Thelavicos Charcoal Enzyme Washing Powder

What is this product?

Thelavicos Charcoal Enzyme Washing Powder is more aggressive than its enzyme name suggests: it stacks three exfoliating routes in one wash, two proteases loosening dead cells, salicylic acid at position 12 working on the pore plug, and three abrasive particulates including quartz, the hardest of them, so treat it as a scrub as much as an enzyme wash. That makes it a fit for oily, blackhead-prone skin two or three evenings a week and a caution for dry, sensitive, salicylate-reactive or post-procedure skin, especially since the brand publishes no pH and salicylic acid needs pH to work.

What makes it different?

The one amount Thelavicos publishes belongs to the charcoal, 15,000 ppm or 1.5 percent, and charcoal is mostly an adsorbent and a colourant, while the salicylic acid and both enzymes carry no level at all and the wash carries no published pH. Its lead surfactant is a phosphate ester with more detergency than the two glutamate salts beneath it, so this is the harsher option on the enzyme powder shelf rather than the gentler one.

What is in it?

The full ingredient list as the brand publishes it, in the printed order. Each name links to what we know about that ingredient.

This brand publishes its ingredient list in Korean only. Names below are the matching INCI names from the Korean Cosmetic Association ingredient dictionary.

Key ingredient

• Microcrystalline Cellulose
• Sodium Lauryl Phosphate
• Sodium Starch Octenylsuccinate
• Kaolin
• Sodium Lauroyl Glutamate
• Water
• Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate
• Charcoal Powder
• Dipropylene Glycol
• Sodium Lauroyl Methylaminopropionate
• Maltodextrin
• Salicylic Acid
• Lauryl Betaine
• Butylene Glycol
• Sodium Chloride
• Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate
• Protease
• 1,2-Hexanediol
• Quartz
• Papain
• Pinus Palustris Leaf Extract
• Ulmus Davidiana Root Extract
• Oenothera Biennis (Evening Primrose) Flower Extract
• Pueraria Lobata Root Extract

Ingredients with no mark are ones we found nothing notable about, and when marks overlap on one ingredient we show the caution first.

We could not place these in the list above: 살리실릭애씨드

Did the ad claims hold up?

We checked 3 lines this product advertises against the ingredient list and public documents. None of them hold up on their own. They are partly right at best.

Claims translated from Korean, originals preserved.

Each line is quoted as the brand published it, and each one was read on its own against the ingredient list and the documents the brand publishes.

How we read these lines

What else is worth seeing?

Products we read alongside this one.

• Thelavicos Enzyme Washing PowderThe gentler one of the two
• paparecipe Blemish Enzyme Powder CleanserAnother product in the same category
• DEWYTREE High Amino All Enzyme Powder WashThe gentler one of the two

Which articles cover it?

Articles on this site that write about this product.

• What does an enzyme powder cleanser actually do?The enzyme cuts protein. Sebum is not protein. Nine of nineteen Korean powder cleansers print an enzyme level, and the surfactant is doing most of the work.