I’m sure you have noticed this, but the beauty world (and by extension, beauty blog world) operate in trending waves. One day you have a wave of people telling you how wonderful the Clarisonic has been for their skin and everyone runs out to buy one, nevermind the hefty price, and mostly love it. You hardly hear about anyone not liking it. I however, am ambivalent about it, but honestly, after the first 5 months, its just pretty much a white elephant now. Its the most expensive mistake I’ve ever made for a face washing gadget.
The latest trendy wave to hit is the konjac sponge. I call it a trend, but I do think this might actually hang around longer primarily because it does a fair enough job and is pretty affordable so more people can get into it.
So what is this “Konjac sponge” people talk about? Its a face washer. That’s just breaking it down to its most basic. This is a sponge that you use to wash your face, as you would a sponge, flannel or muslin cloth. The material is what’s the selling point. Konjac is, according to the almighty Wikipedia, also known as konnyaku. If you eat Japanese or Korean food, you may come across konnyaku in some dishes – a translucent gelatinous substance that is a source of fibre. It is most popularly eaten in the delicious form of konnyaku jelly (yummy!!)
These konjac sponges for washing your face aren’t edible however. They could be made from the similar source, but it looks much like a sponge. There are many many brands available in the market in different price ranges. You can easily pick them up from Sasa stores (I picked up a really cheap one in Hong Kong for something like HKD22 ~ RM10) or you can buy them online like I did with the one I tried.
The brand I tried is the Konjac Sponge Company. I picked it up from Zuneta.com, tossing it into my shopping basket almost as an afterthought because I wanted to see what the hype was about. Because its shipped out of the UK, I did not have to pay VAT so the plain Konjac Sponge Company sponge came up to £5. I also picked up a baby one for my nephew. So, how is this trend faring for me then?