This is another one of those things that’s been on my to-do list for ages. Ever since I read that activated charcoal is a fantastic detox/drawing-out ingredient, and then happened to see it as an ingredient in some fancy face mask I’ve almost entirely forgotten about, I knew I had to make a spot treatment with it (and clay, of course, because clay is like an awesome little pore vacuum).
When I say spot treatment, I mean this is a heavy-duty quasi facial mask, designed for those irksome under-the-skin lurkers. The lurkers that tend to sit there (they love my chin), doing the zit equivalent of a deep, maniacal laugh, just begging you to try and do something about their presence. “Just one squeeze…”, they beg. “It can’t hurt…”, they fib. Lies! All lies! And you know better, but something about their call is just so alluring… argh. And sure enough, you cave, and you seriously regret it for the next week. Ugh.
But no more! (I hope… my willpower may have other ideas.) For clays I chose French Green (my perennial favourite) and Australian Olive Green, which New Directions Aromatics says “is the strongest of all clays for detoxification and is beneficial for use on acne-prone and oily skin.” Then I added two tablets of aspirin, another natural beauty favourite for zapping zits due to its anti-inflammatory properties.
After blending it all up in my DIY-only coffee grinder, I added a few drops of each petitgrain, benzoin, and niaouli essential oils. All three are said to be great for acne, and as a plus, they smell great. If you don’t have them, feel free to just use tea tree and lavender instead.
And, best of all, I am thrilled to report that this works. I’m sure part of its effectiveness is how it allows you to feel like you are doing something productive (that isn’t squeezing and picking) while preventing you from picking and squeezing. Anyhow, I proudly did not end up with a narsty scab living on my chin for 10 days after using this spot treatment a few times, and I am pretty happy about that.
Activated Charcoal & Clay Spot Treatment
2 tbsp French green clay
2 tbsp Australian olive green clay
2 tbsp activated charcoal
2 tablets aspirin
6 drops petitgrain essential oil
4 drops benzoin essential oil
5 drops niaouli essential oilBlend the clays, activated charcoal, and asprin together in a coffee grinder. Blend in the essential oils.
To use, combine a small amount of the powder (~1/8 tsp) with a drop of water. Mix to form a paste. Spread on the spot that is threatening to rear its ugly head and let dry. Rinse off and finish with argan oil or a bit of sea buckthorn acne serum.
id never heard of topical ibuprofen before seeing this recipe….it actually exists, but isnt FDA regulated yet…
the creams seem to be less of a dosage concentration in the creams as compared to the pills. two pills is 400mgs of ibuprofen…whereas the creams seem to run around 50mgs per 2cm strip…
im thinking plain aspirin, especially for its salicylic acid make up, would be a better alternative for me…but then i wonder about dryness….sounds like the mask didnt cause you any issues with dryness/flakiness…? maybe ill just try it without any medicines. still looks like a great recipe!
p.s.: have you tried coloring soap with the australian red reef clay? i have so much of it..ive made lipstick (i dont think ill use up 5 sticks anytime soon!) and i use a little of it in a face mask recipe i do, but id love to find more uses for it.
thanks!
Now that you mention it, there is a very good chance I got my “a” medicines (asprin & advil) swapped about in my head, and that’s supposed to say asprin, not ibuprofen 😛 Whoops. LOL. It totally is supposed to say asprin… my bad! I’ll go change that 😛 Thanks for the heads up!
And no, I haven’t noticed any dryness, though I always follow up with argan oil. And for the red clay—eh… not really. I made eyeliner with it. I will likely try it in soap one day, but I imagine you can’t use much of it due to its suuuuuuper dark colour & tendency to stain things. I’m working on a hair dye recipe with it, but so far it hasn’t proven strong enough to actually dye my hair. So… stay tuned?
chuckled at the idea of ibuprofen as “natural” but there ya go. Interesting to discover on doing some reading that it’s considered a photo-sensitizer. Has that ever been a problem for you?
The dosage between a topical and an oral medication can be very different, as the oral medication will have to go through the digestive tract and can be altered or converted more than via skin absorption. One dose form shouldn’t be used to decide on another. A pharmacist would be a great place to find out more about dosage, as they learn the various tranformations of drugs once in the body.
wiki notes that activated charcoal is used to adsorb ibuprofen in overdose cases (surprisingly common, by the way, as people think it’s harmless, and take oodles too much). Do you think it would have much effect on the end product when you combine them?
Yeah… that was supposed to say “aspirin” lol. Duurrrrr. Got my “a” pills (aspirin & advil) swapped around in my brain. Whoops. But thanks for pointing it out! I fixed it in the entry as well. Also, not sure why people think ibuprofen is candy. It makes a very shit candy, lol.
well, you know…..if one ibuprofen is good, a handful should be better, right? Tylenol (acetaminophen) is the same way….lots of overdoses, lots of liver damage, because people take far far too much thinking it can’t hurt. And then take T3 or T2 for the codeine to help with the pain, and forget that it has a wallop of Tylenol in there, and so it goes. (Source: struggling as a pharmacy technician to convince little old ladies not to overdose on their tylenol arthritis, T3 and regular tylenol when they insisted on beg, borrowing and stealing no matter how we packaged and oversaw and pleaded.)
Dear heavens. I just… gah. People! It is amazing so many of us survive, lol 😛
still says ibuprofen in the recipe directions, FYI.
Now that we’re talking aspirin, I have read recipes for exfoliating masks that use just aspirin and water (mild acid = exfoliator = acetylsalicyclic acid = aspirin)
Gah. Derp. Fixed it, thanks!
This is a very interesting recipe for a spot treatment. Do you think it will work the same if I use a different clay? I only have kaolin clay at the moment, but wanted to try it not the less.
not that youre asking me, but i think kaolin would be a fine clay. its touted as being a ‘gentler’ clay, in that its detoxifying is a bit less than say french green clay.
i dont have either of the clays mentioned in the article, but i wouldnt hesitate to make it, substituting them with the clays i have on-hand (kaolin, rhassoul and maybe some australian red reef clay).
i think it all depends on what your skin likes. personally, my skin doesnt get along well with french green. its too drying for me. but not to say it wouldnt be the ideal choice for someone else….diff’rent strokes, etc.
dunno if this me being helpful or just speaking out of turn. 🙂
You’re bang-on, Chelle 🙂
Yup, it definitely should 🙂 And, if you’ve got very sensitive skin, kaolin would be an even better option than the clays I suggested.
First timer
My business partner have just begun making soaps. We are enjoying a lot.
I really enjoyed the article on natural coloring and the fact that not eveyone
uses. We are keeping our soap ALL natural.
I was in the Kaolin industry for 26 years so very interested in your love for clays in your soap.
keep up the good work
Awesome! I love hearing about people’s first experiences with soap making—especially when they are positive 🙂 Have fun with all your soaps and future soaping adventures!
laughing… I was a potter/sculptor for over 20 years. Every day, as the slurry from the stoneware clay I was working with built up in the bowl around my wheel, I would slop it all over my face and let it dry, then washed off when I went upstairs on a break.
My skin was great until I had my daughter. A hormonal thing. Now, at age 53, I still may get a zit or clogged pores if I do not sleep enough, (I do that a lot), or do not drink enough water. Clays are great for the skin. I like your recipe. It looks good. I wonder if white willow bark would be a good sub for aspirin? I rarely have the chemical corporations version around, preferring nature’s superior aspirin. (grin) Red clays are high in iron. I have sallow coloring. That may pink me up a little.
Clay does not make a good hair dye. It can be drying. Henna works nicely. I used to get mine a lovely copper penny-auburn with the red. Mix it to the consistency of spinach baby food (like mucky pudding). Mash it through your hair very well. Use gloves. Cover with a plastic bag shopping bag. The longer you leave it on, the richer the color. I used to leave it in during a potting session, a good 6 to 8 hours. I then rinsed it out hanging over the bathtub. Washed out the tub, then washed my hair. I also did my pale eyebrows. The bleeding of the color on my skin faded off within hours. Your palms and fingernails are not as lucky. Those took a few days. So wear the gloves! The color was beauiful. If I did the hair and clay on the same day, I was a sight that caused a lot of laughter. No one dared to grab a camera if they ever wanted to eat, or get washed clothing or… (ornery grin)
It sounds like you had a fantastic built-in beauty regime, Debby 😉 And I’m loving the idea about white willow bark—I finally got myself some after I found a supplier that sold it in small enough quantities for a purchase to not be a ridiculous idea, haha, but I have yet to do anything with it (the story of far too many things in my DIY pantry, sadly…).
I’ve always been intrigued by henna dye, but I am rather put off by its permanence (which I really only know of through watching a girl I went to high school with slooooooowly grow out her henna dye jobs… over and over again, haha). What is your experience with its fading/permanence?
I use to use henna to dye my hair for close to 7 years. I stopped at the beginning of the lock downs so I could truly see how gray my hair had gotten in that time. I am so gray now I decided to leave it rather than start dying it again. Half of my hair is still dyed and the roots to the tops of my shoulders is gray. I might chop the dyed 3/4 off after the holidays.
I found that if I used a comb style dye bottle to apply the henna mix it kept the bathroom and my skin cleaner. Mostly for getting the roots rather than the length. I would apply it in the afternoon after all my errands and outside chores were done and leave it on overnight. Plastic shopping bags and cheap shower caps were my best friends along with rag towels on my pillow.
I found that when rinsing the henna out the next morning I’d waste a lot of water unless I used a cheap conditioner to lube the hair and ‘mud’. I got so good at rinsing it out of my waist length hair in the shower with the conditioner I didn’t stain anything and could shower to boot. It made coloring my hair with a toddler running around (two kids 5 years apart) easy.
My OBGYN had no issues with me using henna during one of my pregnancies and was shocked to find out that that is where my dark red-brown hair color came from.
For the record I just used the henna for skin art I got from the Indian market when I went to get Middle Eastern treats when visiting my folks. (Henna is a beauty secret amongst Middle Eastern women- mixed with other herds you can change the overall color it turns and THAT is why so many M.E. women never seem to turn gray! ;)) I did try the bulk bags of henna powder from Vitacost after we moved to the sticks and saw no visible difference in the results but the powder needed more water and lemon juice to mix to the right consistency.
I wonder if this would be too harsh to use as an all-over mask (or at least mixed with a regular clay-based mask to tone it down)? I’ve been extra stressed the past month, which isn’t helping my already temperamental skin 😐
I’d probably start with adding some activated charcoal and a crushed asprin to your normal face mask & go from there 🙂 Sorry your skin is angry 🙁
I’m finally getting around to making this! A tiny lurker turned into a massive bump overnight, and I’m reaaaaaaaaaally trying to be better about leaving things alone. Must… resist!
A little confused about the aspirin/Advil (ibuprofen)… confusion. You corrected it to say aspirin, but in the picture with the grinder they’re definitely ibuprofen (Advil) pills–they’re orange, and they said ibu400 (which is what my ibuprofen say). I’m sure it wouldn’t be a huge deal if you used one over the other, and since I don’t have actual aspirin, I guess I can use ibuprofen in the meantime since it appears you did with no ill effects?
Yeah, so, for me the confusion made it all the way to the making it stage :/ DERP. It is supposed to be Aspirin, I used ibuprofen. I don’t think ibuprofen has hurt anything (it still works!), but the aspirin should be much more useful if you happen to have it. Not my proudest moment, lol.
Hold the phone. YOU made a mistake? Well there goes my theory that you’re a actually a very human-like robot genius created in some lab. Damn… how disappointing! Humans are so boring.
So, I made this… sort of. Turns out I had neither aspirin nor Advil. Oops. Well, I had Advil Liquigels, but I didn’t think my grinder would appreciate that addition. I dunno if my skin just sucks (well, it does), but I found this actually made things worse 🙁 Maybe with the aspirin/Advil it would have been better? It’s possible this is best for true “lurkers” whereas what I had was a smallish clogged pore that seemed innocent for a few days, then suddenly turned into a super-pimple overnight. Perhaps this just enflames things if they’re too fargone? SIGH. Anyway, next time I’ll give it another go with the addition of aspirin on a smaller victim, or at least not something not right on my chin.
Umm… yes? Sorry? And apologies about having a pulse and all that nonsense, I’m working on it 😉
I have heard from friends with chronic acne problems that clay masks can make things worse before they make things better, and since there’s no real “better” after a “worse” from a spot treatment (other than the normal course of things, I suppose), maybe that’s what’s happening here? I tend to use this on those areas around my nose/chin where it feels tender and I can feel pressure. The sort that will never come to head, but will entice me and my squeezing fingers for days until I torment it into an angry, vengeful existence on the surface. Maybe try it again using a strong white willow bark solution to mix it up? That’ll help get some salicyclic acid into the mix.
I was thinking about purchasing some clays off of Saffire Blue sometime in the near future, but since I normally buy ingredients in ounces, I was a bit confused when I saw gram measurements. I realize that clays have different densities and weights, but I was wondering if you knew approximately how much 75g of French Green clay is relating to either ounces or volume.
In my experience, clays are always sold by weight, be it ounces (weight ounces, not fluid ounces… good heavens, it is so dumb to give two different things the same name!) or grams. One weight ounce = ~28g, so 75g = ~2.6oz (you should totally check out my entries on the metric system as well 🙂 Part 1 & Part 2). Either way, French Green is one of the lighter, fluffier clays, and definitely one of my favourites. If you’re familiar with bentonite or rhassoul, French Green is much, much lighter—more comparable to kaolin. 500g takes up about a cubic liter of space, so I’d guess 75g is about 1/2 a cup or so (125mL). Hope that helps!
Just wondering … Have you tried this with white willow bark yet?
I haven’t, sorry 😛
I like to drink bentonite clay can I drink it with activated charcoal? Of course internal use grade..
The consumption of these ingredients is a bit out of my area of knowledge, sorry! I’d recommend talking to your physician.
Thanks for the great recipe! I LOVE your site! You are so clever! Made this recipe and it works great! Just wanted to ask if you or someone has a good trick for cleaning the coffee grinder? Activated charcoal is nasty! Just a wipe? I am making a finishing powder next and need it really clean?!
Hi Janet! I’m so glad this recipe is kicking butt for you 🙂 I generally use a clean powder brush to clean my coffee grinder, but if it’s really dirty try running it with a bit of white kaolin clay in it to pick up extra particles, and then brush it out from there.
What’s the shelf life? Also how long do you leave on for? Is this something your still using or have you found something else? Thanks so much!
The powder should last pretty much indefinitely as long as you keep it dry.
I do find I use this more often 🙂
I tried a (very) free version of this recipe, and I added a few drops of vegetal glycerine to try to make it a little more moisturizing. The result? Up until now, it has totally killed 2 pimples overnight! I am very happy with this. But. I like to make my life complicated, so I was thinking to mix the dry powder with some beeswax, and convert it into a stick that is easier to carry. What do you think? Yey or Ney? 😀
Hi Kalhie! I’m glad you’re loving this spot treatment 🙂 Don’t add it to oils or it won’t dry and if it doesn’t dry… it doesn’t work.
Is there any reason why we couldn’t just wisk the ingredients together if we don’t have a coffee grinder?
Yes—the tablets obviously won’t break down into a fine powder, and the essential oils won’t incorporate. With motorized blending the essential oils are broken into teensy little particles that evenly distribute through the powders and are undetectable other than the scent. You can try dropping the EOs and mashing everything together in a mortar & pestle instead 🙂
I was looking for an anti-acne recipe that used ingredients I actually had, and this was perfect! I made it with slight modifications (used kaolin, cause that was all I had, and tea tree oil instead of those fancy oils I’ve never even heard of), and saw an immediate improvement! I have relatively dry skin, and this spot treatment dried out/soothed my breakouts without giving my dry and flaky skin like regular acne products do. I don’t have a coffee grinder, so I just smashed the aspirin with a mortar and pestle, and stirred everything together and it worked great. Thanks so much for keeping this site up!
That’s awesome, I’m so glad! Woo 😀
I am looking for a recipe for white heads that never come to the surface.
I am wondering if this recipe would draw them out.
If not, do you have any suggestions what I can use on them.
I have stopped putting any moisturizer on them in hopes of drying them out.
The area is dry, but the white spot is still there.
Thanks for all your work, appreciate your dedication.
Hmm. Have you tried those hydrocolloid bandages that have microneedles in them? Lab Muffin has a post discussing them here. In my experience, forcing acne to dry out isn’t the greatest approach—we’re looking to encourage healing, and skin heals best when it is well moisturized 🙂 I know it’s very common advice, but from a skincare point of view, hydrated skin is healthier than dehydrated skin, and healthier skin heals faster and with less scarring 🙂
Good luck!