The Kitty Litter Face Mask: Does It Work? (Guest Post 4 of 4)

Cute Kittie of ClockworkCatz, a photo by clockworkcatz1 on Flickr.

About the Author:

This is the fourth of a four-part series about the efficacy and safety of at-home facials, written by the very talented Monica Huynh. (Part One: Aspirin Efficacy in Skin Care, Part Two: Elmer’s Glue, and Part Three: Can You Make Effective Vitamin C Serum at Home? have been previously published on August 15 and 16, 2011, respectively.) Born and raised in California, Monica Huynh received her bachelor degree at University of California, Berkeley and is currently a medical student at Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. Aside from skin and beauty products, Monica loves to travel to new places, scope out delicious restaurants, and experiment with fashion.

Claim:

The time-old image of pampering oneself includes the fabulous woman with hair wrapped in a white terry cloth and a face slathered green from a mask and 2 cucumbers over her eyes. Though face masks come in all forms, the clay mask has always been a favorite for soaking up excess oil and clearing skin. Medicinal clays have been used since prehistoric times both internally and externally for detoxification purposes. In modern times, bentonite clay is still a very popular ingredient in face masks. Turns out, cat litter largely consists of bentonite clay! Thus, people have been buying up pounds of cat litter and reformulating the idea of a lush facial with their own cost-efficient clay masks. But is kitty litter really skin-worthy or are users asking for a cat-astrophy (pun definitely intended!)?

Truth:

In a 1983 study published in the Journal of American Academy of Dermatology (Harris HH, Downing DT, Stewart ME, Straus JS. Sustainable rates of sebum secretion in acne patients and matched normal control subjects. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 1983; 8(2): 200-203), sebum (oil) secretion was measured through the use of mesh gauze with bentonite clay to absorb sebum. The study concluded that skin with acne inflammations secreted 3 times more sebum than clear skin. This study indicated two things. One, high sebum secretion rate was a main component to acne flare-ups. Two, bentonite clay was chosen for the specific purpose of absorbing sebum. According to Wikipedia (wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentonite), bentonite is an absorbent aluminium phylosilicate varying according to their dominant element. In solution, calcium bentonite is a useful adsorbent of ions in solution such as fats and oils. Therefore, it seems to be a no-brainer to infuse facial masks with bentonite clay for the purpose of treating oily skin and acne.

Just like face masks, cat litter comes in all forms. Multi-formula, paper-based, natural, pine, natural corn – you get the idea. In order to make a facial mask, users must find 100% bentonite cat litter with no other ingredients in order to attain the most professional-like mask. Similar to the Elmer’s glue though, cat litter is meant to do one thing: to deal with the four-legged creature’s private business and nothing more. Therefore, the bentonite clay will not be the same quality and the facial mask won’t necessarily be skin-grade material. Therefore, be cautious for any adverse reactions.

For those individuals that are interested in bentonite clay masks but don’t feel like lugging home several pounds of cat litter, I personally like Aztec Secret Indian Healing Clay (http://www.amazon.com/Aztec-Secret-Indian-Healing-Clay/dp/B0014P8L9W) which goes for less than 10 USD for one whole pound. And trust me when I say this is more than enough to last you for several facials.

Conclusion:

There seems to be some truth to the claims of homemade skincare products. With careful consideration of the products used and the amount applied, it is possible to see positive results while saving money. It is important to remember that the money that is saved by utilizing homemade skincare products may end up in unforeseen costs such as your skin! So before you experiment with any homemade products, make sure to do a patch test first and, of course, check with your dermatologist to address any concerns.