Loofahs exfoliate your skin. Dead skin cells sometimes clump around the top layer of your skin, making for a duller and aging appearance. Loofahs scrub this layer off gently and without disrupting the young and healthy skin cells underneath. Loofah sponges are created from the coarse inner fibers of the fruit of the plant Luffa aegyptiaca. The fruit is a gourd, and the plant is commonly called the luffa sponge gourd plant.