Ingredient Feature: Activated Charcoal - Dirt Magnet

Activated charcoal - the ultimate green beauty detox treatment and overall dirt magnet. If cleansing with charcoal sounds contrary to what common sense would suggest then read on.

Really, how can rubbing charcoal on your skin actually clean it? We’re not talking about the barbeque variety of charcoal for a grill, which is loaded with toxins and chemicals.

Activated charcoal is made from wood (we use the type made from bamboo) by heating it very slowly at very high temperatures with very low oxygen concentrations. This process removes methane, hydrogen, and tar from the wood, and leaves behind a concentrated, black substance made mostly of carbon. The next step is the important part - the “activation”. The charcoal is steam treated at extremely high temperatures, opening up the carbon structure and results in a very porous carbon, with tons of nooks and crannies with which to bind other stuff.

Activated charcoal has long been used in hospitals for overdoses and poisoning. It helps prevent the poison from being absorbed from the stomach into the body. Because of its supreme ability to bind impurities and toxins, activated charcoal is brilliant for skincare. Used properly, it can pull toxins and contaminants from the skin.

When soap is made with activated bamboo charcoal it makes a soap that is very absorbent and that is capable of cleaning the skin much better than any other soap.