Exfoliate Your Skin With Italy (Korean) Towel

I've been using Korean towels for years. They were incredibly helpful when I developed a sensitivity to certain chemicals and couldn't use regular scrubs. I never anticipated how they would change my whole beauty routine and honestly, I can't go without them now. Not only do they make your skin extremely soft and slick, they help with ingrown hair, keratosis pilaris and bacne.

I've been recommending them to my friends and family for ages, even went as far as send them as Christmas gifts, but I ended up getting complains instead of praises. Turns out they were doing it wrong, so wrong in fact, that some of them ended up with mild skin abrasions (think carpet burns). So, I decided to make an Instructable to explain how to use it properly, with no injury and maximum results.

Step 1: What Are Korean Towels

Korean (Italy) Towels are made of a cloth that is 100% viscose. They have been available in Korea since the 60s, but the original viscose cloth came from Italy, since the alternative name for those mittens. There are similar to Turkish exfoliating mitts.
They are abrasive, which is why they work so well for manual exfoliation. Korean towels are inexpensive, reusable, require no lotions, potions, or goo for results. Perfect for people with sensitive skin who react badly to chemicals in store-bought scrubs. Plus, they work better than any home-made or store-bought scrub.

Step 2: Colours

Korean towels come in different colours. Colours signify coarseness.

Pink
The least abrasive. Used for sensitive areas like neck, throat, cleavage. They can supposedly be used for a facial exfoliation, but I do not recommend that course of action.

Green
This one is medium strength and most commonly used. Appropriate for majority of skin types and body parts.

Yellow
Very abrasive, used for tough body parts like knees, elbows, feet, areas affected by keratosis pilaris, legs with ingrown hair.

Blue
Hard to get, the most abrasive, recommended only for very dry, tough skin.

Step 3: Problem With Shrinkage

Most commonly available size is 16x14cm. What the package doesn't tell you is that once wet, they shrink anywhere between 30-50%. The brand I'm using ends up shrinking to 10x12cm. It's puny and barely workable by someone with medium hands, and utterly useless for someone with large hands. They are perfect for someone with small hands though. Once they are wet and shrunk, they can be stretched and they will be a tight fit. And that's how they are supposed to be- tight. That way you will be able to create necessary surface tension.

Picture 1: top- just wet; bottom- wet, but stretched
Picture 2: small hand
Picture 3: large hand

Step 4: Solution

Since Korean towels are reusable, washable and will last at least a few weeks, it's not totally crazy to modify them a little bit. Especially if you can only get your hands on regular sized towels. With a thread, needle and a sharp pair of scissors you will be able to create a large mitten (22x12cm when wet) that should make your exfoliating job much, much easier.

Select two towels, either get two of the same colour, or mix them. I'm using yellow for areas affected by KP and green for the rest of my skin. If you have a particularly sensitive skin, use pink and green instead

Stitches are on the outside, so flip the mitten inside out, put your hand inside to create tension and reveal underside of the stitches and cut through. Small scissors, craft knife, scalpel, cuticle clippers will do the job.

Rip them all apart and remove the loose thread. Align two towels together.

Sew two towels together with a double thread. Only basic sewing skills are necessary (as seen in the picture).

Step 5: Large Mitten

Voila, Korean towel ready to go. 14x30cm when dry, 12x22cm when wet. It will fit a large hand perfectly well.

Step 6: How to Use It

• First of all- always, always use it wet. Wet skin and wet mitten. Never dry and never forceful. Strength is not needed here, too much pressure can remove too much skin, create abrasion and subsequently 2-3 days of pain.
• You can use it in the shower or in the bath, both ways work.
• Some people will be able to use it after 5 minutes under warm shower, some will have to soak in a bath for 15-30minutes. Everybody is different. You will have to test it. Every 5 minutes, grab the mitten and rub it on your skin. If nothing comes off, you need to soak more.
• Once you are in the bath or shower, cleanse your skin with soap and rinse off. Use simple soap or shower gel, the type that just cleans your skin, but doesn't have any moisturising properties. We want the skin to be clean and have no oily residue.Rinse off, don't leave any soap on your skin. If having a bath, either drain the tub or stand up, rinse and don't sit back in the water. You can't use soap with Korean towels. In order for them to work, you need to create friction and that won't be possible with soapy and/or oily residue.
  
• Experiment which way to rub your skin. Circular motion or up and down? Or maybe you are like me and have to go side to side because up and down won't work for some reason?
• Once your skin is shed, rinse yourself with water. Be thorough, those pesky bits of skin linger everywhere. Next step is drying and moisturising.

• And finally, last part is admiring. I guarantee you will not be able to stop touching your skin. It's crazy smooth.

Step 7: Tips

• If you have long hair, keep it tied high and away from your skin. Flecks of dead skin get stuck to your hair and then you have to wash and rinse your hair all over again.
• Some body areas might shed better than others. Back and arms are the most satisfying and the easiest to exfoliate. If you shave your legs on regular basis, you might not get any dead skin on your legs. Or you might only get it in certain spots.
  
• For your back, you should really ask someone to help you. Even the most flexible people won't be able to remove all dead skin themselves , nor will they be able to apply good pressure.
  
• Even the most abrasive towel won't remove calloused skin from your feet.
  
• Rinse them properly after each use, dry and keep away from water until next scrubbing.
• Don't use more than once a week.