The dried, carbonaceous product of heating organic materials is charcoal powder or powdered charcoal. Its black color serves as a black pigment in cosmetics. It is mainly used as an abrasive, absorbent, and opacifying agent in cosmetics and personal care products.
What is CHARCOAL POWDER used for?
Charcoal powder or activated charcoal powder is used as an
abrasive to remove materials from the body surface, clean teeth, and provide shine. It removes dirt, toxins, and impurities. It also absorbs water or oil, and reduces the transparency or translucency of cosmetics, thus working as an
opacifier. The promise of activated charcoal powder is that it defeats skin's absorption by having a stronger adsorption capacity, leading to healthier skin and a more even complexion.
- Oral care: Its abrasive nature may help to remove stains like coffee stains and plaque from the teeth, helping them to look clean and whiter
- Decorative cosmetics: It is used in eyeliners, eye pencils, eye shadows, mascaras, blushers, brush-on-brow, foundations, and nail enamels. Concentrations used for cosmetics typically range from 0.001% to 10%, with 0.001% for skin care products, 5% for nail polish and mascara, and up to 10% for other eye-decorating items like eyeliners, eye pencils, and eye shadows
Origin
The process of calcining materials like sawdust, peat, coconut shells, and olive pits yields charcoal powder. In order to increase porosity and produce smaller volume pores, which in turn increases surface area and improves adsorption, it is activated by heating charcoal at high temperatures, usually with steam. Peat, coal, wood, coconut shells, or petroleum can all be used to make common charcoal. Common charcoal is heated to approximately 900°C in the presence of a gas (typically steam) to create activated charcoal. This process causes the charcoal to develop numerous internal spaces, or "pores," which aid the activated charcoal in trapping chemicals. During this procedure, impurities on the charcoal's surface are also eliminated, greatly enhancing its capacity for adsorption.
Safety profile
The Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) has determined that after application on healthy, intact skin, the use of nano-structured carbon black with a size of 20 nm or larger at a concentration up to 10% as a colorant in cosmetic products is considered to not pose any risk of adverse effects in humans. Carbon black nanomaterials used in cosmetic products should have a purity of greater than 97%. When used temporarily, it is safe.