Today is the winter solstice here in North America—the shortest day and the longest night of the year. We’ll see less than eight hours of daylight here in Calgary today, and it will be dark both when I leave for work and when I head home at the end of the day. Soltices are turning points, though. The winter solstice and the re-birth of the sun have been celebrated in cultures around the world for thousands of years. From here on out things get brighter.
Long, dark days like this make me want to hibernate with hot tea, a face mask, and my electric blanket. This pore detox face mask is inspired by the darkness of the solstice and the brighter days to come. Pitch black, detoxifying activated charcoal is blended with bright white zinc oxide, calcium carbonate, and white kaolin clay (USA / Canada) to make a creamy gray face mask (the photos make it look blue, but it isn’t).
Zinc oxide is mildly astringent, while calcium carbonate absorbs oil amazingly well. You can make your own calcium carbonate from egg shells, or you can purchase it as a powder at pharmacies as a dietary supplement. While the egg shell route is definitely very DIY, the shop bought stuff is lovely and fine and makes for a far smoother face mask. You can also purchase calcium carbonate pills, but those are full of binders and other things and aren’t a good choice for DIY projects.
This face mask dries quite quickly and comes together easily, making it a good choice if you’re pressed for time. It works brilliantly on blackheads and leaves your skin fresh and bright. Give it a go and brighten this dark day 🙂
Winter Solstice Pore Detox Face Mask
1 tsp witch hazel
Teensy bit of raw honey (optional)1/4 tsp zinc oxide
1/4 tsp calcium carbonate
1/8 tsp activated charcoal (I use these tiny measuring spoons for tiny measurements like this)2 tsp white white kaolin clay (USA / Canada)
Measure the witch hazel (and honey, if using) out into a small dish, and whisk in the zinc oxide, calcium carbonate, and activated charcoal. Once that mixture is smooth, add the white kaolin clay (USA / Canada) one teaspoon at a time, whisking between additions until you have a lovely, creamy paste.
Spread the mask on your skin and let it dry. This mask dries quite quickly, so you’ll find you’ll want to wash it off after about 5 minutes as it’ll start dropping powder all over if you don’t (the honey helps with that).
Makes enough for one face mask.
Perfect for my teenage son.He has fairly good skin, but gets blackheads. Now the trick is to get him to use it! Maybe since it takes 5 minutes, i might convince him.
yep, I contemplating that too, but the black might help as well. I know my boy loves his uber-acne soap I learned here!
I’ll try that angle. Hopefully it’ll work!
I’m so glad you guys are loving the uber anti-acne soap, that’s fantastic! 😀
You might have more luck with this powder; it’s even faster to use and he won’t even have to leave the confines of the bathroom as it applies with just a cotton ball and dries quickly!
Marie, can you tell me what the zinc oxide does for the mask? If left out would it still be effective?
The zinc oxide is astringent, and I wouldn’t remove it; this mask is an extension of this mask and when there’s only three ingredients to make something so effective, it’s best not to drop any of them. Think hot milk + cocoa powder + sugar; remove any one thing and you won’t have a very tasty mug of hot cocoa anymore 😛
Can this be made and stored in a container? Or should I wait to wet it when I’m ready to use it? I prefer to make them ahead of time and use a brush to apply it just to make things quicker and less messy:)
Hey Kelley! Read this 🙂
Where can I buy calcium carbonate and could I turn this into a clay bar by doubling the powders?
I got my calcium carbonate from TKB Trading, but you can also make your own.
You would need to do far more than double the powders to make a bar; doubling the powders might get you a largish tablet 😛
Where can you buy all of these ingredients for the mask?
Check out my giant “Where to Buy Ingredients” resource list 🙂
A quick question about kaolin: what is the kaolin clay texture like? I purchased some from Portugal and it is pretty gritty, once dissolved in water the texture is very rough, not creamy at all and it turns into a rather green-ish color. When applied to my face it feels like a sugar scrub, it’s *very* exfoliating. I thought kaolin
was a smooth and quite white clay. Any thoughts?
It’s very light and fluffy—watch this video for more info 🙂 From what you’ve said, you do not own kaolin clay!
Hallo Marie, I’m your fans from Indonesia.
Is it ok if I pull away calcium carbonate on this receipe? What is the effect if I do.
Thank you
Welcome! You can replace it with more clay 🙂 It won’t be quite as absorbent, but the mask will still work 🙂
can you please share formula for cream or shampoo from charcoal?