Activated charcoal has become a popular ingredient for skin care products in the past few years. But it’s not new – charcoal has been used in the beauty and medical industries for years. Charcoal is known for its ability to absorb and draw out oil from the skin. This makes charcoal a fantastic addition to soaps, scrubs, masks and more.
There are various types, including activated charcoal, sugar charcoal and Japanese charcoal (aka white charcoal). The different types of charcoal have various origins and production methods. “Regular” charcoal usually comes from wood, coal or peat. This type of charcoal is often used as fuel. Activated charcoal, on the other hand, is most commonly used for medical, beauty or purification processes. To become “activated,” the charcoal goes through a high temperature steam activation process. This process increases its surface area, which increases the charcoal’s ability to absorb and filter. This makes activated charcoal the proper choice for medical and cosmetic use.
In particular, activated charcoal is fantastic for oily skin. Its ability to absorb oil and dirt from pores leaves skin feeling balanced. If you have dry skin, activated charcoal may be a little bit too drying. Some use charcoal in their hair care to add volume, and some even use it in their tooth care regimen (keep in mind the charcoal at Bramble Berry is not meant to be consumed in anyway).
Want to add charcoal to your bath and body products? Interestingly, activated charcoal is not water soluble. A great example of this was in the Black Bath Bombs Test; the bath bombs made with activated charcoal left plenty of residue on the tub, because the charcoal did not want to mix with the water. A touch of Polysorbate 80 helped the activated charcoal blend in better with the water.
Activated charcoal is not water soluble, and does not work well in bath bombs without an emulsifier as shown in this post.
If you’re adding charcoal to your project, dispersing it in oil helps it mix in easier. Use 1 teaspoon charcoal to 1 tablespoon 99% isopropyl alcohol for melt and pour soap and a lightweight liquid oil for cold process soap. Activated charcoal can be added directly to melt and pour or cold process soap batter, but dispersing does help get rid of clumps. If you’d like to try adding it to emulsified projects like lotion, I recommend a small test batch first. We actually tried adding it to the clay mask recipes (which are essentially lotions) and found the charcoal did not mix in very well, even with plenty of stick blending (see photo below).
In our tests, activated charcoal did not mix in very well to emulsified clay masks.
In addition to the skin benefits, activated charcoal gives products a beautiful black color. Charcoal can create a gray lather and transfer color to a washcloth if a lot is used in a recipe. In my experience, I have not found charcoal soap stains washcloths permanently. If you use enough charcoal to create a dark black color, chances are it will give your lather a little color. For cold process and melt and pour soap, start with 1 teaspoon of dispersed charcoal per pound of soap. Add more color until you get the shade you like. A light to dark gray shade in soap will most likely not create a gray lather.
Charcoal is dispersed in oil and added to the soap batter in the Charcoal & Cedar Beer Soap Tutorial.
Now, let’s talk about handling activated charcoal. There is no way around it – this stuff is messy. It’s a very small and light powder, so it has a tendency to “poof” up into the air. If you’ve used activated charcoal, you know it can have a tendency to get everywhere. When working with it, I recommend closing windows and shutting off any fans to help avoid an unnecessary mess. If you do get charcoal on your hands while working with it, I recommend washing it off with water and soap. Once, I left activated charcoal on my knuckles for about an hour while formulating recipes. My knuckles were extremely dry for about a week! It has some serious absorbing properties.
Looking for some charcoal recipe inspiration? Check out the tutorials below, and be on the lookout for more recipes this week!
- Rose Clay & Charcoal Soap Tutorial
- Gold Mine Cold Process Soap
- Wild Leopard Print Cold Process Soap
- Honey Bee Funnel Pour Cold Process Soap
- Creamy Cow Milk Cold Process Soap
- Charcoal & Cedar Beer Cold Process Tutorial
- Rose Gold & Charcoal Heart Soap
- Honey Bee Soap Tutorial
- Dragon’s Breath Cold Process Soap
- Charcoal and Rose Clay Spa Bar
- Minty Clay Melt & Pour Bar
- Natural Colorant Taiwan Swirl
Great but I can’t help but notice you are using metal spoon to mix which you should avoid any metal objects when using charcoal.
We’ve had good results with charcoal when using metal spoons, but you can use silicone or plastic if you like.
I made a three layer soap (shea, castor, palm, canola, coconut) that began beautifully but ended in possible disaster.
At trace I added ylang ylang EO, colloidal oatmeal, 1/2 tsp salt, sodium citrate & BHT, mixed in a bit of alcohol. No problem. Traced like pudding. Laid that down as first layer. Added 1 tsp of activated charcoal mixed w/alcohol into the mix and it turned a pretty gray and that was my 2nd layer. Then I got into trouble. For the 3rd, darkest layer, added the rest of the activated charcoal which was dispersed in about 1 TBSP of alcohol, and it thinned out the batter considerably. I waited and it stayed thin, but I added it to the top of the loaf as the 3rd layer, hoping it would firm up so I could texture it a bit.
Now it has a thick layer of oil on top and is still to thin to texture. I am going to leave it a few days to see if the alcohol evaporates and the oil re-absorbs. If not I’ll just have to rebatch.
What do you think happened?
Sorry, I missed this question. How is that soap doing now?
I’ve tried making an activated charcoal soap a number of times and i end up with an extremely gray bar with tons of ash on the top. I’ve tried a few different ways to add the charcoal in hopes to ensure a black bar and not gray. I’ve added the charcoal to the lye water solution and not the batter and still wound up with gray bars 🙁
to top it off, i put the loaf in the freezer to prevent gel phase but i end up with a white almost grainy soap top. any tips on what to do to keep my bars truly black?
You need to use quite a lot of charcoal to get a truly black bar. It helps to soap at higher temperatures around 120-130F and then gel the soap. A hot gel phase can help the color look darker.
Learn more about gel phase here: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/gel-phase/
And more about insulating soap here: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/when-to-insulate-handmade-soap/
Gel phase will also help prevent the soda ash on top. A 10-15% water discount can help too: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/water-discounting-cold-process-soap-how-why/
Learn more tricks for preventing soda ash here: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/explaining-and-preventing-soda-ash/
My charcoal soap got oily after storing it for a month…please tell me how do i remedy this..thank you so much….
How are you storing that charcoal, and how old is it?
Hey where can I buy it to make my own soap?
You can find activated charcoal and other soapmaking supplies on our website, Bramble Berry Handcraft Provisions: https://www.brambleberry.com/Activated-Charcoal-P4956.aspx
How much activated charcoal would you add to a liquid soap for a face wash?
I would recommend starting with about 1/8 teaspoon per pound of soap and adding more from there if you like. You may find the charcoal settles, if that’s the case give the soap a good shake before each use.
Hello! Thank you for this post it helped a lot. But I had a problem yesterday while making charcoal soap with jasmine essential oil. I made a very fair trace, to make my swirls, but after pouring it to several cups to mix in colors, the one that I colored with charcoal thickened so quickly that even became clumsy and I simply cannot spread it in the mold evenly 🙁 so disappointing…
Charcoal absorbs liquid, so it can trace a little faster than the other colors. Did you add the charcoal powder directly to your soap, or did you mix it with an oil? Also, how much did you add to your soap?
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
How often do you use charcoal tea tree soap for the face or body if your skin is dry?
I would recommend giving it a try to see what you think. Activated charcoal does tend to absorb moisture, so you may find it a bit drying for everyday use. If that’s the case, you can use it 1-2 times a week. You could also modify this recipe and use less or no charcoal: https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/charcoal-facial-soap-tutorial/
You may also like this facial bar recipe, which has moisturizing oils that make it great for dry skin: https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/cold-process-soap/guest-post/
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
Hi there,
I make A black activate charcoal soap. with base base oils of jojoba , cocoa butter and olive etc. For some reason it thickens SUPER QUICK!!! so annying as I have to pour them in individual moulds and after pouring them in two 6 mould cavities its already thickens… quick!! WHAT TO DO>?? please help
What amounts of oil are you using in your recipe? Also, what temperatures are your lye and oils at? Let me know and I’ll help you troubleshoot.
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
Hi I’m wondering where I can email you with specific questions about soap? I’m having some difficulty in figuring that out. Thanks!
You can email us at info(at)brambleberry(dot)com, leave your questions here on the blog, or message us on Facebook. 🙂
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrambleBerry/
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
I want to find something that I can use to take care of my skin. I didn’t know that activated charcoal was such a popular and useful thing for that! It even has medical benefits on top of the cosmetic ones.
Charcoal is a great ingredient, it’s really cleansing and it colors your products. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble berry
i bought some of the charcoal detox liquid soap. been using ONLY 2 days on my face. i definitely see and feel the smoothness and i feel it cleansing under the skin when im sleeping. i will continue to use this and see how it works for weeks and will get back to you. i like the feel. it makes my skin feel very clean and refreshed.
That’s awesome, glad the soap is working well for your skin! 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
Hello, I have been using activated charcoal in my cp soaps for some time now, but i seem to always get a feathering of lighter streaks from the outside of the bar. Do you have any advice on how to prevent this? https://www.pinterest.com/pin/493636809142556068/
Hmm, I’m thinking it’s temperature related. It looks like the soap got hot in the middle, but not around the edges. This is called partial gel phase. It’s the reason the outside of the soap is lighter. It also looks like there may be glycerin rivers, which are the streaks. That is temperature related too. Read more about gel phase here: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/gel-phase/
And more about glycerin rivers here: https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/river-runs-deep-explanation-glycerin-rivers/
I think a water discount will help! It prevents glycerin rivers. That way you can get your soap hot without worrying about the streaks. Learn more about water discounting here: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/water-discounting-cold-process-soap-how-why/
Then, to ensure full gel phase, you can set the soap on a heating pad set to medium for 20 minutes. You can also cover it with a blanket or towel to keep it nice and toasty. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
So the soap is both too cold and too hot! … Thanks for the advice. I will definitely try the water discount.
You’re welcome! Soap temperature is definitely a tricky balance. Once you find the perfect temperatures and storage for you, it’s a lot easier. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
Great soap
Thanks so much!
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry