I will admit, the first time I heard of using charcoal on your skin I thought it sounded pretty weird. It wasn’t something that really appealed to me, it almost sounded dirty. Then one day I happened to buy a set of skincare products that included a charcoal face wash, and to my surprise it turned out to be one of my favorites to date. Since then I have done some reading on the subject and as it turns out, activated charcoal is pretty cool stuff. It is made specifically for medical purposes, so despite its sooty appearance it isn’t dirty at all. In fact it’s highly absorbent and porous nature makes it soak up lots of unwanted dirt and grime. Who knew?

So of course being me, I had to make a DIY charcoal mask because that’s just how I roll. Apparently activated charcoal is either very popular or very scarce because after going to three different sold out stores I had to take to the internet to buy some. But in the end I got my paws on it, I experimented and I actually came up with a mask that I LOVE. So here goes nothin . . .

All you need are:

Activated Charcoal Capsules (or powder, whichever is easier to get)

Bentonite Clay (Which you may remember I put a bunch of recipes up for HERE. It’s a great mask base)

Tea Tree Oil (Opitional)

Directions:

Mix one heaping tablespoon of your bentonite clay with three capsules of activated charcoal. To get the charcoal into the mix simply pull apart the capsules with your fingers and sprinkle the contents into the mix. If you are using the powder I would say that a little less than a teaspoon full will do the trick. I added two drops of tea tree oil to my mask the first time I used it because I had some oiliness and breakouts. Keep in mind that tea tree can be drying so if your skin is normal to dry at the moment maybe skip it. That’s why it’s optional.

Once you have it all those ingredients together add 2-3 tablespoons of water. Start with two and if it isn’t enough add the third one. You want it to be a pretty thick paste, so it’s better to do less first and then add more. Stir up the paste and apply it to your face.

Be warned, you will look crrrazzzzzy with this mask on. I’m pretty sure my dog is afraid of me when I wear it.

Leave the mask on until it’s dry (for me that takes around 25 minutes) and then wash it off with a warm, damp cloth.

I find that when I remove the mask, the pores on my nose look cleaner immediately (I noticed a difference after even the first use) and my skin feels soft even into the next day. I like it so much in fact that I made a triple sized batch and out it in a jar so I can have it handy when I want it.

It looks pretty cool in the jar too! Fun fun fun.

You could also jar some of this up and keep it as a spot treatment, especially if you use the tea tree oil.

So that’s my simple and shockingly effective charcoal mask recipe. Even I’m still shocked at how good my pores look after using it. I mean I know you can’t really shrink them but they look better when they’re clean, that’s just a fact.

I’m going to experiment with adding it to cleansers and things of that nature so if I have any success with that, you know you’ll hear about it. Do you have any activated charcoal tips or recipes? I’m so excited to see what this stuff can do!