EspaƱol
This activated charcoal face soap recipe is simple enough for beginner soapmakers, yet results in an impressive bar of cleansing, yet moisturizing face soap.
I’m really excited to share with you today’s new soap recipe. I’ve been doing more studying on the oils used in soapmaking, along with some of the other ingredients, and think that I’m getting better at developing soaps that have a good balance of cleaning, moisturizing, and lather.
Just because I’m using a few more oils and ingredients than I did in my easy beginner soap recipe doesn’t mean that this soap is difficult to make by any means. This recipe is simple to make, but looks super impressive if you want to get ahead of the game and make some bars as nice Christmas gifts.
I have to admit that I studied BEAUTYCOUNTER’s Charcoal Cleansing Bar ingredients when I was looking to formulate my own activated charcoal face soap recipe.
At the time I was one of their consultants, and wasn’t trying to copy their formula; I just used it as a bit of inspiration. There were people asking me to come up with a cheaper alternative to that specific bar, and I was curious as to what was so special about it.
Watch me make this activated charcoal face soap:
Should you buy the Beautycounter charcoal bar or make your own charcoal face soap?
Well, it all depends. If you aren’t already making your own products, and don’t have a lot of the ingredients on hand, you may not save much money, at least not in the first batch. The Beautycounter charcoal soap bar should last you at least for several months, so it really isn’t a big expense on a daily basis.
I chose to make my own activated charcoal face soap because I love making soaps to begin with. Elaborating new soap recipes has become a creative outlet for me, and I take each new recipe as a bit of a challenge. Seeing as I had most of the ingredients already, and knew I’d be able to use all of the ingredients in other recipes, it wasn’t much of an expense for me.
So, why did I study the ingredients in the Beautycounter charcoal bar?
1. While I haven’t tried it myself, I’ve heard from friends that it works really well on blackheads and breakouts, and that the soap is one of their best sellers because everybody loves it so much!
2. From what I studied when I was a consultant with them, it seemed to me that they spend a lot of time investigating their ingredients, looking for the safest yet most effective ingredients in all of their products. Knowing that, I figured that using their ingredients as a guideline would really help me formulate my own great soap.
Why haven’t I tried their Charcoal Cleansing Bar yet to compare it?
Unfortunately, Beautycounter doesn’t sell to Europe as of yet, so I have to order and send to my parents’ houses in the US whenever I want a new product. My last order of products was placed in June when I travelled to the US to pick it all up. As much as I love using those trips to stock up on new products, I try not to go overboard either. As it was, we had to pay for another suitcase on the way home this trip! š
When I did buy from them, I chose products that are more difficult to make at home. A bar of soap is probably the easiest and most inexpensive product for me to try to make myself.
While I haven’t compared them myself, I was super excited to get the following comment from a reader:
You nailed the charcoal bar!! I cannot tell the difference between my boughten charcoal bars from Beautycounter and my DIY bars ( other than price) The quality of these bars are superb, you did an amazing job!! My girls’ and I are extremely grateful!! That recipe is like gold to us!!
She was wondering when I was going to try to make a copycat of the cleansing balm. š
Hmmmmm- I guess I’ll have to put that on my “to-do” list.
What’s in the Beautycounter Charcoal Cleansing Bar?
Here is the list of ingredients: Sodium Rapeseedate, Sodium Cocoate, Aqua/Water/Eau, Glycerin, Charcoal Powder, Sodium Citrate, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Water*, Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil*, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil*, Alcohol*, Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Leaf Extract*. Tocopherol.
*Organic
Comparing the ingredients in the charcoal face soaps…
Beginning form the top of their ingredient list, sodium rapeseedate and sodium cocoate are basically just the already saponified rapeseed and coconut oils. That means they have already been reacted with lye.
Coconut oil in soaps is great because it cleans well and adds a great, bubbly lather. I had never used rapeseed oil in soap before, though, so this was a new one for me.
I always avoided rapeseed oil in soap in the past, partly because it’s a difficult oil to find here in Spain, and partly because I had read that it could go rancid more quickly if used in large amounts in a soap. After further study, though, I read that it can a great oil to use in soap, in limited percentages, because it is moisturizing and gives a creamy lather (as opposed to the bubbly lather from the coconut oil). Plus it makes a pretty, shiny, smooth bar of soap.
Here come the first differences:
Because making a soap out of only rapeseed oil, coconut oil and safflower oil was out of my comfort zone, I decided to add some olive oil to my recipe. (Plus, olive oil is inexpensive and easy to find here in Spain.) I added olive oil for its moisturizing qualities, castor oil because it helps make the lather last longer, and shea butter because it’s high in “unsaponifiables,” leaving conditioning oils which I thought would be great for face moisturizing.
Going back to their ingredient list…
I, of course, also added water to my soap. I skipped over the glycerin, and added the charcoal powder, my version of the sodium citrate (citric acid, because sodium citrate is basically the sodium salt of citric acid), and some witch hazel.
Perhaps next time I may try substituting part of the water with glycerin as I’ve since found that it helps give a nice moisturizing quality to soaps, even when they aren’t highly superfatted. That helps give a moisturizing soap that doesn’t feel like it’s leaving a film on your skin. I really love the added glycerin in my recipes for glycerin soap, liquid castile soap, and liquid coconut oil soap.
I wasn’t sure why they would add citric acid to the soap, but after some investigation, I learned that not only does it serve to prevent oxidation of the ingredients which could lead to the “Dreaded Orange Spots,” commonly known as “DOS” in soap making forums, but it also possibly works as a chelator to help fight soap scum buildup. (Dreaded orange spots are a discoloration that can appear in soaps, especially when using certain oils or rancid fats. While it’s a mostly cosmetic problem, it can also affect the scent making the soap smell less fresh. In this case, the black coloring of the charcoal soap would hide any orange spots, but it’s still best to avoid them from forming.)
As for the witch hazel, I used a distilled witch hazel without any added alcohol. Alcohol can react with the lye, and can also affect the final outcome of the soap, so if you aren’t sure about the witch hazel you have, you can skip using it. Just make sure to replace the witch hazel with the same amount of distilled water.
Because safflower oil isn’t something I can readily find here, I decided to use olive oil, and the other oils mentioned above, instead.
Continuing down their list, I’m not sure about the addition of alcohol. I’m sure they have a great reason for adding it, but since I’m already using different ingredients and don’t know how or why to add it, I didn’t.
I did decide to go with the last two ingredients they added to their bar, though. Green Tea Leaf Extract and Tocopherol (aka. vitamin E) are great antioxidants that are not only great for your skin, but they help preserve the oils in your soap to keep them from going rancid.
Why use activated charcoal in a face soap?
Activated charcoal has become increasingly popular in beauty products lately because it is thought to absorb toxins, excess oils, and help better cleanse the skin.
One of the most common findings after using activated charcoal products is that pores become less visible and smaller, and blackheads start to disappear.
It may also help absorb excess oils in people with oily skin. Plus the black color makes a pretty slick looking black soap!
How do I like my homemade charcoal face soap?
I actually am loving this soap so far. I had planned on adding some rosemary essential oils to my soap bar, but forgot until it was too late, so my bar ended up being unscented.
Rosemary oil extract is used quite often by soapmakers as another natural additive that helps keep the oils in the soap from going rancid, and helps prevent the dreaded orange spots (DOS) I mentioned above. The extract doesn’t have much of a scent, but the essential oil itself does. Rosemary essential oil gives off a nice, natural fragrance and is a potent antioxidant for fighting off rancidity in oils.
If you don’t want to add a scent, though, you don’t really need to add much oil to help preserve your soap longer. A few drops should be enough. You could also leave it out if you wanted, like I accidentally did. š
Activated Charcoal Face Soap Recipe
Activated Charcoal Face Soap Recipe
for an 800g mold.
Materials
- 225 g olive oil
- 125 g coconut oil (Type that solidifies below 76ºF, not fractionated.)
- 100 g rapeseed oil (If you use canola oil instead, use 69g of lye)
- 25 g castor oil
- 25 g shea butter
- 100 g distilled water
- 90 g witch hazel (distilled, no alcohol)
- 68 g lye
- 1 Tbsp. activated charcoal
- 1 tsp. green tea extract
- 1/2 tsp. citric acid
- 5 drops vitamin E
- 20 drops rosemary essential oil (optional)
Instructions
- Measure out the water in a large glass or ceramic bowl, and add the measured lye to the water (and NOT the other way around). It’s a good idea to use gloves and a mask for this part of the process, and to mix together outside, avoiding the fumes. If you haven’t made soap before, or have questions about the process, I’d suggest you check out my first post about how to make an easy, beginner soap.
- Carefully mix together the lye and water until the lye is completely dissolved. It will get cloudy at first, and will begin to warm up. Leave the mixture alone to cool in an area where it won’t be touched by other people, children, or animals. You’ll notice that the mixture becomes more transparent again as it cools off.
- Meanwhile begin to measure out and combine the olive oil, rapeseed oil, coconut oil, castor oil, and shea butter. The easiest way is to accomplish this task is to tare the empty bowl before adding the first oil and taring again between additions of the oil. (I tend to make less soap in the winter when the coconut oil is solid, but since you are measuring by weight, it doesn’t make a difference if the oil is solid or liquid when you add it.)
- Combine the oils together with a hand held blender. The solid shea butter should easily combine into the liquid oils, forming a smooth, thick liquid. If you are working in cold temperatures and are having a hard time combining all of the oils, you can slightly warm them to make the process easier.
- Add the witch hazel to the lye-water mixture and stir it together carefully.
- You can now carefully combine the water-witch hazel-lye mixture with the oil mixture. I do this by pouring the lye mixture into the oil mixture and combining slowly with a metal spoon.
- Once everything is well combined, you can begin to use a hand held blender to continue to mix together all of the ingredients. We are looking to keep blending until reaching what is called “trace,” the point in making the soap when it will begin to thicken like a mayonnaise.
- When you start to reach a light trace (a thin, runny mayonnaise consistency), begin adding in the rest of the ingredients and combine them well.
- When you have a more normal mayonnaise consistency, pour the soap into the prepared molds.
- I’ve gotten into the habit of covering the soap with plastic and covering it with a towel for the first 24 hours or so, but it’s not really necessary. Leave your soap alone in the molds to completely set before removing them.
- This soap takes longer to set than my basic beginner soap, so you will need to wait longer before unmolding your soaps. I found it possible to unfold them after a few days, but the soap was still very soft and distorted and lost details. My best looking soaps had been left in the molds for a week or so before trying to unmold them.
- Once you have removed the soaps from the molds, leave them out to air dry and further harden. Ideally, you should turn the soaps occasionally so they dry equally on all sides, and you should also wait around a month before using the soap so that it is harder and lasts longer. (If you use the soap when it’s soft, it will easily dissolve and be used up much more quickly.)
- You can now use your soap, or package it for gift giving. Enjoy!
10 Healthy, Refreshing Summer Cocktails and Mocktails
Erin
Do you have to mix your ingredients in glass or can you use a metal bowl instead?
Tracy Ariza
Hi Erin,
You can use metal, but I’d make sure it’s stainless steel. Some metals can react with the lye.
I actually almost always use stainless steel now after hearing that some people had problems with glass bowls cracking after mixing lye with water in them. (The reaction causes it to heat up quickly, and some glass bowls don’t handle that sudden increase in temperature!)
I’ve never had a problem with either, but it’s something to keep in mind.
Christina
Why do you use witch hazel?
Tracy Ariza
Hi Christina,
Because this is a copycat recipe, I was trying to copy the ingredients in the original recipe as best as possible.
Witch hazel is known to be good for skin inflammation and acne. Whether those properties hold through the soap making process, I don’t really know.
You can definitely just switch it out for more distilled water if you don’t want to use it. I doubt it will radically change the soap. š
Lindsey Baudoin
Hi Tracy!
Thanks for this recipe! I have a question about your comment regarding glycerin… if you did remake this soap, how much of the water, in grams, would you substitute for the glycerin? At what step would you add the glycerin? Will it effect the amount of lye needed?
Lastly, can I use tap water instead of distilled water? I Have distilled witch hazel but not water.
Thanks again! š
– Lindsey
Tracy Ariza
Hi Lindsey!
Well, my comment was a bit hypothetical as I haven’t tried it yet, but… I might try switching out 20g of water for glycerin, stirring them together and using them as you would the water in the recipe. (So, you’d add the lye to the water and glycerin solution). I’d work slowly as I’ve added KOH for liquid soaps to a water and glycerin solution without any problems, but I haven’t tried with NaOH (traditional lye for bar soaps). Sometimes NaOH can react a bit strongly with things with sugar in them. (See my notes about it in the goat milk soap with honey post.)
The lye amount won’t change- it only changes if you switch out oils.
In most cases, tap water is fine to use for making soap, but some people will have substances in their water that may affect the process. That’s why I recommend using distilled water. If any issues come up, I can rule out the water as having been a potential problem. That said, I made my first bars of soap with tap water, and I didn’t have any issues with them.
Mary
I love your soap recipes. I tried the beginners soap, Iām still curing them now! Iām so excited to use them!
I would like to start making this charcoal soap, can I use bamboo charcoal powder for this?
Thanks!
Tracy Ariza
Hi Mary,
Thanks so much!
You can use bamboo activated charcoal but stay away from bamboo charcoal briquets or powders that aren’t very specific. You want to make sure it is a powder that is made especially for face and body use or it may be doing more harm than good. š
Laine
Hi, with those amount of ingredients how many soap bars can it make? š
Tracy Ariza
Hi Laine!
I think I got around 6 pretty large sized bars out of it. It really completely depends on how large you like to make them.
This recipe was a bit smaller than what I normally make. I think I was a bit worried at first about a recipe made with rapeseed oil, but in the end I was pleasantly surprised by it.
I gave a couple of bars away and might still have another one untouched, other than the one I’m using now. It lasts quite a while and is actually a pretty hard bar as it dries and cures.
Anne Watson
Most charcoal bar soap and face wash products often warn users to avoid applying on sensitive skin, as it could irritate the skin. This is mainly due to the abrasiveness of the charcoal, which sometimes becomes worse when combined with other ingredients.
Brooke Mckenzie
I made this soap about two weeks ago and when I try to pop it out of the mold it is still very soft on the bottom and not smooth at all. Please help, I am new to soap making and I wondered if I did something wrong. Or if I should just take them out so they can harden all the way around?
Tracy Ariza
Hi Brooke,
Definitely! If it is solid enough so that you can take it out of the mold, I’d definitely suggest doing so. They will harden more evenly and quickly the sooner you can get them out of the mold.
I don’t remember how soft mine were any more, but the 2 bars I have left are very, very hard.
What part isn’t smooth? The top- or the parts touching the mold?
Brooke Mckenzie
Yes the top part touching the mold was sticking and not coming out whole or smooth. So my husband actually put them in the freezer overnight and the next day they popped out beautifully. Haha. Does the cold harm the soap at all? They look fantastic now! Just want to make sure we didnāt mess them up. Haha.
Tracy Ariza
Hi Brooke,
No, don’t worry about them! In fact, that’s the best way to get soaps out of molds that are tight or intricate!
The cold will harden it and shrink it slightly, making it much simpler to remove without ruining it. Once it defrosts, it’s back to the way it was.
stephanie
Hi, I never heard of rapeseed oil, is that an oil? or is it grape seed oil
Tracy Ariza
Hi Stephanie,
Yes, rapeseed oil is an oil related to canola. It’s not grapeseed oil, which is completely different.
Franco
Not sure if you still monitoring the comments section here. But I too followed your recipe. Just like most Iam also a novice at soap making so thought this was possible a nice simple one to follow. Trouble is my soap has come out a bit strange with some odd film on it. I dont know if its part of the drying process but its got like a powdery white coating and some areas its almost very orange. If you allowed uploads I could have sent you a pic to show you.
Tracy Ariza
Hi Franco,
I wish I could allow for uploads too, but that’s what comes with the way the comments system works, and I don’t know if there’s a way to change it. You can definitely email me the pics at [email protected] and I’d love to take a look to see if we can pinpoint the problem.
I’ve been meaning to make a new, easier recipe for an activated charcoal face soap, but since I’m still using the 1 or 2 bars I kept for myself, I haven’t gotten around to it. Perhaps I should get a move on it. š
To be honest, while I like this soap, and I’m still using it to wash my face daily, I am not convinced that I love rapeseed oil for soaps. If you are seeing orange spots, it may have to do with the rapeseed oil, or it may be some sort of reaction with something like the green tea extract. Extracts can be, well, extracted in different ways- and may have different bases which may react in different ways in the soap.
Interestingly enough- I’ve had people write me and tell me this turns out exactly like the Beautycounter bar, something I can’t vouch for myself as I’ve still not tried theirs.
I’d really like to see your pictures so we can perhaps troubleshoot and try to fix your batch. I wouldn’t worry so much about a coating, and would wait to see what is underneath as you use the soap, but the orange spots make me curious. How long ago did you make it?
Franco
Thanks you for your reply Tracy. I have sent you a pic. I am going to hang my head in shame if I am being a typical hysterical novice. š – I am guessing you may be right and it may be the Green Tea sweating out. But have a look and let me know.
Sheila
I just tried this for the first time to use as Christmas gifts. My charcoal bars turned a whitish color, similar to how chocolate can turn white if it melts and reforms into a solid or is put in a fridge/freezer. I’d love to make this again but am wondering if you have any tips for why it turned the white color instead of the pretty black like yours did š
Tracy Ariza
Hi Sheila,
Hmmm- That’s unusual, and I’ve never heard of that happening. I don’t even begin to know how to answer you because it’s completely new to me…
Let’s start here- If you cut off part of the soap, is it black on the inside? Does it seem like it just has a white film on the outside?
With as strong of a black that charcoal gives off, I can’t imagine it disappearing and turning white for any reason- unless there is a film of something that has formed over top.
How long ago did you make the bars? Does everything else seem fine? (Hard bars of soap, lathers, etc.)
Let’s see if we can pinpoint what went wrong.
Monika
Maybe it’s soda ash – not harmful, but may look funny. I heard that if you spray your soap with 99% alcohol after pouring it into your mold, it will prevent this. More info can be seen here: https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/explaining-and-preventing-soda-ash/
Tracy Ariza
Hi Monika,
I think I had considered this at the time but was surprised it would be so high up on the packaging if it’s something used after the fact on the outside of the product. That said, I think you are probably right because it otherwise makes no sense to me to have alcohol in a bar of soap like this one. That, of course, means that there is very little green tea extract, or vitamin E for that matter, but I guess that can be expected. (In any case, vitamin E in large doses can actually contribute more to rancidity than it helps.)
Tracy Ariza
Oops- Monika, I saw your comment from my phone and didn’t see what this was in response to! I thought it was responding to the “why is there alcohol in the original soap?” question.
Yes, I think you are most definitely right. I received an email with pictures from another reader who had a similar issue, and it was definitely soda ash!
Which brings up to the first question. I think the alcohol in the ingredients is probably there just for that reason- to prevent it. š