You might have observed many kinds of masks and scrubs in the market right now. There are cream masks , gel masks , sheet masks and clay masks. Lets talk about one of the most common ones - clay masks.
There are ones who are ready to use and no mixing medium is required and there are ones who come in a dried powder form which needs to be activated with water , curd , hydrosol or milk to be used.
What is the difference between them apart from the form it reaches you in ?
When a product is pre-activated , specially when the ingredients are clay based , its user friendly and much easier to use. But did you know that clay is the most difficult ingredient to preserve and it can only be safely preserved with stronger preservatives and not with a more gentle or nature derived preservative.
When a product comes in its raw form , i.e unactivated powder form it is much much more potent than the product which is already activated , since much of the percentage of product is that of other ingredients that is used for its activation and preservation in that case.
When you use a potent product you are much more likely to be flexible with what mixing medium you would like to use with it and you can prepare a fresh batch of it every single time. This will ensure that you are only using ingredients that are raw and in its purest form and also avoid the parabens or harsh chemicals that can be associated with a commercialised clay mask.
Many clay based products specially from brands that claim to be all natural are not always completely transparent with their ingredient list. Now that you know that a pre-activated clay mask product needs a strong preservative to have a stable shelf life , check your labels to find out the truth.
Masking can be fun too when you are creative with it and are able to make use of your everyday kitchen ingredients. The idea of masking was created in the kitchen, so put your thinking caps on and make use of wonderful edible ingredients that can work wonders for your skin.