What is with my skin lately? I feel like this breakout thing is taking over and it needs to stop. I rationalize that it makes me potentially look younger but it still sucks. While I mull over a VI Peel and a new skincare routine, I grabbed these activated charcoal capsules ($10) at Whole Foods tonight and wasted no time getting a mask together.
After too much time on Pinterest going over various concoctions for a DIY charcoal mask, I saw that many mixed it with the Aztec Secret Bentonite Clay (a powder that’s made into a mask using water) along with some type of oil. Basically use what you have following this loose guideline.
For a mask mix a few charcoal capsules with any combination of:
Bentonite clay
Another mask you own
Coconut oil
Olive oil
Argan oil
Any face oil or serum
A mousturizer
Your cleanser
It doesn’t matter as long as you use something to wet it into a paste to apply.
Things to consider: Obviously it gets way messy. I’m covered in black dust like a damn coal miner and of course I wore a white robe. Use a dark washcloth or one you don’t care too much about because it will stain.
But why charcoal? It’s know to absorb 100-200 times its own weight in impurities so it should suck out all the grime from your pores really efficiently. It’s widely used for spider bites and rashes because it sucks impurities from the skin so well. It’s especially helpful to purify troubled skin but all skin types can benefit from a deep pore clearing like this.
I left it on for about an hour. It didn’t harden but it was difficult to scrub all of the black away (but I did eventually.) My skin feels really soft and any inflammation or redness I had went way down. I was surprised how great it worked and I’ll definitely do it again soon despite my vanity now resembling a crime scene.