If you’re reading this blog, chances are that you know your way around a good clay mask. It’s also highly likely that you’ve tried a mask with kaolin clay before - and it may even be one of your favorites.
Here’s why we love kaolin clay and why it can be a skincare savior for nearly all skin types.
The Basics
Kaolin (alternatively know as China clay, hectorite, or magnesium silicate) is a naturally occurring soft clay. It gets its name from Kaoling, a hill in China where the clay was first mined. In China, it’s often used today to make porcelain, and as a medicine for treating diarrhea.
In skincare, kaolin clay is often ground into a fine powder and mixed with essential oils, butters, or other ingredients to form a paste. In our No Plans Face Mask, we mix kaolin clay with:
- Antioxidants: Raspberry, rosehip, and lemon peel provide skin-plumping and protective benefits
- MSM: This natural compound promotes cell permeability, allowing the kaolin’s vital minerals and antioxidants to flow through to the cells.
- Wild Geranium: This flower adds astringent properties that cause the skin to contract, reducing wrinkles and inflammation.
- Rose Flower Extract: Reduces redness and promotes cellular hydration, leaving you with a plump and rosy afterglow.
Alternatively, it can be blended into serums or cleansers to help control oil - we swirl it into our Down To Earth Clay Cleanser to gently remove impurities from the surface of the skin without stripping the skin or compromising its natural barrier.
Unlike many other clays that actually absorb impurities, water, and oils like a sponge, kaolin clay is actually not very absorbent. Instead, it lightly absorbs impurities from the skin - holding them on its surface like a magnet - without really removing any of the skin’s natural oils. For this reason, kaolin clay is appropriate for use even on the driest or most sensitive skin types, unlike many other clays.
Although it’s naturally white, kaolin can be found in many other colors - including pink, red, or yellow - depending on what trace minerals are mixed inside. Yellow kaolin, for example, is combined with feldspar, while pink or rose kaolin generally gets its color from naturally occurring iron oxide.
Of these varieties, pink kaolin or rose clay is the most popular. It’s ideal for those with sensitive skin that have some excess oil they would like to gently exfoliate away.
Now let’s dive into all the skincare benefits.
The Skincare Benefits
Kaolin clay can provide a lot of skin benefits that make it one of the best clays for the skin. Specifically, kaolin can:
Reduce Excess Oiliness
Because of its mild adsorbent properties, kaolin clay can effectively remove excess sebum and impurities from your face without stripping your skin of its natural oils.
Reduce Inflammation
Because it can effectively remove irritants and allergens without stripping the skin, kaolin clay can soothe immediate inflammation. This makes it suitable even for those who suffer from inflammatory conditions like psoriasis and eczema.
In fact, kaolin clay is so gentle that it’s even been used in all-natural baby powders to prevent diaper rash.
Naturally Detoxify and Exfoliate
If you have traces of dirt, pollution, grime, or bacteria on your face, kaolin clay can effectively remove these impurities without clogging the pores, stripping the skin, or causing breakouts. It can also remove dead skin cells - thereby gently exfoliating the skin and revealing a smoother, brighter complexion - without causing redness or irritation.
Tone the Skin
Kaolin clay not only removes dead cells, but also stimulates skin cells. Over time, then, it can help brighten and tone the skin. And it can even be used as a natural shampoo.