HOUSTON – Activated charcoal products are very trendy right now. From lowering cholesterol to whitening teeth, you can find it in pills, pastes and powders.
Consumer expert Amy Davis is testing California Charcoal for your face. The product is a mask that claims to get the ugly stuff out, unclog your pores and remove blackheads.
Jason and Amanda Burch of the Woodlands agreed to try the product together, but they couldn't be more different when it comes to their skincare routine.
"I remove make-up with an eye-make-up remover," said Amanda. "And then I use a gentle face wash."
"I wake up. I have a face, and I go to work," Jason said.
When they applied California Charcoal, they said it felt cool and smooth going on. The product looks like black goop or tar.
"The only way to know what it's like to be 'Conflenti' handsome is to put the work in," joked Jason, as he smeared the black mask over his face.
The commercial for California Charcoal shows what it says is actual video of the backside of a mask covered in blackheads and peach fuzz that it removed from someone's face.
After their faces were covered in the mask, the couple waited about 15 minutes until the masks were no longer tacky to begin the peel.
"Whew! It hurts to take it off!" Amanda noticed almost immediately.
She went through a lot of pain ... with little to show for it.
"I'm not able to really detect anything coming off," she said, inspecting the pieces of the mask she had just peeled off of her face.
Jason thought he saw some peach fuzz on his used mask, but even on full zoom, our camera couldn't see anything that looks like the images in the California Charcoal commercial.
Just use soap and water to remove the small pieces that won't peel off. Both Amanda and Jason were left with a tingling sensation.
"I would kind of describe it like getting a wax," said Amanda.
"It wasn't terrible or anything. It's just not my thing," Jason said.
California Charcoal is $19.88 a tube at Walmart. The couple gave it two thumbs down.
"It was more painful than I would want to do on a regular basis," Amanda explained.
She said she can also find face masks that probably do the same thing for less money.
