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With my skin obsessions, it’s no wonder that I get a little excited when new fads and crazes in skin care appear. The newest addition to my ever-growing collection is a konjac cleansing sponge. Now I don’t know about you, but the only time I ever hear of konjac is when I go to hotpot with friends. So I figure if something is that yummy, it must have special properties other than that of filling my tummy. With the slight trepidation that all I was about to do was rub a noodle-like substance all over my face, I sallied forth to my local Sephora and bought myself a sponge.
Konjac (known more exotically as “devil’s tongue”, “voodoo lily”, “snake palm” or “elephant yam”) is a plant that grows in areas of high altitude in eastern Asia. The root part of the plant is commonly used to the make “yam” cakes and noodles found in hotpot, though the actual konjac tuber does not remotely resemble a normal yam. As a dietary supplement, konjac is traditionally used in Asia as a “detox” substance. Though konjac as a skincare product has only recently hit North American shelves, the Japanese have been using konjac for the past thousand years or so as a beauty treatment.
Just like any other starch, konjac is alkaline (basic) and neutralizes the acidic substances that accumulate on the skin’s exterior such as oils, bacterial toxins, and environmental exposures that may settle on the surface. The konjac itself is rich in many vitamins, minerals and nutrients that improv