The Oldest Thing in Your Bathroom
Sisal has been rope, roofing, hammocks and ships' rigging. It is very good at your back, too.
The first time I used a sisal mitt I thought I had been sold the wrong thing.
It was dry, and stiff, and it felt like something you would use on a boat. I ran it under the tap out of politeness, and it softened in my hand within about fifteen seconds, and then it was the best exfoliator I had ever used.
I have thought about that fifteen seconds a lot since. Almost everything I now like took a moment of thinking I had made a mistake.
What it actually is
Sisal comes from Agave sisalana a relative of the plant that gives us tequila, though this one is grown for its leaves rather than its heart.
It is indigenous to Mexico and Central America, and the Maya and the Aztecs were working with it long before anyone thought to put it in a bathroom. The name comes from Sisal, a port in the Yucatán that the fibre used to ship out of. A material named after the place it left from.
Before it was a beauty product it was rope. It held ships together.
That is not a marketing line, it is just what sisal was for. Twine, rigging, hammocks, matting, roofing, and later carpet backing and paper. Brazil grows the most of it now, then Tanzania, Kenya, Madagascar.
Why the plant is worth knowing about
A sisal plant takes three to five years before it can be harvested at all, and stays productive for another seven or eight. Over that whole life it gives around three hundred leaves.
It is an agave, which means it is built for dry, difficult ground. It grows where a lot of crops would not, its root system holds soil together, and it is not a thirsty plant.
The fibre is pulled out by decortication — the leaf is crushed and scraped until only the long strands are left, and those are washed, dried and brushed. That is the whole process. No spinning of polymers, no coating, no chemistry to speak of.
And because it is plant fibre and nothing else, it does not leave anything behind that soil cannot deal with. Our mitt is 100% natural sisal, and it is vegan, which not every natural bristle is.
What it does on skin
The thing that makes sisal good at rope is exactly the thing that makes it good at exfoliating: structure.
Most exfoliating cloths are soft fabrics with a texture applied to them. Sisal is a fibre that is genuinely firm all the way through, so it behaves more like a natural bristle than a cloth. That is why we rate the mitt vigorous rather than mild.
It buffs away dead skin, brings up the circulation underneath, and leaves skin properly smooth rather than temporarily slippery. Our copy says it is ancient exfoliation, and for once that is not a stretch, this is the same material doing the same job it has done for a very long time.
It is clinically and dermatologist tested, which I mention because vigorous does not have to mean harsh, and the difference between the two is the whole craft.
How to use it without overdoing it
Wet it first. This is not optional, and it is the mistake I made. Warm water for fifteen or twenty seconds, until the fibres give. Used dry it will feel like sandpaper, because dry is how sisal was designed to be strong.
Then body wash, and circular motions, working toward the heart. Firmer on heels, knees and elbows. Lighter everywhere thin.
Rinse, and moisturise while your skin is still damp, that window, right out of the shower, is when everything you put on absorbs best.
Two or three times a week, not daily. This is a vigorous texture and skin does not need it more often than that. If yours is still pink an hour later, you leaned too hard.
