Can a charcoal facial really make your skin GLOW?
(It’s dirty work — but someone had to try it)
As I walk to Debbie Thomas’s skincare clinic at the back of Harrods, in one of the most congested areas of central London, I can practically feel my pores clogging up.
Quite apart from the effect the fumes are having on our lungs and the planet, pollution is a major cause of skin damage and premature ageing — no surprise, it’s also the beauty industry’s latest obsession.
skincare brands are putting serious investment into pollution shield technology, with beauty giants such as Elizabeth Arden and No7 making it the focal of launches this year.
Many brands are looking to one particular ingredient to revolutionise their offerings — charcoal. At the centre of the launch of Amazon’s first own-brand skincare range, Belei, last week, is Deep Charcoal Cleansing Mask (£12), and when cult U.s. skincare line Boscia finally landed on our shores at the end of last year, it’s first offering was its detoxifying charcoal range.
Charcoal’s powerful ability to absorb impurities has seen it make the leap from slightly fringe whitening toothpastes and cleansing drinks to mainstream face washes, masks and even scalp scrubs.
Now, it is being incorporated into salon treatments in the battle against environmental nasties.
Debbie Thomas is known as the queen of lasers. she’ll lift your knees with them, zap your spots and even hoik up your cheeks with a beam inside your mouth. she is among the first to offer the carbon peel, combining the power of a laser beam with charcoal, which she regards as the ultimate glow-getting combo.
The carbon peel is a deep cleanse for dull, city-stressed skin, and involves having a pitch-black charcoal paste painted onto your face and then ‘erased’ with a laser. Charcoal is a supremely simple and effective skin detoxer, says Debbie, as it aborbs impurities like a magnet as it dries.
SHE then uses a special laser to blast the mask to pieces. The treatment is also known as the Hollywood peel as it’s a popular pre-red carpet fix.
I’m surprised celebs would go anywhere near a peel or a laser before a flashbulb event, but Debbie says this treatment comes with no downtime or redness and gives an instant glow.
It’s also proving popular, Debbie has noticed, with women prepping for their 50th birthdays. ‘They say they want to look a bit fresher, as if to say “I’ve got this”.’
What is it about turning 50 and suddenly noticing your pores seem larger?
‘As we get older and lose collagen, people start to notice their pores more than they used to. It’s the collagen around the pore that plumps it up and squishes it shut,’ she says.
Debbie says the carbon peel can help with this to a degree, because the laser creates a little shock of heat, which can stimulate collagen. But there are other lasers which stimulate the deeper layers and can be combined with the carbon peel.
But what the carbon peel will do is clean off dead skin, which is slower to shed as we get older, and purge the pores so your skin looks tight and glowy.
I’m still to be convinced because, on paper, it sounds very Guy Fawkes — Debbie warns me to expect firecracker noises and gunpowder smells when she blasts the charcoal face mask into oblivion with her beam. But the results, I’m assured, will be worth it.
When the charcoal paste dries on the skin, it sticks to the oil, dirt and dead skin cells. These are the things that clog and enlarge pores and make the skin look grubby and dull.
‘When the laser hits the carbon, it goes up in a puff of smoke taking all the stuff that is stuck to it as well. so, you get this bright, soft face and your pores look far more refined.’
Although my skin is generally good, I’m a perfect candidate for this treatment. My complexion is looking dull and Debbie says that the pores on my T-zone could do with a little attention, especially as I cycle polluted streets on my commute and regularly wear an sPF 50 to keep wrinkles at bay.
‘For you, I want to deposit enough energy from the laser to get you a little bit of plumpness,’ says Debbie, ‘which will help to soften some of the fine lines, and definitely work on the brightness to get a glow back into the skin. If your skin is glowing and luminous, everything looks better.’
so to business. she tucks me under a blanket on the treatment couch, applies the black paste which dries in minutes and gives me dark glasses to protect my eyes. Will it hurt?
‘It’s like the flicking of an elastic band,’ she says. ‘It’s not painful; more annoying — you almost want to swat it away.’
Her beam fires superfast blasts as it works its way over the charcoal, vaporising as it goes. It smells like burned toast, and I’m surprised at how loud the crackling is. It isn’t hot, but it’s most certainly prickly and the area under the nose is especially sensitive. But I’d take this over eyebrow threading any day.
As an aside, Debbie tells me this is the same ‘Q-switch’ laser that’s traditionally used for tattoo removal, because it can shatter dark ink. Yikes, mind my microbladed eyebrows, they cost 300 quid! But, of course,
Debbie is careful. And it’s not just women who love this treatment. It’s popular with men, too, and is her 53-year-old husband’s favourite guilty secret.
The whole thing is over in 15 minutes and, with a slather of antioxidant vitamin C serum and suncream, I’m good to go and indeed am glowing.
MY FACE is more plump and, as the magnifying mirror testifies the next day, everything does look squeaky clean.
While extractions (ie, squeezing) are still the only thing that will get rid of blackheads immediately, this will help prevent them. I’m happy to be keeping on top of pollution particles, which can penetrate the cells and cause oxidative stress, in the same way sun damage does.
As a one-off treatment, the results are instant, but with sixto-eight sessions you can really help improve skin health, which takes this beyond a mere pamper treatment. For me, this is a facial that is rightly having a moment. In the battle against pollution, this is one gunpowder plot I can get on board with.