Charcoal Haircare Products Are Everywhere—Here's What They Do

While washing your face each and every day is nonnegotiable, many of us choose to skip sudsing up our hair, opting for a dirty hair-friendly updo or a few spritzes of dry shampoo to keep hair looking fresh. However, come day two (three, four, or five) of no washing, your hair may feel a bit too greasy or weighed down to carry on. For that, we turn to clarifying shampoos, masks, scrubs, and serums—specifically, those with charcoal in them.

Charcoal-infused products are just about everywhere you look in the beauty aisle these days. But does it work, and if so, how? To learn more about charcoal for hair, we tapped transplant surgeon and hair loss expert Craig L. Ziering, DO, FAOCD, board-certified dermatologist Morgan Rabach, and cosmetic chemist Ginger King.

Keep reading for more about the benefits and uses of charcoal for the hair.

What Is Charcoal?

Activated charcoal is an active powder that is a byproduct of carbon-containing materials. It’s a fine, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic ingredient. It has pores and is negatively charged, which helps attract oils, pollution, dirt, and debris. In fact, this purifying quality is why activated charcoal is sometimes used in medical settings for pumping the stomach after someone has ingested medications or poisons.

Benefits of Charcoal for Hair

Though the ingredient first became popular in charcoal skincare products, it’s now appearing in hair and scalp care products. “On the scalp, in particular, we have many more pores than on other parts of our body—hundreds of thousands to millions total—with a more active sebaceous system than other areas, so we can be susceptible to effects of everything sticking to the hair and entering through our scalp from smoke and pollutants to chemicals from products or processing, bacteria, dirt, and sludge, or toxins,” says Ziering.

Charcoal has a full range of benefits for hair, including:

• Deep cleansing: Charcoal often appears in "detoxifying" products or products meant to allow the hair a reset moment. It’s beneficial for oily, grease-prone hair and hair that's laden with product buildup because it helps “draw oils and trapped dead skin cells away from the scalp,” says Rabach.
• Absorbs oil: “It will also absorb excess sebum to help balance the scalp and keep the hair root and shaft from presenting as oily or appearing heavy and flat. It will also relieve build-up at the base of hair and scalp from excess product,” Ziering explains.
• Exfoliating: Unlike, say, a salt scrub for the scalp, charcoal does not exfoliate in a traditional sense. Rather, Ziering explains, “It acts like a magnet attracting certain elements to be lifted and eliminated from the scalp, root, and hair shaft.”
• Deodorizing: As King explains, "charcoal is deodorizing" because it removes (sometimes smelly) impurities from the hair.
  
• Anti-Itch/Healing: Charcoal can also relieve painful or unpleasant scalp conditions. “It can remedy itching scalp and prove to be helpful with patient populations who have acne or a super oily case of seborrheic dermatitis,” Ziering says.
• Volumizing: Charcoal can also be used as a volumizer too! “Charcoal can help with thin, flat hair or oily hair and scalp. It will stack the hair and help it appear thicker and have more volume,” Ziering explains.

Activated Charcoal vs. Charcoal

In skin care, activated charcoal is used instead of non-active charcoal. Activated charcoal undergoes a heating process with gases to increase its absorption properties and make it safe for topical use, while charcoal—produced by burning wood in low oxygen to create charcoal—is used as a cooking, heating, and fuel source.

How to Use Charcoal for Hair

Generally speaking, charcoal-infused products fall into the treatment category. They do not need to be used daily—nor should they be. “Depending on your hair and scalp condition, charcoal can be used every seven to ten days in a scrub or as a clarifying shampoo,” Ziering says, “In more extreme circumstances,” he adds, “it will sometimes be used weekly or twice weekly for specific treatment or extreme circumstances where there is significant product buildup, excessive sweat (sometimes seen in athletes), or more extreme environmental pollutants.” 

• Use it as a scrub: You can use an activated charcoal powder to make your own at-home treatments. “It can also be used as a DIY hair scrub by mixing two tablespoons of activated charcoal powder with a base like coconut oil," Ziering says, explaining that it should then be massaged on the scalp, left to sit for about 20 minutes, and then rinsed out.
  
• Create a detoxifying shampoo: For a faster alternative to a scrub, Ziering recommends adding some activated charcoal powder to a gentle shampoo and shaking to mix before use.
• Reach for a product with activated charcoal: “Activated charcoal is what you want to use. Its structure is like a sponge; it has a very bumpy jagged surface, so toxins stick to before being washed away,” Rabach says, noting that anyone who also uses a scalp medication should use activated charcoal as it is “inert, so there are no reports of allergic reactions.” This helps prevent charcoal from interfering with the absorption of the medication. 
• Opt for binchotan charcoal: “Binchotan charcoal is able to attract and draw impurities from the scalp, providing the optimal foundation for scalp health. Then, the follicles are free to focus on the hair cycle with more clean, clear, and unobstructed follicles in the release and growth phases,” Ziering explains. (Basically, by cleansing and clearing the scalp of build up on the scalp, hair grows more easily). 

Hair Type Considerations

Charcoal is best for those struggling with balancing their scalps or experiencing scalp breakouts, dandruff, or excessive oil. As King notes, oily hair benefits the most "because oily hair tends to smell if not cleaned properly." Charcoal, she says, removes impurities and the smell that comes with them.

That being said, most charcoal shampoos or treatments can be used on any hair type without overly drying the scalp or strands, disrupting the variations in texture, curl pattern, or cuticle of natural hair, or impacting color-treated hair.

Rabach notes that charcoal-infused products can also provide a natural alternative to medicated shampoos. That said, it is still best to check a product label or inquire with the brand whether a product is safe to use on color-treated hair.  

Potential Side Effects

Though rare, haircare products with charcoal may cause allergic reactions. Although the charcoal itself is not likely to cause an allergic reaction, other ingredients in the shampoo could. If you experience adverse side effects such as a tingling or burning sensation on your scalp, rashes, redness, irritation, or flaking after using a charcoal hair care product, discontinue use and consult a board-certified dermatologist.

The Final Takeaway

Activated charcoal—a fine, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic byproduct of carbon-containing materials—is often used in skincare and hair care products such as shampoos, masks, scrubs, and serums. Its porous state and negative charge help attract, absorb, and cleanse build-up, pollution, and oils from the scalp, as well as volumize and deodorize the hair. Though safe for all hair types, it's possible to experience an allergic reaction from charcoal or companion ingredients in the charcoal haircare product. If you notice any side effects like tingling, burning, rashes, redness, irritation, or flaking on your scalp after use, seek advice from a certified dermatologist.