Lines, lumps, dimples—whatever you’re worried about and in whatever region, a gentle but stern exfoliating glove can help you gain back your confidence (and your thighs) over time. With regular exfoliation (two to four times a month) with the right glove, you’ll remove dead skin and other impurities from your pores, maintaining softer, younger-looking skin ripe for producing important proteins, like collagen. There are so many skincare products on the market, including hundreds of exfoliating gloves, so we did the research for you and found the best of the best.
Buying Guide for Exfoliating Gloves
What are exfoliating gloves?
Exfoliating gloves are basically textured mittens with an important mission—to remove dead, dull skin from your body and get blood circulating to restore some of what aging depletes, leaving you with a brighter, younger-looking complexion. These gloves are perfect for bath and shower time or in a relaxing spa environment. Just add your favorite exfoliator, body wash, or just water and gently scrub from head to toe to remove deep-lying toxins and balance your skin.
Why add exfoliating gloves to your skin routine?
Extracting pore buildup of dirt, pollution, and dead skin with an exfoliating glove once or twice a week can have these benefits:
- Boost blood flow: Exfoliating helps increase circulation, inviting blood cells closer to the surface of your skin, which brightens your complexion and encourages collagen production. Boosting collagen production is the most natural way to treat loose skin that’s lost elasticity with age, and all you need is an exfoliating glove to get it going.
- Remove cellulite: As you exfoliate from head to toe, increasing blood circulation throughout your body, you’re also stimulating lymphatic drainage. Over time, this can help lessen the appearance of skin dimples and lumps also known as cellulite.
- Reduce signs of aging: Removing dead skin cells body-wide clears clogged pores that lead to breakouts, fine lines, and wrinkles (even on younger faces). Exfoliating gloves remove dead cells from the surface and help soften lines and balance your complexion, leaving you with glowing, balanced skin. Gloves also deep clean to allow beauty and skincare products to seep deeper into your skin for longer-lasting effects.
What should you consider when shopping for exfoliating gloves?
- Texture: Exfoliating gloves should feel like a typical washcloth or a loofah and work just as gently. You want texture on the gloves to effectively scrub off dead skin, but it shouldn’t be super coarse or harsh on your body.
- Material: The most common glove materials are viscose and nylon because they’re tough enough to remove dead skin but gentle enough to maintain skin integrity. We recommend sticking to these materials (in chemical-free options) for best exfoliation results.
Our Top Picks for Exfoliating Gloves
Pros: Evridwear lets you pick the ideal mitt for your skin demands. These stretchy, 100% nylon gloves come in three levels of exfoliation: light, medium, and heavy. Choose your ideal level based on how often you exfoliate. First-time exfoliator? Start with the toughest glove and maintain soft skin with the lighter options. Lather with your favorite body scrub, salt, or soap, and gently remove built-up dead skin and impurities from your pores. These gloves are also great on thinner, more mature skin.
Cons: If you’re looking for a deeper scrub, the light and medium options may be too gentle and leave behind dead skin and impurities. Gloves are also one-size-fits-all and may be tighter or looser, depending on the size of your hands.
Bottom Line: You’ve got choices with Evridwear not offered by every merchant—choose between light, medium, and heavy exfoliation, or get all three and use what works best for you.
Pros: Zakia’s Morocco is a quality, international brand developed by a husband-wife duo well-versed in the benefits of traditional, rejuvenating Moroccan hammam steam spas, which center on relaxation, softer skin, and opening pores for a deep-cleaning experience. This mitt doesn’t necessarily need scrubs or body wash to maneuver; it does a great job removing dead skin gently, using just water. They even help remove ingrown hairs and don’t require you to soak your entire body (just the glove) before scrubbing, like other brands.
Cons: Though safe for mature skin, using lighter pressure, Kessa gloves (and many others) may not be soft enough for extra-thin skin or skin with diagnosed conditions. If a material is too rough for touchy skin, it can cause tearing or painful breakouts, and you’ll know almost immediately if your skin isn’t built for this exfoliating glove.
Bottom Line: Zakia’s Original Kessa Gloves are fairly priced, renowned worldwide, and designed to closely mimic the real Moroccan deal. Pair it with black soap (or simply water) for an even more authentic spa experience, and we bet your new, softer, brighter skin will thank you. Remember that if you have thinner, more mature skin, test with light pressure on one body part before using it on your entire body.
Pros: This two-piece set of viscose gloves from Seraphic Skincare (experts in exfoliation) offer high-quality microdermabrasion at home with the benefits of a traditional Korean spa (or jjimjilbang). A true jjimjilbang requires gloves made from viscose, a manufactured fiber made from cellulose, to latch onto deeply embedded dirt and dead skin, which lighter gloves can’t do. Viscose is also a luxurious-feeling substitute for silk, making these rough-and-tough gloves surprisingly soft and renowned in the U.S. for gentle use on stubborn skin conditions, like keratosis pilaris (KP), according to expert aestheticians.
Cons: The highly exfoliating nature of these gloves isn’t meant for use on your face, so it’s not a head-to-toe solution. With this, they might also irritate extra-sensitive skin, leaving small bumps behind, so think hard about your skin and ask a dermatologist before purchasing gloves if you have temperamental skin.
Bottom Line: Seraphic Skincare is an established brand built by skincare lovers and exfoliation experts. Its Korean-spa-inspired gloves are a top choice if you’re looking for relief from KP or a high-producing scrub to help diminish the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles when you use it two to four times per month.
Pros: These ATB shower gloves made from 100% high-quality nylon are medium-strength but powerful enough to remove dead skin and even out blotchy, inconsistent color from spray tans. ATB mitts offer the same benefits as other high-quality scrubbers, like improving blood circulation to help remove toxins, healing ingrown hairs, and reducing cellulite, but they’re less harsh on your skin. They would make fun, practical gifts for friends or a convenient stockpile for your professional spa.
Cons: Because these gloves are designed for medium-strength exfoliation, they won’t feel like a lot of rougher, tougher gloves on the market; the texture is thinner and softer. If you prefer more intense exfoliation, these lighter mitts may not be the perfect fit.
Bottom Line: ATB gloves are ideal on sensitive skin that requires a gentle approach to exfoliation and are great for readjusting uneven tans. You’ll remove surface buildup and allow for deeper penetration of skincare products with these medium-grade mitts.
Pros: This glove is a known and celebrated solution for many suffering from keratosis pilaris, as it removes dead skin built up over time and is gentle enough for daily scrubs using lighter pressure. Tough, reusable, and made from quality, silicone-free viscose, Dermasuri deep-exfoliating gloves are just as effective when used with water alone and help balance combination skin, allocating oils where needed without drying out the rest of your body. This mitt will leave your skin smooth and glowing.
Cons: Skin care requires just as much patience and effort as many other aspects of our health, and exfoliating your body can take work. A genuine Korean spa experience means up to 30 minutes of intense scrubbing to remove built-up skin cells (you’re paying for a luxury experience), so set aside at least 15 minutes two to four times per month. It’s work, but it’s worth it.
Bottom Line: Bright, younger-looking skin is what Dermasuri is known for as one of Hollywood’s favorite skincare brands, according to Vogue and Women’s Health. Its heavy-duty exfoliating glove has been a miracle solution for many everyday folks experiencing skin conditions, like keratosis pilaris.
Final Thoughts
In the end, it’s all about what works for your skin, and, thankfully, there’s an exfoliating glove for each skin type. Before you buy, consider your skin’s history, materials you’ve had success with (or that failed you) in the past, and how often you’re willing to treat your skin to exfoliation—keeping in mind that two to four monthly sessions is ideal—then, pick your mitt and be on your way to softer, more satisfied skin.
