DIY Charcoal Face Mask and Sleeping on Wet Hair

It's been a while since my last post.  There is a good reason for this and I am happy to share that... *drumroll* I got a job/ internship!!  If you know me, then you know that I am wrapping up my advanced practice master of social work program at my university.  Because it is only a year long program, I decided to hold off on my internship until after I finished my classes so that I would be able to have the scholarly background necessary for my internship and not have to kill myself trying to work, intern, and do my school work.  However, it took a while to find an internship, so I ended up starting it almost three months after finishing classes.  This is all going to be fine because this internship is PAID and it transfers into a job when I am finished (if my boss and I still like each other when my 600 hours of interning are done).  Not to mention, I will be getting a BIG raise.  Not bad, right?!  I agree.  Anyways, this whole nine-to-five-professional-work-thing does not allow for me to do my usual hair styling method of wash it, add some leave-in conditioner, and let it air dry method because people tend to frown on wet hair in the professional work environment...  Which leads to my first Pinterest experiment:

Sleeping on Wet Hair

I found this pin last month and decided to give it a try because, what the heck, it's worth a try and I didn't have a blow dryer to actually dry my hair in the morning.  The pin took me to shine.yahoo.com to an article called Three Ways to Wake Up to Gorgeous Hair.  One of the ideas was to wind your hair into a few spiral things and pin them in place overnight so that when you wake up you will have fantastic curls.  Because my hair is naturally curly and I like it that way, I chose to give it a try.  I washed my hair, put a little mousse in it, then did several spiral things and secured them with bobby pins.  After that, I covered my head with a scarf and slept (which was great because who doesn't want to sleep with bobby pins stabbing your skull?).  When I woke up, my hair was still damp, so I unwound it, finger combed and let it dry while I got dressed and put on a little make-up.  The results?  Not bad, but also not worth the skull-stabbing-pins.  The curls (which were just alright) didn't hold for longer than a couple hours.  All in all, I ended up buying a blow dryer (that I love).

DIY Charcoal Face Mask

I keep seeing the same post floating around Pinterest that some model puts egg white and lemon juice on her face and it lessens acne scars, evens skin tone, blah blah blah.  I decided to give my own face mask a try.  Because I am a huge fan of charcoal and I recently bought a charcoal face mask from Origins at Sephora, I decided to make my own mask.  In comparison to the Origins mask, the results were about the same.  I followed up the mask (I don't recommend this for most people and will explain why in a minute) with a brown sugar scrub.


To backtrack, I started off by putting one egg white in a bowl, then added one tablespoon of lemon juice, and two tablespoons of charcoal.  I mixed it thoroughly with a fork, then used an old fan brush to spread it over my face.  I did three layers of it on my face and down my jaw and chin.  After that, I let it dry for about 10 minutes and used a wet paper towel to wash it off.  (Charcoal does stain, do I didn't use a washcloth.)  My skin felt tight and smooth afterward.  

Now let me explain the scrub.  Afterward, I noticed that my pores looked a bit clogged still because the charcoal had penetrated them so deeply.  To get rid of that, I took a small amount (about a tablespoon) of brown sugar and poured my face wash (CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser because it is so gentle) on top.  Then I mixed it in my hands and GENTLY massaged it in circular motions into my skin.  After rinsing, my face felt a bit raw, but super smooth (and a little red).  I moisturized and now I have some fabulous feeling skin.  

I plan on repeating this every Sunday from now on, but I have modified the recipe to make it more creamy and paste-like.  So here goes:

Charcoal Face Mask 

• One Egg White
• 1/2 TB lemon juice
• Activated Charcoal Powder

Beat the egg white and lemon juice together until completely blended.  Add charcoal powder a little at a time until paste-like.  

Apply to face.  Leave on until completely dry.

Remove with warm water.

Moisturize.

Edit 7/29/13: for a better charcoal and clay mask, see my newest post.