A couple months ago I ordered a 500g tub of green French clay from NDA. It turns out that 500g of a light, fluffy dust is a lot of green. So I’ve been experimenting a lot, and I think I’ve almost used half of it. Turns out it’s a wonderfully diverse thing to have on hand.
1. Facial Masks
You can mix a spoonful or two of the clay with some water, floral water, aloe vera juice, or green tea, and some essential oils to make a paste. You can add a bit of a liquid carrier oil to the mix if you want. Spread it on your face and let it dry for 10ish minutes. Wash your face, and then moisturize with some argan oil (USA / Canada). The clay will suck a lot of crap out of your pores (for real), which is always a good thing.
2. Lurking Zit Zapper
You know those awful under-the-skin lurker zits that get crazy angry if you just look at them the wrong way? And stay that way for weeks? Yeah. They suck. But green clay to the rescue! Make a paste using green clay and all the most healing type things you have in your cupboard, like aloe vera juice, jojoba oil (USA / Canada), tea tree essential oil, patchouli oil, lavender oil, honey, bee propolis, and pollen. Apply to the problem area, let it dry, wash it off, and repeat. When you go to sleep, put on some polysporin. Resist the urge to touch or squeeze. It should be mostly gone in 36ish hours.
3. Shaving Soap
Add about 2 tbsp of clay per pound of oils when making soap. The clay will add extra ‘slip’ to the lather of the bar, making it great for shaving. And, the green will add some nice natural colour to the batch.
4. Insta-Heal
A clay mask on an old owie that refuses to heal will really help speed things along. Add some polysporin at the end, and you’ll probably notice a huge improvement by morning.
5. Full Body Wrap
Save some money and have a DIY spa day.
A paste made from green clay, water, and any essential oils you like an be applied to your entire body (probably best done in an empty bathtub that’s already due for a cleaning). Let dry a bit, and then buff off. Voila, excellent exfoliation!
6. Cuts & Bruises
A clay pack (water and clay to make a thick paste) increases circulation and draws crap out of your skin, so it’s great for cleaning wounds and speeding healing by increasing blood flow to the area. Just don’t let it dry on an open wound.
7. Sore Muscles & Sprains
The increased blood flow a clay pack will bring to sore muscles and sprains can speed healing.
Is this similar to bentonite clay? What are the differences?
Apparently Fuller’s Earth/Multani Mitti Clay is finely ground bentonite. I find Fuller’s to be not as drying as French Green. From what I’ve read, Fuller’s is used more in beauty applications, whereas French Green is good for beauty, bug bites, sprains, and other soft tissue injuries. That said, I’ve used a lot of different clays, and I find them to be fairly similar. Fuller’s should work well for the first three items on this list, I’m not sure about the last 4. Give it a try and let me know!
I read your fact page you linked below. My question is, how beneficial would it be to add certain ingredients at all? I know most clays are very absorbent, that’s their main job. For instance, if I want to put vitamin e on my dog’s paw, then add green clay, is it gonna absorb the vitamin E? Or will they compliment each other?
I saw your post on homemade concealer and was curious… can this be used for that recipe? I am wondering why for the most part folks prefer using iron oxides vs more natural ingredients like clays or cocoa powder. Is it a cost thing, or is it just not as effective to use the clays/pantry ingredients?
The reason I use oxides instead of clays (and other general kitchen ingredients) in most make-ups is because they are WAY more potent as a colourant—only the red clays can really match oxides (especially Australian red reef!). Green oxide is much more potent than green clay, so you can get away with a tiny pinch that will alter the colour but not the consistency of the final product. You’d have to add quite a bit of French green clay to get the same effect, which would alter the consistency of the final product. I’m actually working on a colour correcting face powder that uses French green clay as it’s less of a worry in powder, so we’ll see how that goes 🙂
It’s also worth noting oxides are often the only way to achieve certain colours (deep purple comes to mind). They’re also less prone to fading than ingredients like spirulina or buriti oil.
Thanks for reading 🙂
Hi! I’m wondering if I could make a batch of green clay mask, including wet ingredients (let’s say aloe vera gel, or honey) for gifting, or would I be better to give a powder and they add the liquid ingredients themselves? I’m worried that adding all ingredients (and then having it sit untouched for some days/weeks) would reduce the effectiveness of the mask… But it’s more convenient for the giftee to have a ready-made mask than having to mix things themselves… I’d love to have your opinion on that.
English is not my first language, sorry if this request is not so clear!
Hey Chloe! I’ve got an FAQ article on this 🙂
Good morning – Are you located in France. Is your products sold in Canada and where. I’ve been told that a paste of Green Clay can be very beneficial to under the feet hard lumps that is very painful when walking. Is this correct?? Can you tell me more about the use of green paste for that problem. have you heard about this before? I have 3 hard lumps in the center of my foot. I’m on my feet as a teacher and am looking at getting rid of them , without having surgery. Please advise and Many thanks/ merci
Hi Simone! Please read this FAQ 🙂
As for French green clay working miracles; I highly doubt it. It’s a nice physical exfoliant and can boost circulation close to the surface of the skin for a short period of time, but that’s about it. If your physician has told you that you need surgery, clay is not going to work as an alternative. Good luck!