Activated charcoal sounds rather impressive, doesn’t it? Not just ordinary charcoal, but activated charcoal. As though it’s had an extra strong coffee and is ready to get some serious work done.
You’ll find it in everything from face masks and cleansers to toothpaste and, of course, soap. And if you believe some of the claims made about it, it’s practically a miracle ingredient. But what does it actually do?
First, what is activated charcoal?
Activated charcoal starts life as a carbon-rich material, such as wood or coconut shells, which is heated and specially treated to create millions of microscopic pores. It’s then ground into a fine black powder, but each tiny particle still has that incredibly porous structure.
These pores give the charcoal a very large surface area, which is what makes it particularly interesting. Activated charcoal has the ability to adsorb certain substances.
No, that’s not a typo.
Absorption is when something soaks into another material, like water into a sponge.
Adsorption is when molecules stick to the surface of something instead.
Activated charcoal is especially good at this because all those microscopic pores give it plenty of surface area for molecules to attach to. It’s a genuinely useful property, and one of the reasons activated charcoal is used in water filtration and certain medical treatments. But does that mean it works miracles in your bathroom?
Not quite.
Does activated charcoal draw toxins out of your skin?
This is probably the biggest claim you’ll see about charcoal skincare products.
The idea is that activated charcoal somehow sucks toxins, impurities and all sorts of nasties out of your skin. Sounds wonderful, but unfortunately, there’s no convincing clinical evidence that activated charcoal in a rinse-off soap draws toxins out of your skin.
Just because charcoal can adsorb certain substances under particular conditions doesn’t mean it can magically pull mysterious toxins out of your pores during a quick wash. Your body already has rather sophisticated systems for dealing with waste products, particularly your liver and kidneys.
So if someone tells you that charcoal soap is going to detoxify your body, I’d take that claim with a very generous pinch of salt.
What about oily skin and spots?
You’ll also see activated charcoal promoted as being particularly good for oily or spot-prone skin.
And there’s a reason for that. Because charcoal can adsorb certain substances, it’s tempting to assume that it will soak up excess oil from your skin and help prevent breakouts. But there’s a difference between something that works in theory and something that’s been demonstrated to work on human skin.
There isn’t currently good clinical evidence that adding activated charcoal to soap makes it an effective treatment for acne or spots.
That’s not to say someone can’t enjoy using a charcoal soap, or that they won’t find it suitable for their skin. It just means we shouldn’t confuse a lovely cleansing product with a proven skincare treatment.
So what DOES activated charcoal do in soap?
Well, one thing it does extremely well is give soap a gorgeous, dramatic colour. Even a relatively small amount can turn soap a deep grey or black, and it can create some particularly striking swirls and contrasts.
It also has those interesting adsorbing properties, although how much practical difference they make when charcoal is incorporated into a bar of soap and rinsed off the skin hasn’t been convincingly established.
And the actual cleaning? That’s primarily the job of the soap itself.
Soap molecules help lift oils and dirt from your skin so they can be rinsed away with water. The charcoal doesn’t need to perform any extraordinary feats for the bar to do its job.
Does activated charcoal exfoliate your skin?
Potentially, yes, although we’re talking about a very gentle effect. Because activated charcoal is a fine powder, the tiny particles can give soap a slightly different texture from a bar without charcoal. Depending on the size of those particles and how much charcoal is used, they may provide a little mild physical exfoliation as you wash.
In fact, I’ve noticed that my own charcoal soap has a slightly different feel to it, with just a hint of texture. It’s certainly not the same as using a proper exfoliating scrub, and I wouldn’t claim that it delivers dramatic skin-smoothing results.
But it is another interesting characteristic of charcoal soap, beyond simply giving it that lovely, dramatic colour.
So is charcoal soap worth using?
Absolutely, if you enjoy it!
There’s nothing wrong with choosing a charcoal soap because you like the appearance, the fragrance or the way the finished bar feels when you use it.
But I’m a big believer in being straightforward about what ingredients can and can’t do. I wouldn’t choose a charcoal soap simply because somebody has promised it will pull toxins from your body, cure your spots or transform your complexion overnight.
Handmade soap is already a lovely, useful product. It doesn’t need a collection of extraordinary claims to justify its existence. And sometimes an ingredient’s greatest contribution is simply making a beautiful bar of soap.
Even if it does sound as though it’s had an extra strong coffee.
Vicki x
