[image description: two photos taken on a red watermelon slice background of a purple bean-shaped Scrubbie/facial scrubbing brush/pore cleansing pad. The brush is made from a pale mauve silicone and has rows of fine bristles across three quarters of the pad and raised circles across the last quarter. First photo shows the brush inside a clear plastic box with a silver backing; black text on the front reads “pore cleansing pad”. Second photo shows the brush beside a Daiso knock-off Scrubbie, which is rounder in shape with larger bumps, made from a darker silicone.]
Pore Cleansing Brush - K-Mart, $1 AUD.
Variations: light pink or light mauve.
There is no longer an online listing for this product. My local store has them on clearance for only $1 AUD each.
I don’t mind this brush! It has a section at the front where the bristles are shorter and thinner, whereas the bristles on the Daiso Scrubbie are all the same size. The bumps are also rougher, and make a nice scraping sound when I run my thumbnail over them.
This brush sits higher than the Daiso one and has a smaller, narrower suction pad at the base. The suction cap is very good--if you want something to stick onto a flat, glossy surface like a basin or laminated wood before pulling it away, this sticks well, and it makes a great clicking noise when pulled free.
For only $1 AUD, this is a pretty decent combination texture and auditory stim toy--great for anyone wanting a simple, inexpensive toy!
Silicone Scrub Brushes - Yen Huot Gift Shop, $2 AUD.
We’ve featured these brushes before, but this is the first time I’ve found them in person. The Yen Huot Gift Shop in Footscray had these in the personal care/makeup section of the store, not the kitchen section, so stimmers after these might wish to check those sections.
For $2, it’s a very inexpensive stimmy purchase, and I love that these ones come in different shapes. A few of the bristles arrive bent inside the package, but because they’re stretchable, you can pull them up and stretch them back into a better position. They still look a little twisted, but it’s less jarring.
For a hand-held stim toy, I have to admit that I like the Scrubbies-style scrubbers better. I like moving my fingers from the raised bumps at the base to the silicone bristles, and the smaller size makes it more comfortable for me to use. The larger brushes tend to flop in your hand, so much so that I’m often struggling to hold onto them. If you mean to stim by holding them and rubbing your fingers over the bristles, I think the Scrubbies work better (plus the suction-cap base is easier to hold).
However, if you’re after a way to make showering or dishwashing more stimmy, I think these are perfect. Because they’re two-sided, you can run one side over the dishes whilst feeling the bristles under your fingers, and when showering or bathing, you've got the double stim of holding onto the brush and working it over your skin.
(Note: they don’t work well when brushed over dry skin, like legs or forearms. I find the bristles stick a little too much, giving you only a dragging sensation; you don’t get the individual movement of each bristle. Again, for this kind of stimming, the Scrubbies work better.)
There’s a bunch of star scrubbers on eBay; this listing has them for $1.36 USD with free international shipping.
Image description under read more cut:
[image description: two silicone scrub brushes, one mauve and shaped like a five-pointed star, one light blue and shaped like a rounded eight-pointed flower. Both brushes have a loop at the top of one petal or point, and are covered with fine, narrow silicone bristles. Both photos are taken on a red and green watermelon slice pillow sitting on a mottled blue and white night-sky quilt cover.
First photo shows the brushes attached by a clear plastic blister pack to a white backcard with the text “silicone wash brush” and “100% food grade” accompanied by various stock images showing the brushes being used for dishes, vegetable cleaning, face and body cleaning, and scrubbing. A larger picture of assorted fruits and vegetables sits at the bottom of the card.
Second photo shows the star brush opened and sitting in the pillow besides the packaged flower bush and a purple Daiso silicone facial scrubber brush, an oval marked with finer and shorter bristles. The Daiso brush is about a third of the size of the larger star/flower brushes.]
[Image description: Two silicon ovals in plastic and pink paper packaging. The packaging calls the product “Lil’ scrubbies facial cleaning pad” and states the quantity to be 2, the dimensions 2 in x 2.5 in (5 cm x 6.3 cm), and that the product is made out of silicone. The packaging also reads “gently massages & deeply cleans your skin delivering radiant results” and has a light-skinned person cleaning their face with one of the scrubbies. There’s one light green and one pink scrubbie, and both of them are covered in small bristles except for an area on the button half covered instead by small bumps. There’s an opening in the plastic on the green scrubbie to allow people to feel the texture.]
You can buy these for 2.36 USD on Amazon or 2.48 USD on Walmart.com! You can also find them in physical Walmart stores, I found them in the cosmetics section on one of those hanging things instead of the shelf. The texture of the bristles is so nice, everyone I’ve shown these to has liked it. There’s a suction cup on the back of them for easier handling, too. They do get dirty easily, but they’re equally easy to clean, just run them under the water for a bit.
Mod note: Oh, CD! Lovely submission with image and description and care notes? Be still my beating heart!
