Activated Charcoal Uses

Activated charcoal is a type of charcoal that's medical grade and used for a wide variety of purposes. When charcoal becomes activated, it becomes very porous and able to absorb huge quantities of contaminants, impurities, and odors. As you can imagine, this makes it very useful in a wide variety of different circumstances. I mentioned that activated charcoal is medical grade, because it's used in specific medical procedures and can actually be bought in supplement form to be consumed.

• Detoxification -- I just mentioned that activated charcoal was sold as a supplement for consumption. This is because activated charcoal has been shown to have strong detoxification properties. When consumed, activated charcoal can be utilized by the body to soak up impurities and toxins in the body to help the body process them out of the system.
• Drug Overdose and Suicide Prevention -- Activated charcoal is one of the first response medications that doctors sometimes use in cases of drug overdose and attempted suicide from taking too many pills. Because of its ability to soak up toxins and poisons, it can be very effective and fast acting, and has saved many lives through the course of its use.
• Water Filtration -- Most water pitchers that have an in-pitcher water filter use activated charcoal as their main form of water filtration. Activated charcoal purifies the water of excess contaminants and chemicals. It doesn't kill bacteria or germs, but can filter tap water to remove some of the chlorine and other additives.
• Odor Removal -- Activated charcoal is especially powerful at dealing with minor odors. If your home has minor odors, activated charcoal, and especially activated bamboo charcoal sticks can help to lessen the odor and absorb the floating particles that cause it.
• Humidity Balancer -- Activated charcoal is good at regulating humidity. If it's dry in your region, you can soak the activated charcoal in water over night and then place it in a room. It will slowly disperse the water over the course of time. Conversely, if it's very humid where you live, activated charcoal will soak up some of the moisture in the air.

• Soap -- A lot of cosmetic distributors now have soaps that contain activated charcoal. Because of how porous it is, the activated charcoal soaks up contaminants and impurities on the skin and helps to clean it.
• Salt -- Activated charcoal salt is becoming very popular. Made in Hawaii, activated charcoal salt is coated with activated charcoal made from volcanic ash.
• Organic Cleaners -- Because of its ability to deal with odors, it's often added to cleaning supplies and sprays.
• Activated Charcoal Fabric -- You heard right. Sometimes it's added to cloth and fabric to help deal with odors. I think the most famous instance of this was the activated charcoal bed sheets.
• Supplements
• Bamboo Charcoal Displays

In most cases, activated charcoal definitely does work. That's why it's used in the medical industry. But you have to be careful of the claims of some of the products out there. The activated charcoal fabric, for instance, most likely doesn't do a whole lot. I've never known someone who has owned any form of activated charcoal fabric, but it's doubtful that in that form, it can have a strong effect. But you never know. Activated charcoal in supplement form also hasn't been proven to be effective. Some people swear by it, others don't think it does much.