The Baiden Mitten has utterly captivated me. There is no other way to begin this article.
The Baiden Mitten is a tree fiber exfoliation device woven in the same textile design that has been used in hammams and bath houses since the Ottoman Empire.
I’ve been to a hammam before — a steamy, no-frills spa where you lie down on a wet table and let a professional scrub the dead skin off your body with a rough glove and her own mighty arm strength.
I was both amazed and frightened to witness the dead skin really roll off my body under the intensity of the scrubbing during these visits. It was both disgusting and incredible. “Can you believe how soft and glowing I am?!!” I’d exclaim as I ogled my skin in the mirror for the next week. They were unable to do so.
With a professional gommage glove, I’ve tried to recreate the hammam effect at home many times. But there was no such luck. I’d rub the rough glove all over myself till I was crab-shell red, but I never saw that yucky-awesome dead-skin peeling off the table like I did.
So I was suspicious when I first heard of the Baiden Mitten.
To begin with, it is nearly $50. I’d spend that much for a serum or a bikini wax, but paying $48.97 for an exfoliation glove when I could just go to the beach and roll around in the sand felt a little excessive.
First and foremost, it is not sold in stores. Until recently, it was exclusively available for purchase on the Baiden Mitten website.
Victoria Winnard, the designer and owner of the Baiden Mitten, claims her grandmother passed along the glove’s design secrets to her. I’m not sure if that made it feel like a fraud or not.
Even yet, when I googled the glove, I got a lot of hits. No one who had purchased the Baiden Mitten appeared to be dissatisfied.
Google Images is brimming with disgusting-yet-cool images of dead-skin rolls, as well as some stunning before-and-afters.
Some people even applied the Baiden Mitten on their faces, which, while a touch extreme, I must say, looked fantastic.
When I saw that the glove was now available on Amazon a few weeks ago, I decided to take the plunge.
Both obligatory and helpful instructions are included with the Baiden Mitten. The bath is required. You should soak in a hot bath for at least 15 minutes (a hot shower is okay, too, but a bath is ideal).
In the tub, there is no soap, no oils, and only water.
After that, put on the glove and press down hard over your limbs in an up-and-down motion. You’ll be able to determine the perfect pressure for your skin with a little experience.
DO NOT RINSE UNTIL THE DEAD SKIN HAS STARTED TO roll OFF. This glove’s enchantment causes a snowball effect, and you’ll eventually have an arm full of flakes and rolls.
After that, you rinse.
The Baiden Mitten was supposed to be rough, like a gommage glove. But it’s silky smooth, with a firm linen-like texture.
Nothing happened when I first applied it on my forearm. Instead of huge terrifying rolls, small bits and chunks fell off. But it was still something. The party really got underway when I slipped the glove up to my shoulders and around my back. I’ll spare you the gory details, but suffice it to say, I was on the verge of taking a picture with my phone.
The Baiden Mitten shines in places that don’t get much exfoliation on a daily basis. Your arms and legs will likely peel less skin if you use a loofah or exfoliating body wash on a regular basis.
But what about the rest of you? Yes, things are going to heat up.
My buttocks, upper thighs, and back? They were completely changed by the Baiden Mitten.
Even the sections of my body that didn’t peel as much as the rest of my body felt buttery soft and glistening.
It felt like I’d spent an entire day at the spa getting power-washed, but it only took 20 minutes in my bathtub.
I tried putting the mitten on my face, but I was too afraid to apply any real pressure. Given the effects on the rest of my body, I believe this is worth a try if you don’t have particularly sensitive skin.
To be honest, I have sensitive, prone-to-abrasion skin, and the Baiden Mitten felt a lot nicer on it than a gommage glove or a body brush.
The fact that I have a terrible reaction to a lot of chemical exfoliating creams only adds to the excitement of this manual, soap-free exfoliation process.
In the end, you should give it a shot. Yes, $50 isn’t cheap, but the Baiden Mitten is guaranteed to last two years and works better than any scrub or device I’ve come across in my years of searching for the exfoliation holy grail.
I’m not sure what kind of voodoo Victoria Winnard’s grandma was channeling when she made this glove, but I’m sure she looked incredible while doing it.
Table of Contents
Baiden Mitten Before and After
How to Use Baiden Mitten
Soak for at least 10 minutes in clean water (as warm as you can stand it) without soaps or cleaners. Soaps and lotions make the skin slick, reducing the effectiveness of the mitten.
Warm water softens the skin and allows the pores to open. Step out of the bath while it’s still hot (or just simply stand up). Do not use a towel to dry your skin.
Wring out the mitten after dipping it in the bath water. Put your hand in the mitten. Rub the mitten up and down or side to side (not in circles) with as much pressure as is comfortable for you, and watch in awe as the dead skin and impurities gather in small rolls and eventually fall off your skin.
Make cautious not to rinse the rolled-off dead skin cells once the exfoliation begins. It aids exfoliation by adhering to other dead skin cells, resulting in a snowball effect.
Do your face last so you can figure out how much pressure is comfortable for your skin on the rest of your body.
After the exfoliation, rinse off those rolls of dead skin cells with a shower (you may feel heated from the strong massage, so take a cold one- it’s incredibly refreshing).
When using the mitten for the first time, please use caution. Don’t scrub too hard, and don’t use the mitten more than once a week.
This new method will take some time for your skin to adjust to. If you get overly enthusiastic and scrub too hard, a small amount of pure Aloe Vera gel will calm and heal your skin. Although you will notice immediate improvements, this is merely the beginning.
As your skin becomes more accustomed to the procedure, you will see more subtle but significant changes. It’s a good idea to take a photo of your skin while it’s new so you can observe how it changes over time.
Rebecca is a licensed aesthetician and certified laser technician with almost 15 years experience in the dermatology. Her life-long passion is making people look good and happy.