Not everybody needs to bath with a sponge.
I’m not a dermatologist.
However, mere looking at the nature of the human skin, sponging isn’t strictly necessary.
Ideally, washcloth is a better alternative to cleanse the skin gently.
Although I’ve never seen anybody use a washcloth in this country.
We believe in doing shakashakashaka in the bathroom with those net sponges that look like they were torn from a secondary school’s goal post.
A morning and night ritual for most people.
Horrible!
Repeat after me, “horrible!’
You wouldn’t use something as abrasive as that to clean a leather chair.
You’d be mindful and demure in order to preserve the leather, wouldn’t you?
So why do you think a net sponge is suited for your body that was wonderfully and fearfully made? Ehn my sister?
I used to be like you some 8/9 years ago.
Then, it wasn’t a complete bath without a good, hard scrubbing session with the roughest of sponges.
Just like me, a lot of people inherited that bathing method from their parents and you can’t tell them nothing.
But I’ll try sha.
At the time, I always had a bad itch all over my body after bathing, it would last for an hour or more.
It was so discomfiting, like prickling under my skin.
I often kept sharp-edged stuff around, knowing I’d need them to scratch my legs especially after taking a shower.
Sometimes I’d dash into the bathroom again and use my sponge to scratch and scratch.
Every medication failed.
Detoxification failed.
Dettol failed.
Some people said allergy. Others said bad water, which wasn’t the case. I was the only one in the house that experienced it.
Ahn ahn.
Years went by and it persisted.
It wasn’t until I stopped using sponge to bath that I became free.
How?
Somebody said to me during a casual discussion that soap adverts serve as bathing guide, that the models don’t use sponge.
Of course, I wasn’t buying that. I was indoctrinated.
He added, what’s the point of using a sponge, when you can equally wash out dirt with your hands, soap and water?
That point entered, but I sha displayed small gragra.
After the talk, I had a different view of the skin. This elastic, rubbery covering on our bodies no be jeans. Why was it so important to go hard on it?
It was like an epiphany.
I realised that with soap and water and mild hand-scrubbing, grime will slide off with the soap suds.
That way, you preserve your skin’s sheen and suppleness. While being clean too.
Sponging might work if you’re exfoliating or you’re a mechanic.
Other than that, I don’t see the point of doing shakabula all over your body with a sponge every blessed day.
You come out of the bathroom white as a chalk, cos all the natural oil embedded in the skin have been shakabula’d away.
Tell me how you will glow.
No, tell me.
BTV reporting
