Benefits of Clay Mask include helps clear your skin, brighten your skin, solution for oily skin, great for hydrating dry skin, protect your skin from breaking out, restores the skin balance, has anti-microbial properties, prevents against skin diseases, oxygenating your skin cells, regulates sebum production and completely organic.
Clay masks were all the rage back in 2019; it was endorsed by almost everyone universally, from celebrities to corporates overlords.
Every company seemingly had one agenda, to jump on this bandwagon and make a few quick bucks. Today, we investigate their relevance yet again – are they still worth the hype in 2020?
But, before we get into that, let’s make sure we know the basics. How do they work? Clay has a natural ability to soak up most materials, which means when applied as a mask directly to your skin, it might help unclog your skin of toxins and give your face a brighter look.
So, then comes the question, what makes a clay mask stand out from the bulk of the products in the skincare aisle? One compound to have an eye for is Kaolin or white clay. It is an important component in pulling out oils from your skin and clearing those pores.
Keep in mind that your skin may feel tighter after its application. It can serve as an indicator of a good clay mask.
11 Awesome Benefits of Using Clay Face Masks
1. Help Clear Your Skin
Through the course of the day, your skin encounters many pollutants, such as dirt, oil, dust, and many other impurities that can accumulate on your skin, ultimately leaving it to be rough and giving your pores a larger appearance.
It can cause skin cells to die as these pollutants accumulate on your skin’s surface. When these aren’t dealt with properly, it may lead to a breakout in the foreseeable future.
It is the primary reason that exfoliation is recommended to be carried out regularly to keep your skin clean and get rid of any pollutants that might want to stick around.
Agreed that it is kind of disgusting to think about, but it’s natural, and it happens to everybody. So, one of those days, when you feel your skin isn’t glowing like it used to, grab a clay mask from your nearest drugstore and apply it.
2. Brightens Your Skin
You can’t help but wonder why you look sort of dull today – it’s time to head back to the drugstore and get yourself a clay mask. Your skin may look dull because of clogged up pores that can hide the real look of your skin – which in itself is due to lack of skin maintenance and exfoliation.
We found that using a clay mask for a mere ten minutes multiple times a week may significantly help your skin health and leave it looking bright and fresh.
As a bonus, if your principal concern tends to lean towards a general dullness of skin, try using a product with activated charcoal, which in itself is very useful for this purpose.
3. Your Solution for Oily Skin
We all have struggled with oily skin at one point or another, and clay mask is the answer to your prayers. The detoxifying abilities of clay can help give your skin a matte texture, and that is what everyone with oily skin prays for.
The clay mask can help absorb the excess oil on your skin – essentially, this reduces the amount of excessive shine you may struggle with. You can sit back and relax; rest assured this won’t be a problem any longer.
4. Great for Hydrating Dry Skin
Even if you have great clear skin, your skin, being the largest organ of your body, still needs a tad bit care – that care presents itself in the form of moisture. Your skin is a sucker for moisture.
If you’ve ever experienced dry, scaly skin that may have an ashy appearance, then maybe your skin needs moisture. Lucky for you, clay masks can help with that, too.
However, it is important to note that this is specific to a few variants of clay; some types of clay can oil so well that it can hinder dryness. Keep an out for masks that contain sodium hyaluronate and glycerine, which are well known hydrating compounds.
5. Clay Masks Protect Your Skin from Breaking Out
While it may seem redundant still relevant, to say the least, this is a point that is never emphasized enough – allowing the build-up of debris on your skin can cause your skin to become rough, and your pores to enlarge.
Larger pores mean more accumulation of oil, which can, in turn, make an environment perfect for nurturing bacteria and eventually result in breakouts and skin that is more prone to acne. The use of clay masks can help avoid all this and make your skin less prone to acne.
6. Restores the Skin Balance
You’ve been following me this far; you definitely have some sort of interest, and that may be either you’re genuinely interested, or you still haven’t found what you were looking for.
If that’s the case, then maybe you have combination skin – skin that is too oily or has no oil at all, or maybe either incredibly prone to acne or very resistant.
Either way, it’s giving you grief. It usually occurs when your skin’s internal balance is off. Clay masks can be a godsend in such scenarios as it leaves your skin neither very dry nor irritated.
7. Anti-Microbial Properties
Hydrated clay can also play a significant role in regulating microscopic life on your skin. When applied to your skin and left to dry, the clay binds to the bacteria and takes the dead bacterial cells down when you wash them.
8. Prevents Against Skin Diseases
Since clay can reduce the amount of bacteria on your skin, it’s not always considered to be a great thing since there are many species of bacteria that exist in harmony and are actually beneficial to humans.
However, clay does not wipe out an entire colony of bacteria but only regulates their numbers. It allows the bacterial population to jump back to normal in due time. Clay masks can act as remedies for diseases like eczema, dermatitis, and even psoriasis.
9. Oxygenating Your Skin Cells
It not only cleans your skin surface but, once it unclogs your pores, it allows for more oxygen to be in contact with living skin cells. This increased amount of oxygen can be beneficial to the skin tissue and aid in the rejuvenation of the cells. It has an overall positive impact on circulation and results in healthier skin.
10. Regulates Sebum Production
Sebum is secreted naturally by our skin; it is an oily substance to ward off dryness. But, in many cases, as our immune systems are hyper-activated or the body is under tremendous stress, the body can over-produce sebum.
This excess sebum can result in the development of oily skin and consequently, acne, blackheads, whiteheads, and skin blemishes.
While treating the root cause of the overproduction must be done on its part by adjusting diet and lifestyle, clay masks can help minimize the symptoms by soaking the excess sebum.
11. Completely Organic
Clay masks have the lowest side effects when compared to other cosmetic products because they are completely organic and do not include any man-made chemical compounds that may irritate your skin.
It is a huge plus point when we consider the current ecosystem of skincare products, which are loaded with synthetic compounds, such as BPAs and parabens.
It is evident by the fact that clay masks have an anti-inflammatory effect and can work to reduce skin inflammation.
A Quick Introduction to The Different Types of Clay Masks
– Bentonite Clay
One of the most potent clay varieties is bentonite, which is also the one used most commonly. Remember, though – since this is such a powerful cleansing agent, it can leave highly sensitive skin itching at contact. It has the strongest ability to detoxify the skin and draw out impurities. Only use this clay if you’re certain that your skin can handle this tough clay.
– Rhassoul Clay
Rhassol clay is a sort of an ancient clay from Morocco, which is excellent for skin and hair. It is relatively less potent than bentonite but is potent, nonetheless. Imagine its mechanism like that of a magnet. That attracts toxins, blackheads, sebum, and bacteria out of your skin. Rhassoul clay is gentle and will not have a drying effect on your skin.
– Kaolin Clay
Kaolin clay is undoubtedly for you if your skin is very demanding and can get irritated rather quickly. It is excellent for mild cleansing but isn’t as potent as the others. While there are hues of Kaolin clay, a general rule of thumb to these varieties of clay is that as the color brightens, the potency of the clay increases.
Conclusion
So, if you’re having trouble with how your skin looks, make sure that you give clay masks a try and tell us if we missed something in the comments down below!
Sources:
https://www.skincare.com/article/clay-mask-benefits
https://www.elle.com.au/beauty/how-do-clay-masks-work-17822