Is Activated Charcoal What Your Skin Has Been Missing?
Skin care routines seem to be at the top of everyone’s self care routine these days, and as a skin care junkie myself, I can totally see why. Being obsessed with skin care is just one of the many things that keeps me searching social media and getting samples at cosmetic counter of every high priced under eye cream I can find. As I'm sure most skin care fanatics can agree, a 10 step skin care and beauty regimen is far more exciting than sitting around watching the smile lines and crows feet creep onto your face.
As someone with oily skin I am always trying to find the perfect mix of products that will not only help to control my oil but also provide me with a healthy glow and even skin tone. On my journey I have come across one particular ingredient tons of times and after watching people damn near peel their brain cells off on instagram using it, clearly I had to know, why? That ingredient is none other than activated charcoal. Now, charcoal has been that girl on the scene for quite some time now, often being used in hospitals to treat patients with alcohol poisoning. Please, read the rest of the blog before running outside and attacking your BBQ grill, ladies!
Charcoal has the ability to act as a magnet and pull toxins from the body, so naturally we assumed, it would do the same for the skin and it does. Keep in mind that the charcoal that is found in beauty products is ACTIVATED charcoal, which means that it has been treated to increase its absorbency. Making it perfect for pulling dirt, oil and debris from our pores. Oily skin types tend to benefit most from this ingredient because of larger pores and clogging being a main cause of over production for the sebaceous glands.
Activated charcoal claims to help cleanse, absorb oil, exfoliate and remove black heads and dirt. The most common ways to utilize this product are through a peel off face mask or a sheet mask soaked in the said, pore savior.
Peel off masks can be a fun experiment but they can also have some pretty harsh affects like disrupting your skins sebaceous filaments and removing all the natural oils from your skin, which are actually there to protect skin from the harsh environment. As well as possibly irritating skin and pulling all of the tiny hairs off of your face when removing! Talk about exfoliation, sheesh.
Activated charcoal sheet masks are a more comfortable and less irritating way (in my opinion) to take advantage of the ingredient. Sheet masks are soaked in the product and therefore are more moisturizing than a peel off mask all while still giving the same results. Being sure to adhere to the time recommendations on a sheet mask is very important because leaving the mask on for too long after it dries can cause it to start pulling oils back out of the skin as it continues to dry until removed. So if it says 15 minutes then honey, thats what it means.
Now that you know a bit more about this God send of a product, will you be adding it into your skin care routine? What are your thoughts or personal experiences with activated charcole? Comment them below!
Be sure to click the link below to check out my Instagram mini tutorial of just how I add activated charcoal to my skin Care Routine and what products I use to do it!