Magnesium Bentonite Clay

A natural history

People have reached for healing clay for almost as long as there have been people. The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder devoted a chapter of his Natural History to the uses of different clays, Cleopatra is said to have used clay from the Nile in her cosmetic rituals, and clay poultices appear across Native American, Persian, and European folk traditions. Bentonite earned its modern name only in 1898, after the large deposits found near Fort Benton, Wyoming. The fuller story is told in the book Healing Clays: History, Science and Uses of the Earth's Best Kept Secret.^[1]

What it does for your skin

Magnesium bentonite is a soft, mineral-rich clay formed from weathered volcanic ash, and its effect on skin comes from a property called cation exchange: its layered, negatively charged platelets attract and hold positively charged particles, which is how it lifts oil and impurities without harsh detergents.^[2]

It also works in two ways at once. It absorbs, taking water and fluid up into the whole of its structure, and it adsorbs, letting impurities and toxins cling to the enormous surface of its charged platelets, much as metal filings leap to a magnet. A single gram of this fine clay can carry a surface area measured in acres, which is part of why so little of it can do so much.^[2]

A 2024 review in Archives of Dermatological Research examined bentonite and montmorillonite clays in skincare and found they can absorb excess oil, calm inflammation, support wound healing, and help shield against UV, with early studies even showing improvements in skin hydration and elasticity.^[3] That is why clay leaves congested and combination skin looking clearer and more balanced, and feeling comfortable rather than stripped.

References