Bentonite Facial Clay Mask

     Are facial clay masks part of your beauty regimen? They should be! Clay has been used for thousands of years for deep skin cleansing and detoxification. In fact, animals and people in some cultures actually eat clay to heal internal ailments and neutralize poisons (I, personally, wouldn’t go that far, though). 

     It is best that you buy clay when it is in it’s pure, powdered form rather than when it is manufactured and comes in a ready-to-use form in a tube. This is to ensure that the clay does not contain any fillers and preservatives. So off I went to Healthy Options in Serendra. They are, after all, known for their organic products. I asked them if they had any clay masks and I ended up buying this:

     The packaging doesn’t look all that great but it is made out of 100% pure Calcium Bentonite clay. The instructions read that you have to mix it with either water or apple cider vinegar. Damage was P400+for 1 lb. of the product.

     When I got home I didn’t have apple cider vinegar on hand so I just mixed the powdered clay with water in a small plastic bowl. Take note that you shouldn’t use a metal bowl. It took a while before I got it at the right consistency. The trick is to stir it up a bit then let the globs of clay powder sit in the water to absorb it for a while. Then keep on mixing it until it becomes a smooth paste. I didn’t have a brush with me so I used my hands to gently smooth it over my face. Your face will look like this (pic taken from the product’s website):

     While waiting for the mask to dry, I felt my skin warm up, tighten and pulsate. Oddly enough, it felt quite nice and I wanted to nod off and fall asleep with my mask on. After 15 minutes of waiting, my face was so tight that I couldn’t talk at all so I washed it off with warm water. Reddening of the skin is common when using this product because it draws circulation to your face and is part of the skin renewal process. So what was the result?

     The mask is amazing! It exfoliates, cleanses and tightens the pores and my skin felt baby smooth. My white heads were loosened and fell off and my skin felt really, really clean. It is quite drying so it is advisable to follow up with a moisturizer afterwards. I used Celeteque’s Moisturizer (water-based and oil free!) then when to bed.

     The next morning my face still felt really smooth and supple. Some tiny zits that I had were dried up and I kept touching my face because it felt so soft. I decided to read up on reviews of this product and it turned out I wasn’t the only one who was amazed at the results. Using apple cider vinegar instead of water, however, makes it a very potent acne remedy. In fact, I read that using apple cider vinegar as a toner effectively clears your face of blemishes. Once I get my hand on that vinegar, I’ll make a follow-up post about it’s effectiveness with the clay mask.

     I highly recommend this product! Try it out yourself and let me know what you think about it. More info about this clay could be found here.