Best Obsessed is where our editors share what they're obsessing over now. Shop our weekly product picks you'll wonder how you ever lived without.
What We Tested This Week: Goodbye Detergent Spaghetti Scrubs
Who This Is Perfect for: Anyone and everyone, assuming you wash your dishes and don't just throw them away when they're dirty
Hello, my name is Kayla and I'm a functioning germaphobe. Pleased to meet you. Since moving to Manhattan, I've had to compromise my standards of cleanliness considerably, lest I channel Billy Murray's fear-paralyzed character in What About Bob?. I resist pulling my sweater cuff over my hand to grasp the oily subway pole. I've started to realize the sanitizing equipment spray at the gym is most likely just water with blue food coloring. I'm learning to take a deep breath (and hold my breath near the dog park and trash compactor) and just go with the flow, because there's so little I can control in a city of 9 million mouth-breathers.
A few months ago, however, I cracked. What, you ask, made me relapse into germaphobic hysteria? No, it wasn't a recent sighting of the infamous Pizza Rat — it was a smelly, discolored, moist mass taking up residence in my very home: my hideous kitchen sponge.
Even days after replacing it with another bright yellow sponge from the multipack I bought, it started to smell, and made me question what the point was of washing my dirty dishes with an equally filthy counterpart. Like, was I just washing away food scraps with cultivated bacteria from my sponge? Will the cycle never end? And even when I used a nicer, more abrasive sponge, it was done the first time I made omelets. After cleaning up the remnant eggs and cheese, the sponge was forever infiltrated with gross residue.
In a last ditch attempt before I would have no choice but to burn my whole kitchen down, I went down an internet rabbit hole to find a better sponge. Scrolling through results of identical rectangular sponges and a particularly frightening article from Forbes that warned kitchen sponges house more germs than toilets, I finally found the sponge I never knew existed but instantly needed.
Enter Goodbye Detergent Spaghetti Scrubs. Yes, they looked bizarre at first and I questioned how they were more functional than a traditional sponge. But the small brand's innovation and the raving reviews impressed me, and I decided to give them a try. After all, what did I have to lose?
When they arrived, each scrub unfolded out of the package in a long, abrasive web, like uncooked spaghetti noodles. After the first or second use, though, the scrub curled into a messy net that was much easier to work with. Goodbye Detergent advertises that you can use the scrubs with or without dish soap, but if you know me at all by now, you know I would never forgo a chance to lather up with soap. It cleaned my dishes and grimy pans beyond my expectations — and the best part is that when I finished, I just hung it from my faucet to let it dry. I came back in less than an hour and it was dry and free of bad smells.
The scrub has only two ingredients: peach-pit powder and 100% cotton fabric, which behaves the opposite of your porous, soggy sponge. The eco-friendly material wicks away moisture and the insanely fast drying time seems to lessen the chance of potential for bacteria. Think about it: if your sponge dries quickly, there isn’t the opportunity for it to lie around like a damp germ factory for hours in between uses.
Fast-forward several months, and I'm just now breaking out the second scrub from the two-pack I originally bought. Yes, one scrub lasted me literally months (can you say that about yours?) and I even threw it in with a load of laundry a few times to refresh it. I am guilty of stockpiling products I love and I have already placed a huge order for more Spaghetti Scrubs so I always have extras on hand, which has become necessary because I've been shocked how many friends immediately comment on my quirky spaghetti sponge when they come over. Now I give them out so they can see what I’m talking about. Our friends at Apartment Therapy have even gotten hooked on them, too.
Goodbye Detergent Spaghetti Scrubs are the only kitchen sponge worth being obsessed about and I'm glad I discovered them so I can eliminate the germs in my home (even if I can't control the amount of times I'm coughed on while waiting for the A train to take me back to said sanitary sanctuary).
Read More:
Everything You Thought You Knew About Sanitizing Your Kitchen Sponge Is Wrong
9 Pleasantly Scented Dish Soaps That Make Hand-Washing a Delight
What’s the Best All-Purpose Cleaner for Everyday Messes?
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