These ‘racist’ charcoal face masks caused a heated Twitter debate

By: POP! Creator Community - 6 years ago

Nowadays, having a glass skin is all we wish for and we’d do anything to make that wish come true.

For an instant clean and smooth face, most people use the famous Korean face masks. And just in case you are unaware of the skincare world, there are various kinds of face masks such as clay masks, sheet masks, and exfoliating face masks. But, among all of these facial products, charcoal face masks are the stars today.

Charcoal face masks are put to use in order to help improve one’s skin by unclogging all the pores and removing all the dirt. Given that the main ingredient of the face mask is charcoal, the product is black in color. Activated charcoal is used because it has the ability to take out bacteria, dirt, toxins, chemicals, and other micro-particles from the surface of your skin.

All you need to do is simply apply the product to your face, wait a few minutes (usually 10 – 15 minutes) for the mask to harden, then peel the product off for that fresh, radiant, and smooth skin. As fun and exciting it is to cleanse your face with this product, there are people who actually find the whole concept of the charcoal face mask disturbing and racist.

The product accused of racial discrimination was called to attention a few days ago when a Twitter user named Nicole Oliver wrote: “Racism is so insidious that you can promote blackface for years under the guise of ‘pore mask’ and it goes unchecked.”

She even added the hashtags #blacklivesmatter #StayWoke #BIORE #poremask and #Blackface to her post. Aside from that, she also mentioned several examples of charcoal masks that are being sold online.

https://twitter.com/nicole_p_oliver/status/1094958440936628224

The tweet accumulated a lot of attention wherein more than 100 users responded to her debatable tweet. While some netizens agreed with her, there are also people who believed that this is just a moronic issue.

Umm. They don't make Caucasian charcoal…

— Veronica Vatter (@veronicavatter) February 18, 2019

https://twitter.com/Stoney0061978/status/1097545150140768256

Is this satire?? Because using a peel off charcoal face mask for skin care isn't racist. People are taking this too far now.

— Susie mcbride (@Ewokgrl) February 11, 2019