According to Shoppers, This $10 Exfoliating Glove Is Better Than $100 Spa Facials
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The American beauty arena excels at innovative new lasers and facials in a bottle, but much like French pharmacies are an incomparable destination, hammams are a unique facet of Moroccan life. Where you can barely find a public restroom in some U.S. metropolises (cough New York City), Morocco's public steam rooms offer the best body scrubs the world will ever know, according to beauty editors. But when $1,400 airfare isn't an option, thousands of Amazon shoppers say Kessa's $10 Moroccan scrubbing glove is the next best thing.
"I went to a hammam once and afterward I was amazed by how soft my skin was, due to the magical little glove they used to visibly exfoliate layers of skin," wrote one reviewer. "I've been looking for the same kind of exfoliating glove ever since, and even though I've tried other drugstore bath gloves they didn't have the same effect. I'm happy to report that this is just what I've been looking for."
The find comes from Zakia's Morocco, an Amazon storefront purveying "beauty products that are rooted in the ancient tradition of Moroccan Hammam Spa." The seller works with artisan beauty specialists to bring products like Moroccan black soap, pure Moroccan argan oil, and argan oil shea butter lotions to Amazon. Yet far and away, Zakia's most-reviewed product is the scrubbing glove that shoppers say rivals expensive exfoliating treatments.
"Holy $%#*! I was literally beaming," wrote a self-described skeptic who said they'd tried everything to get smooth skin, with nary a result. "My shoulders and cheeks shined with the healthy glow of a child! My legs feel like silk. My face is so clear, and dare I say luminous, that I'm just blown away. Miracle secret for glowing skin!"
They continued: "This is actually better results than I get from a $100 microdermabrasion facial. There must be circulatory benefits also, as the healthy glow in my cheeks is coming from within. I still can't believe how radiant and clear my face looks!"
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According to the storefront, the Kessa glove's "unique crepe fabric quickly and gently gets rid of surface layer dead skin." The traditional Moroccan exfoliation mitt removes dead skin so effectively that you can see it roll off in gray squiggles. As the seller writes, "not necessarily pretty, but oh so effective."
Nearly 4,000 people gave the glove a five-star rating, and it's one of Amazon's best-selling bath accessories. "Cannot believe how much dead skin rolls off every time. My skin has never been smoother or healthier, and the argan oil I put on after soaks right in!" another shopper shared. "I even use these on my face, but use a much gentler touch while still getting dead skin off. My complexion is unbelievable now."
The benefits extend beyond soft, smooth skin: Multiple people said the Kessa glove resolved their severe keratosis pilaris and body acne, while it eliminated postpartum discoloration for another, and a former sun lover attributes their lack of face wrinkles and bumps to the $10 mitt.
Multiple estheticians added that the Kessa peels off dead skin so well, loofahs pale in comparison, and it's their prep prior to any cellulite treatments. Truly, the first-hand accounts of "dead skin peeling off like you're wiping a wet tissue that had become stuck to your body" are the most fascinating (and a little gross). Others wrote that they felt like a "snake who had shed its skin," and like they'd lost 10 pounds from the process.
The results are so unusual, a last person said they keep their glove a secret. "Make sure that you're alone, because you do not want witnesses. Forgive yourself, you had no way of knowing this would happen. Drain and wash the tub out and pretend what went down the drain never happened. Speak of it to no one. You're welcome."
Did this person know they'd be quoted on InStyle.com? Probably not, but they've done the world a solid. If you try the mitt, throw the review a like for their service.