You guys already know how I like bypassing conventionalbeauty products to fashion my kitchen cupboard into my second vanity closet,right? Well, get ready for another edition of Using Items in a Non-Prescribed Manner for Alternate Beauty Benefits!
You may already be familiar with activated charcoal powder in capsule form or as an active ingredient in many skincareproducts. I remember always seeing a stale bottle of activated charcoal pillsin the medicine cabinet in the house where I grew up, never really paying itany mind since, to me, they were just some kind of mom-and-dad supplement.
After noticingit show up in a handful of skincare products, however, I had a little look-see intowhat this stuff actually is and what it does.
I bought an ounce of the stuff from BulkApothecary.comrather than spring for the capsules. I mean, why pay extra for the middleman,you know? An ounce will run you about $3 and change, which is pretty damn cost-efficient when you consider the multiples uses I’m about to lay down on you.
Also, considering this powder is virtually weightless, an ounce is a LOT.Seriously, if you even breathe on it too closely, POOF--there it goes all up inthe air like a cloud of black smog.
Activated charcoal powder is basicallycarbon, the stuff pretty much any living thing is made of. Big whoop. Thecarbon is “activated” (it sounds so "As Seen On TV" when I say it like that) byheating it so it expands and becomes insanely porous, maxing out the surfacearea. A gram of active charcoal has the surface area of roughly 5400 squarefeet, which is probably the size of Kim and Kanye’s pool house (and roughly thesame size as the warehouse rave I went to in Bushwick the other week).
And guess what goes on in all those micro-pores: ADSORBTION.I know I probably sound like an over-eager child with a speech impediment but Idid not misspeak. Adsorbtion, not absorption, works by electrical attraction,pulling molecules, atoms and ions towards its surface and sticking to it, notbecoming one with it. It’s the chaperoned school dance of molecular substance,leaving just a bit of room for the Holy Ghost, so to speak.
Toxins areattracted to activated charcoal like rich teenage girls to high schooldropouts. And considering the porosity of the stuff, it can pick up a lot of riff-raff.That’s why you take capsules for an upset tummy (and subsequently for thetoots, so I am told). Medicinally, it’s used for removing any poisonoussubstances in your bod: alcohol (ahem), mercury (!), snake venom (if that’s athing that happens to you a lot?), and spider bites. I mean, if you’re atMarissa Cooper levels of alcohol poisoning, this might be too little too late,but it’s a natural and easily accessible antidote for the less tragicallyparty.
It’s the stuff they use in gasmasks as well as water filters, so you know activated charcoal is legit workinghard, never hardly working.
Now let me show you the many ways it can benefityour face and beauty.
FACE MASK
Duh, I JUST said that activated charcoal is used in, like, somany skincare products, specifically for acne. The charcoal worksbest for drawing out impurities from your pores, so it wouldn’t hurt to steam upbeforehand--just saying. Get those exits nice and open.
If you want a cheap alternative to buying single-purposeitems like a zit-mask for instance, try this cocktail on for size:
• Activated charcoal powder
• Rosewater or plain water if you aren’t into roses (comeon, really?)
• Aloe vera gel
• A couple drops of tea tree oil (optional)
Mix everything together in equal measure, except for the teatree oil, which should be used very sparingly. You will know if you ever usetoo much tea tree oil because GOOD LORD THE STINGING.
I mixed about a half-teaspoon of everything else in a shotglass and swirl it together with a Q-tip until it formed an inky black paste. Ipainted it on my face with the Q-tip, feeling all Queen of the Nile (orpossibly like an extra in a Bjork music vid) and let it dry completely beforerinsing off with warm water. It feels so satisfying, visualizing all the gunkI’m evicting from my skin, watching the water run from black to clear as Irinsed.
Word to the unwise: this can get messy, so be wary of thesplash zone. It won’t stain anything permanently if you rinse it right away, butI wouldn’t take chances with any pristine white garments while doing this.
TEETH WHITENER
Sure, I could justbeg my parents to buy me Colgate whitening strips in bulk when they shop atCostco, but this is arguably more effective and also preserves my dignity as alate-20-something autonomous woman-child.
The micro-porous charcoal grabs allthat plaque and “stuff” on your teeth with the determined glee of thoseanimated Scrubbing Bubbles on the TV. I’ve only been brushing with activecharcoal for a couple days and maybe it’s my hyped-up imagination, but my pearlywhites are looking awfully gleamy. Plus, they feel squeaky clean after I rinse andspit, which is just satisfying on so many levels.
You just dab your toothbrush into some powder and brush asnormal. The foam will be gray so don’t be alarmed. Also, if you swallow some,nothing bad will happen to you. You’re meant to ingest this stuff, remember? Itdoesn’t have a taste, and toothpaste is usually pretty damn minty-flavoredanyway, so the chance of you noticing any charcoal-y taste is near impossible.
Next level: lose the toothpaste and just brush it on therestraight with a bit of water on your brush for some hardcore whitening andplaque removal. You’ll briefly resemble that gluttonous black-vomiting monsterfrom Spirited Away, which, in myopinion, is a fun Friday night in.
EYELINER
Man, do I love a good excuse to put foreign substances on myface and call it makeup. All in the name of beauty!
You can pretty much applythis as you would convert black eye shadow into liquid or gel liner.
I wet an angular eyeliner brush with water (you can usesaline solution if you fancy/are vision-impaired), dipped it into some charcoalpowder, and then swirled it around on the back of my hand to form a thin paste-likeconsistency.
The best part about this is how truly matte black it is. Itswallows light like a black hole and lends to a seriously punk look. Whowould’ve thunk it--ACP’s got ‘tude!
I’m all about liquid liner, but I find doinga cat-eye with an angular brush so much smoother than with a pen-likecontraption. I love how opaque this comes outwithout having to cake it on so it doesn’t feel like I’m wearing a ton ofeyeliner, even though I kind of am.
It comes off easily with water, so if youwant to test-drive this for a long sweaty haul, I’d suggest using a makeup-setting product to overlay it.
Is it safe for eyes? Jury’s out, but this isn’t an uncommonuse for activated charcoal powder amongst the DIY crowds. I got a little in myeye when washing my face, but it just collected in the inner corners and Iswiped it out gently with my pinky. And what do you know? I’m not blind! That isall I can tell you.
Being that, by nature, this is a non-toxic substance, Iwasn’t scared to apply it around my eyes, but then again, I couldn’t find anyglaring evidence that it’s harmful as eyeliner, nor did I find any statementsthat it isn’t. The Internet seems not to care.
Keep in mind that I am NOTreferring to the kind of charcoal you BBQ with--that stuff’s been treated with abunch of carcinogenic chemicals and is highly toxic. Don’t put it on your faceor eat it--you will probably die a horrible painful death (I am slightlyexaggerating but only for your own good: medicinal activated charcoal powdergood, BBQ charcoal bad). Choose your own adventure.
If you don’t do any of these things with it, activatedcharcoal is great to keep around the house in case you have poisonous snakes,poisonous spiders (but for real, I am TERRIFIED of brown recluse spiders),poisonous arrows being shot at you, really bad gas (what, it happens), or justwent too cray at a kegger. You will probably want to seek medical assistancefor most of those things I just said, but it will help in a pinch, like, untilKevin Costner can carry you, TheBodyguard-style to the nearest hospital.
I am told that ingesting activatedcharcoal capsules will turn your “stuff” black, and hey, maybe that’s fun to seefor you, too. Isn’t health weird?