shower puff

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   A soft round ball of gathered mesh that you rub with soap or shower gel to wash your body.

   Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a shower puff' or 'two shower puffs'.

   Patterns

   • use a shower puff
   • wash with a shower puff

   She squeezed shower gel onto her shower puff and worked up a thick lather.

   I buy a new shower puff every couple of months because they get smelly.

   A shower puff makes cheap soap feel like a luxury body wash.

2. 2nouncountablerare

   A light puffy pad or sponge used to apply powder or cream to the skin.

   Grammar: Countable and often used with 'a'; the context (makeup, not bathing) makes the meaning clear.

   Patterns

   • apply something with a shower puff

   She dusted the shimmering powder on with a small shower puff.

   The gift set included a shower puff and a bottle of body oil.

Word forms

Common combinations

mesh shower puff

The store sells mesh shower puffs in six bright colors.

replace a shower puff

Dermatologists suggest you replace a shower puff every few weeks.

lather up a shower puff

Lather up the shower puff before you start washing.

hang up a shower puff

Hang up your shower puff so it can dry properly.

Synonyms and how they differ

loofah

Very common in American English for the same bath item, though strictly a loofah is a dried plant fiber.

body puff

A close British variant that stresses that it is used on the body; equally informal and everyday.

shower sponge

A more general term that can mean a puff or a soft synthetic sponge used in the shower.

Commonly confused: shower puff or powder puff?

Practice

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Write a sentence using “shower puff”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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