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Blackhead Face Mask

Beauty

Last Updated on January 19, 2023

This blackhead face mask uses just 3 simple pantry ingredients to clear your pores of dirt and oil. This face mask for blackheads will live your skin glowy and radiant every time!

A DIY blackhead remover is just as effective as a store-bought blackhead remover mask, but uses natural, safe ingredients. In fact, this is the best blackhead mask I’ve tried yet! Making your own skincare products is a great way to reduce waste, as the beauty industry is notorious for its packaging waste.

Ingredients to make a face mask for blackheads

blackhead face mask

I was recently asked about my skin care routine on Instagram. Or, rather — they were gushing over my perfect skin, dying to know my secrets.

Which I immediately divulged: Clarendon. That’s an Instagram filter. Yeah, my skin is far from perfect. 

I had perfect skin in high school. Boy, oh, boy, did I hit the jackpot with adult acne! (…..jackpot in hell)

a woman's face with cystic acne prior to use of DIY blackhead remover

This is an unedited, candid photo snapped of baby me. My face exploded with acne my sophomore year of college. 

It’s something I am still self-conscious about. When I look in the mirror, sometimes this is the face I still see. But, I promise you, it gets better! And, it has gotten SOOOOO much better — both my acne and eyeliner skills.

I don’t feel that I am an expert on skincare routines since skincare is so individual. If I ever find a perfect skincare routine, I’ll let you know!

But until then, let me tell you about this awesome blackhead remover mask. It has helped me, and I’m confident it can help you too.  

ingredients for best blackhead mask are put in a bowl to be mixed

best blackhead mask

The simple pantry ingredients in this face mask for blackheads will leave your skin clear and happy, without all the waste!

Because I am an expert on DIY face masks! I deal with a lot of under-the-skin stuff and cystic acne.

Since switching to all natural products like the ones used in this DIY blackhead remover, I haven’t had any cysts.

The under-the-skin stuff fluctuates between good days and bad days depending on the time of the month. Damn you, hormones! 

Ingredients for blackhead face mask are mixed in a bowl

This is the best blackhead mask I’ve ever tried. It instantly lifts my spirits and skin. It will leave your skin glowing like the radiant goddess you are – seriously, you won’t be disappointed. 

diy blackhead remover ingredients

  • 1 Teaspoon Bentonite Clay (bought in bulk from the beauty section of Berkeley Bowl)
  • 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda (bought in the bulk section of Whole Foods)
  • 1 Teaspoon of Activated Charcoal (bought in bulk from the beauty section at Rainbow)

The 3 teaspoons used in this recipe equals 1 Tablespoon. This is the perfect amount for one face.

Hand holding a spoonful of DIY blackhead remover mixture

benefits of a natural blackhead remover mask

  • Bentonite Clay: Absorbs toxins, draws out dirt, clears pores, helps regenerate skin tissue, reduces appearances of scars, and has excellent natural exfoliation 
  • Baking Soda: Mild antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, opens pores, helps heal scars, reduces acne, eliminates black heads, brings the glow, and smooths skin
  • Activated Charcoal: Clears and shrinks pores, improves skin tone, draws out dirt, deep cleans, provides gentle exfoliation, balances oil, and tightens skin
woman applying a face mask for blackheads

how to use this face mask for blackheads:

step 1: stir ingredients together

Place all ingredients in a bowl and stir. Use a wooden spoon for your clay or it will deactivate! Add several drops of water to create a paste.

step 2: apply blackhead mask to face

Apply the mixture to a dry face. Allow the mask to dry/harden, then keep it on for another 15 minutes. 

You can keep it on longer, but I have relatively sensitive skin. I recommend starting with a lower time limit and working your way up.

step 3: rinse and enjoy

Wash off with water and pat your face dry with a soft, clean towel.

Don’t freak out if your face is pink — the clay naturally increases blood flow.

A woman washing off a blackhead remover mask

faqs

how does this face mask work?

The ingredients in this blackhead face mask all work together.

  • Baking soda is a natural antiseptic with antibacterial properties.
  • Warm water will open your pores for all of the toxins to be pulled out of your skin by the clay.
  • Finally, the activated charcoal will absorb the debris and detoxify the skin, leaving you with glowing smooth skin at the end.

how often can you use this face mask?

Like most face masks, I wouldn’t do it more than once or twice a week. I have very dry, relatively sensitive skin. So, I only do a face mask once a week, and I like to rotate this one with a deep moisturizing mask. 

What are some of your favorite face masks to make? 

24 Comments
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  1. Saving this to try later. I too suffered from the dreaded adult acne, after having having flawless skin for the first 24 years (I mean, what is up with that?). I’ve cleared my skin after switching to all natural, gentle products too (which I wish I would’ve discovered sooner) but I still get the occasional "the flowers are blooming" type breakouts, so I’ll save this for one of those occasions. I’m pretty sure I have all the ingredients already. Thanks!!

    Victoria
    http://victoriahasnosecret.com

  2. LOL I was cracking up when you mentioned Hamilton. I was washing my face last night while singing "You’ll Be Back" and my husband thought I was a crazy person….he does not understand the obsession. But I just recently did a DIY mask based on a purchased version and it turned out great! Local honey, spirulina, chlorella, bentonite clay, and a couple drops of your preferred facial oil. It’s really moisturizing and helps to soothe some of the redness I get from a particularly bad breakout. My teenage acne transformed to adult acne around age 25…I can’t catch a break, but at least it’s made me a skincare expert! OCM is the bomb.com for adult acne. And SPF!

    1. Jonathan Groff is PERFECT as King George! I majored in musical theatre, I was originally wary of all the hype. But it totally lives up the hype!! I’m obsessed. I was doing OCM for several months, but I just can’t keep up with it consistently. It’s too much time between OCM and crawling into bed. 😉

  3. I’ve been wishing to write to you encouragements when I saw one of your picture when we could see that you had bad acne, as I started my zero waste lifestyle when I had breakouts in my first year of master (this is my second and last, and yes like you I had no acne as a teenager). I forbid myself as I thought, well, you don’t know how confortable people are with their own appearence, even if you are well intended don’t speak so freely ! But there it is !
    I am so happy to see natural treatments work for you and it does for me as well ! It is the only thing that works for me so far. First time I tried it, it was with honey, and it did miracles : in 2 days only almost all of my acne disappeared and scars with it. I could not believe it, and it was just supermarket honey. For some reason, few months later when I needed it again, it did not work. You are right there is no perfect routine ! I believe everything is so linked to the mental, spirit of the day, something you ate, tap water that is different from usual…But yet this is nice advice, and I will see if it works or me ! I still hang to honey hoping that it will help sometimes with some breakouts.
    Just now I have solved a three months dilemma by using bicarbonate as a peeling mask. And I am still happy with jojoba oil that I first tried 4 months ago. I would like to try rosehip oil though !
    But what I think is helping me now, if it can be useful to anyone, is that I stopped trying to put things on my face (well I do but not excessively), I tried solving my stress problems. The end of my thesis sure will help, but since it never stops when you are an anxious person, I started going to a herbologist. I found the most perfect lady, she was so full of love I could feel it. She made me a herbal remedy (feels like a good witch making a potion!) and I felt better in the three next day. She also had a much more developped knowledge of the chinese science saying that each part of the face relates to one part of the body. Well it actually was a different approach, linking parts of your face to your mental. So apparently, chin, and side of chin and neck is linked to stress, and upper cheeks is just (!) linked to self confidence and loving your self. So…she just confirmed what I knew before I told her…..you are right it DOES get better ! I wish you the best and thanks for reading. I hope these few words can help others too, it really helped me.

  4. I love it! I have been using a similar mask of a couple drops of tea tree oil, a teaspoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of activated charcoal. For the first time ever people complemented me on my skin. It is messy though. I want to try this recipe. I have a zero waste blog post http://www.zerowastehouston.com it is about the journey of going zero waste in Texas. It has been tough because it is so foreign here, not many shopping options or public policies in place to help. I love getting new ideas from your site and hope to raise awareness in my area and maybe be an advocate for the cause in city government. I successfully, campaigned for recycling for my HOA. It would be great to be able to take things to the next level.

    1. This is awesome!! I hope you can bring a lot of change. I grew up in San Antonio, so I can understand how difficult in can be living in what I like to call the eco wasteland. Keep up the good work! I’m rooting for you. 🙂

  5. Thanks for this recipe.

    I would like to share that if there is one decisive factor that drastically alters the frequency of pimples on my skin, it’ll be dairy.

    I read about a study a handful of years ago about teenage participants suffering from acne going off dairy completely for 3 months. The result was staggering. Those who went cold-turkey saw a significant improvement in their skin from their contemporary who continued consuming dairy as normal. The findings inspired me to eliminate all dairy from my diet for 3 months as well and man, did I see a connection between dairy and acne with my own skin.

    It was very tough abstaining from any food that included dairy (butter, milk, cheese, yogurt, cupcakes, pancakes, etc. This is before I learned about nut milk!) the first month but remembering just how irritable and unhappy I was when huge, deep, painful pimples would flare up on my face from no apparent reasons (I already had a decent skincare, not using any make up, changing pillow cases twice a week, not touching my face, basically all the good skincare rules one should follow) I knew momentary bliss from that slice of pizza or frosted cake wouldn’t be worth it.

    I highly (highly!) recommend folks to do a trial period in eliminating all dairy from their diet. You can always reintroduce them back into your life if you wish later.

    I have since found a balance and keep a vigilant eye on my dairy-intake so that I don’t overload my body with too much of it suddenly. A small dairy treat now and then have kept my skin clear 98% of the time nowadays!

    1. I wish mine had been dairy. Being allergic, I would have been in the clear! Lol. Unfortunately there’s no one size fits all. But, I’m so happy you found what works for you! 🙂

  6. Love your posts, but I think I’m doing something wrong with the face mask :s. Blackheads are not gone after the mask, but it rather looks like the charcoal just coloured the blackheads even more black, booohoohoo :'(. Also, if the clay and baking soda open the pores and the charcoal shrinks the pores, should these ingredients be used seperately? Anyone else had this experience? I could use some advice, because otherwise I’m stuck with a big bowl of expensive charcoal :p.

    1. This is really interesting. I’ve never had this happen before… but there are several things you can. Mix with honey or acv instead of water, exfoliate or oil cleanse after. And, there are tons of things you can do with activated charcoal. It’s great for drinking, whitening teeth, and all sorts of beauty products. 🙂

  7. Could the three ingredients be pre mixed in a jar without the water (and then scooped out by the tablespoon for use)?

  8. Very interesting blackhead removing idea. Actually, I’m also having this same problem since completed my secondary higher standard at school. Looking forward to giving this face mask a try.

  9. Hi there! I know this is an older post, but I am also living in the Bay Area and haven’t been able to find activated charcoal in bulk – they didn’t have it in the beauty section of rainbow last time I was there! Have you bought it there recently? Perhaps they were just out. If not, do you know any other stores that might offer it in bulk?

    Thanks for inspiring me to live a greener life – we are lucky to live in an area that makes it relatively easy 🙂

  10. Activated charcoal and baking soda are two of my go-to favorite ingredients for DIY skin care recipes. So inexpensive, natural and effective! Love this recipe. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and your light Kathryn. xo-Jane http://www.sheermiracle.com

  11. love this. i usually make a bentonite clay, acv and activated charcoal mask. i’ll have to try this one with baking soda. 😉

    i wonder if i could sill use acv instead of water? hmmm.

    ox

  12. I don’t know how great this would be for the skin. Clay and charcoal are very good, but I would never put baking soda on my skin. It is too basic-your skin is slightly acidic-and it would strip the oil barrier off your skin. Something with a lower ph would be much better, maybe adding some oil?