Activated Charcoal Baths
Diana emailed us a short and sweet testimony on taking a charcoal bath for arthritis and fibromyalgia, she wrote:
I have tried your charcoal bath and it has dramatically helped my arthritis and fibro. 2 T in a bath kept me from everyday pain for a week and a half. I'm sold. I would like to know how and what to use for RA. Thank you
My response to Diana:
Hi Diana.
Thank you for taking the time to share your testimony.  Charcoal baths are messy, but they are soooo therapeutic as you have discovered.
Are you meaning rheumatoid arthritis, by RA?  I will assume so, but if not please get back to me as to what you meant.
Are you looking for something for the pain?  When Mother, who had severe rheumatoid arthritis, was still alive and living with us, we would put her hands between hot fomentations,  which is a dry thick towel folded, with a hot moist towel in the middle, and it really helped a lot. Also, after the fomentation, wrapping the hands in a charcoal poultice  or charcoal patch will give a more lasting relief.    You could also try cold and hot fomentations, but I am not sure how progressed and painful the the RA is, it would all depend.  If it is quite progressed, you might only want to use heat.  Kind regards, Kimberly
Soon we will have a video on how to do 'simple,' fomentaions, and I hope to have this done no later than by the end of summer.
For making a large charcoal patch to wrap the RA affected area with, please watch the above linked to videos.
I hope this helped. Kind regards, Kimberly
Charcoal baths are so amazing and therapeutic.  However, not all charcoals are equal.  We highly recommend that you use the hardwood charcoal powder and not the Detox 1600 USP (coconut shell) or the Coconut Shell Very Fine, for the simple reason that both of the coconut shells are too fine and the powder will cling to your body and will be much harder to rinse off.  The hardwood and the bamboo, are not as fine, yet, have a very high surface area, meaning that they too have the ability to adsorb toxins and chemicals, and it will rinse right off.
You might want to use the charcoal soaps which adds to the detoxing and amazingly enough, helps to get the charcoal powder off very quickly, and leaves your skin feeling soft and very clean.  For a variety of charcoal soaps, please check out our soap category.
The picture of the little Aussie taking a bath in charcoal was when we were in Australia four years ago and he had just come down with the measles, so his mother wanted to see if the charcoal bath would help with the itching, so he would not scratch and be more comfortable and it did work! If you have any charcoal bath stories we invite you to share them with us. Until the next blog, may you prosper and be in good health. Kimberly Charcoal Bath