Charcoal’s supposed to soak up dirt and bacteria and leave you cleaner than before. But does it ... actually work?
Photo: Natthakan Jommanee / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm There’s living on the edge, and then there’s giving up deodorant during a heat wave. Between the possible link to cancer and the way it’s been yellowing all my white shirts, deodorant feels like a product I should learn to live without. This means I need to rely on something else to prevent me from becoming over-ripe, and that something is charcoal.
Charcoal has found its way into skin care, most notably cleansers, face masks, and deodorants. Dirty Lemon even makes a charcoal drink that you’re supposed to consume daily “after your heaviest meal” to ease digestion. With my four charcoal body washes, I’m clearly the target audience for these claims. But how true are they?
Charcoal is a byproduct of burnt cellulose. It doesn’t grow; it’s made by harvesting wood, coconut, or bamboo. Burn one of these at high temperatures in a low-oxygen environment and you get the kind of charcoal that’s bagged and sold for grilling. Add a steaming process, and you reach activated charcoal, which can suck up dirt and grime like a vacuum.
“Confirmed!” says Michelle Wong Ph.D., science educator at Lab Muffin Beauty Science in Sydney, Australia. Still, she’s not about to place it above the other body washes in my bathroom. “I’m not convinced they have enough time in contact with your skin to work much better than a standard cleanser,” says Wong. “But they’re not much more expensive than a regular cleanser and they’re not harmful, so I personally wouldn’t avoid them, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to use them either.
Shop the Story Schmidt’s Activated Charcoal Body Wash Infused with Argan oil, seaweed, and antioxidants, this has the texture of a traditional body wash. It’s grit free — not scrublike — and has a nice outdoorsy scent.
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