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Is activated charcoal all it's chalked up to be? Lucie Fink tries it out for five days.
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00:00I'm Lucy Fink and this is 5 Days of Activated Charcoal.
00:04Mwahaha!
00:05I'm going over to the dark side.
00:07Okay, so I'm not really going over to the dark side,
00:10but things might get a little dark.
00:12Like stained a deep, deep black.
00:15Ever since I did 5 Days of Natural Remedies,
00:17I've wanted to explore more natural health and beauty products,
00:21which led me over to today's episode on activated charcoal.
00:25So what is activated charcoal?
00:27Lesson number one.
00:29It's made from burning a natural source of carbon like wood, peat, or coconut shell.
00:34And unlike the type of charcoal that fuels our barbecue pits and cooks our burgers,
00:39activated charcoal is made with a bit of a different process.
00:42It's slowly dried, heated, and oxidized with carbon dioxide or steam.
00:47This creates tons of tiny pores across its surface,
00:50which can then trap toxins and chemicals.
00:53Personally, I have friends and co-workers that use activated charcoal for a whole slew of reasons.
00:58Digestive issues, teeth whitening, beauty care.
01:01But I've also read countless articles saying,
01:04taking it every single day can lead to vitamin deficiencies
01:07and it can make any medications you're taking,
01:09such as birth control pills, less effective.
01:12Eek.
01:12So this week I'm not going to be taking activated charcoal as a pill,
01:15but I am going to play around with it and see how else I can use it.
01:22According to some bloggers on social media,
01:24the path to whiter teeth involves first turning your mouth pitch black.
01:29Oh my god!
01:31I say shit!
01:32And apparently activated charcoal can remove stains from coffee, tea, and red wine.
01:38I started out with just the regular activated charcoal powder.
01:41I wet a brand new toothbrush and then I dipped it right into the powder
01:45and topped it with a little bit of baking soda.
01:47And then I just stuck it in my mouth and started brushing.
01:50Almost immediately, my mouth was black.
01:53It looked like a Sharpie marker had exploded onto my teeth.
01:56But in terms of taste, zero.
01:59No taste.
02:00And I brushed for two whole minutes and then I rinsed it out.
02:02This was not a clean procedure and even though I didn't know it at the time,
02:06I took a really big risk by wearing a white shirt to this party.
02:09But somehow I made it out without a hitch.
02:12Before I started using these products today,
02:14I took a before picture of my smile.
02:17But I didn't think it made sense to take the after picture
02:20until I've been using this toothpaste for a couple of months at least.
02:24So stay tuned for that on my Instagram account.
02:29Raise your hand if you do not drink enough water.
02:32Hey!
02:33I don't.
02:34Five days of hydration helped me out a lot
02:36because it really got me into the habit of carrying a water bottle with me everywhere
02:39and drinking, drinking, drinking a lot during the course of the day.
02:43But truthfully, something that I rarely think about is filtering my water.
02:46I drink straight from the tap in New York City.
02:49I really hope that's fine.
02:50Enter activated charcoal.
02:52Our new friend for the week.
02:54Activated charcoal filters water through a process called adsorption.
02:58Not absorption, adsorption.
03:00Time for a science lesson.
03:02When a material adsorbs something,
03:05it means that it's adhering to it by way of a chemical attraction.
03:08And because it's a large surface area on activated charcoal,
03:11there are a lot of bonding sites.
03:13So certain impurities and chemicals like chlorine attach to its surface and then get trapped.
03:19So today I wanted to try out a few different filtering methods.
03:22The first thing I did was try out these little bamboo activated charcoal sticks that I found online.
03:28I just dropped a stick into my cup and then drank straight out of the cup.
03:31These filters did not have a brand name and if I'm being completely honest with you,
03:36I don't think I would recommend it.
03:37It looked like it was working in that the water was bubbling
03:41and it appeared as if some sort of adsorption chemical reaction was occurring.
03:46But some bits and pieces of black broke off of the filter and started floating around in the cup.
03:52Ehhh.
03:52So to try something a little bit more legit,
03:55I ordered a very sleek and stylish water bottle from a UK based company called BU.
04:00Here's how these bamboo filters work.
04:02The bamboo stalk is transformed into activated charcoal by being heated up in a kiln.
04:07The heating process opens up pores on the bamboo structure creating those bonding sites.
04:11This product worked out much better for me than the activated charcoal sticks.
04:15No floaters came out in the water
04:17and it even had a little tiny additional filter at the very top that you snap in
04:22so that if there happened to have been any floaters that broke off of the filter,
04:26they would not wind up in your mouth.
04:31Happy Wednesday!
04:32So today is all about incorporating activated charcoal into my skincare routine.
04:36You know that activated charcoal peel off mask that a lot of people have been trying?
04:40You know, the one that like rips your skin off when you pull it off?
04:44Yeah.
04:45I didn't want to try that.
04:46Instead, I started my day off with the Dr. Jart Poor Minimalist Sheet Mask.
04:51This is one of the few activated charcoal products that is black itself
04:54but doesn't actually come off black on your skin, so it's entirely mess-free.
04:58Applying it to my skin felt really cold and juicy.
05:02It was slimy and it definitely seemed to slip around my face a little bit
05:05but overall it stayed in place and I left it for 15 to 20 minutes and then peeled it off.
05:10And I so badly wanted to wash my face afterwards because my face was still slimy
05:15but you're not supposed to do that.
05:16You're just supposed to rub in the serum and then let it dry.
05:19And then once all that serum dried, my skin felt really soft.
05:22I also tried out a bamboo charcoal deodorant that I bought on Amazon
05:26and it had a really good citrusy smell.
05:31And thankfully it was not black on my piss.
05:34Then later today when I got home from work, I was inspired to do a DIY activated charcoal mask.
05:39So I found this recipe on Pinterest and I would highly, highly recommend it.
05:43One teaspoon of bentonite clay which removes impurities.
05:47One teaspoon of activated charcoal.
05:49Half a teaspoon of raw honey for soft skin.
05:51Two teaspoons of water.
05:53And one drop of lavender essential oil for relaxation.
05:56Mix that all together.
05:58Next I spread it onto my face using the spoon because I didn't want to get my hands all black.
06:03It felt cold and refreshing and smelled like a little hint of lavender.
06:07The mask hardens on your face in 10 minutes and when you're done just wash it off with water.
06:12Warning, your sink will be a complete mess.
06:15Try to clean as much as you can by hand first before getting a towel involved
06:19because you may ruin your towels.
06:22You may.
06:25Even though I'm avoiding taking activated charcoal as a supplement this week,
06:29I did check in with a medical expert and receive confirmation that
06:33although it's not recommended to ingest on a daily basis, that it is in fact safe.
06:39Whew!
06:39That made me feel a lot better because I've personally been seeing activated charcoal things
06:43pop up all over the place recently.
06:45Ice creams, pizzas, laques, juices.
06:48It seems that everyone these days is jumping on the activated charcoal train.
06:53Except for me because I've never had any of these.
06:55So I've been staring at this powder for days being like, can I swallow you?
07:00I've seen charcoal lemonade being sold at tons of juice shops in New York City.
07:04But instead of going out and buying one, I decided to make my own DIY version at home
07:10following a recipe that I found on Pinterest.
07:12Five cups of filtered water.
07:14A half a cup of agave nectar.
07:16Three quarter cups of fresh squeezed lemon juice.
07:19And then five activated charcoal pills twisted to release the powder out of them.
07:23I stirred it up and then poured myself a glass.
07:26And to be honest, it was really good.
07:28If you had blindfolded me, I would never know that it was any different from regular lemonade.
07:32My only tweak is I would use more fresh lemon and less agave nectar.
07:37Next, I wanted to get out and about and try some of the activated charcoal treats that New York has
07:41to offer.
07:42I went to the Goodsort in Chinatown and started out with their activated charcoal and black sesame latte.
07:48Since the activated charcoal has no taste, they add in the sesame for a little bit of flavor.
07:52And then I had mine made with oat milk.
07:54And it was a delicious latte.
07:56As I was perusing the menu, I noticed that they sold a black waffle.
08:01Activated charcoal is mixed right into the waffle mix.
08:03So you have this sort of grayish, blackish batter.
08:06And then once the waffle is cooked, it's topped with a berry salad, maple syrup, and fresh coconut.
08:11It was, by far, the best waffle I've had in a long time.
08:18It's officially the last day of my activated charcoal journey.
08:22And I really wanted to stretch the imagination
08:24and try something that's a bit off the beaten path when it comes to how most people are using this
08:29product.
08:29After combing through the internet, I discovered that I could use activated charcoal to make my own eyeliner and mascara.
08:36Both of these were super easy to make and come from products that you might already have at home.
08:40Starting out with the eyeliner, I used half a teaspoon of activated charcoal,
08:43two teaspoons of coconut oil, and four teaspoons of aloe vera gel.
08:48Mix it all together and then pour it into an emptied out eyeliner pot.
08:51When I applied it, the texture was kind of juicy and it had a bit of a grayish hue.
08:56I think that you can probably make this product come out darker by using more activated charcoal and less aloe.
09:01And after I tried it on my face, I had my friend Empress try it too because we wanted to
09:06see what it looked like on a darker skin tone.
09:08And it looked great.
09:10It was definitely liquidy, so I would recommend letting it dry first before you open up your eye.
09:14But if you're not the type of person who's into the jet black eyeliner look,
09:18and you'd rather something grayish or a little more subtle, this look is for you.
09:22Next, I tried the mascara.
09:24I heated up two teaspoons of coconut oil, four teaspoons of aloe vera gel,
09:28half a teaspoon of beeswax, and half a teaspoon of activated charcoal powder.
09:32Threw that all into a saucepan and then mixed it together.
09:35It was looking a little watery, so I sprinkled in some more beeswax to thicken it up.
09:39And once it was all mixed together and all the lumps were out,
09:42I poured it into a ziplock bag, cut the tip off,
09:45and then carefully funneled it into an old lip gloss container.
09:49Once the whole container was filled, I tried it out.
09:51And I thought this mascara was awesome.
09:54It gave my lashes length and definition without giving them that globby and clumpy look.
09:59I had so much fun playing around with activated charcoal this week
10:02because it really felt like a deep dive into a topic that so many people are discussing,
10:07but something that I knew nothing about.
10:08You got something that we're punching out.
10:09We're still trying to look around.
10:10www.x Sigurdata Tone made a great job,