surface pressure will permanently change its volume or appearance, although a luffa can improve the condition of the skin over the subcutaneous fat.

References: LiveStrong.com (http://www.livestrong.com/article/557245-health-benefits-of-scrubbing-with-a-luffa/)