Lüfkas are incredibly easy to use and safe for all skin types. Run your Lüfka under water and let the willow bark fibers absorb the water. You will be surprised by how flexible and soft your lüfka will become. Willow bark fibers are incredibly absorbent.
Now that your Lüfka is wet, apply your favorite liquid body wash and lather. If you prefer to use a bar of soap, there is is a hole on the top of the lüfka under the handle. You can leave the soap inside of your lüfka.
After your lüfka is all lathered up, start by scrubbing your face. Scrub in back and forth as well as circular motions all over your face, ears, and neck.
*Please do this at least twice to really flush all of the dirt and oil out of your pores.
Now that your face is all clean, work your way down your neck, arms, chest, back, legs, and feet.
*Please do this at least twice to enjoy the benefits of deep exfoliation.
*It is a good idea to scrub rigorously down the side of your body with your arm lifted. This area is where the majority of our lymph nodes are located in the body. Scrubbing your lymphatic system daily will help boost your immune system and cleanse your lymphatic system. Another area that has a high concentration of lymph nodes is the inner thighs. Scrub this area rigorously to enjoy a deeper sense of well being.
Hot and cold shower regiments are not only highly beneficial but also invigorate the senses and boost your immune system. Lüfkas were designed to be used with this type of bathing routine.
*Follow all of the below mentioned directions before doing a hot and cold shower regiment.
After your body has been fully exfoliated, turn the shower to a temperature that is as hot as you can stand without burning yourself. Please be careful not to burn yourself. Turn the temperature up slowly. Stand in the hot water for approximately 60 seconds. After you have been under the hot water for approximately 60 seconds, start turning the shower to a temperature that is as cold as you can stand and stand under the cold water for approximately 60 seconds. Repeat these steps for 3 cycles of hot and 3 cycles of cold.
*In the morning, end on a cold cycle to feel invigorated to start your day. At night, end with a hot cycle to help you fall asleep faster.
After you are done taking a shower or bath, please rinse all of the soap out of your lüfka. Ring it out and reshape it (pull it back to its original shape). Hang it up by both handles.
*If some of the fibers start to loosen on your lüfka, you can cut the loose fibers with scissors and it will look and feel just like new.
THE HISTORY OF LÜFKA WASHCLOTHS
Lüfka washcloths and bar soap have been used for centuries in the sensual bath houses or hammams of the ancient Mesopotamia region dating back to the ancient Sumarian period about 5,500 years ago. According to most scholars, the first evidence of a soap making can be traced back to 2,800 BC. Sumarian priests would make sacred soap to cleanse themselves before rituals. They would place the soap inside of woolen Lüfka washcloths and scrub their skin to remove dead skin cells.
Our Lüfka washcloths are fair trade and handcrafted in Northern Iraq in the Kurdistan region. They are made out of one ingredient which is organic willow bark fibers from Babylonian Weeping Willow tree branches. The branches are trimmed, hung to dry in the hot, Kurdish sun, and stripped into long, thin fibers. These fibers are then croqueted to produce our beautiful, Earthen jar-shaped lüfkas. Every Lüfka washcloth is unique just like the women who craft them for us.