Provided are a scrubbing agent (1) that facilitates exfoliation of old skin cells and is less prone to enter the food chain, and a method for using the scrubbing agent. The scrubbing agent (1) includes activated carbon (10) that has a spherical shape, a median particle size in the range of 100 to 800 µm, a peak pore diameter in the range of 0.7 nm to 1.2 nm, and a micropore volume of not less than 0.5 cm 3 /g. The activated carbon (10) satisfies the following condition (1). Condition (1): in a case when a sample of the activated carbon in an amount of one gram is distributed on the surface of 100 g of pure water having a temperature of 20°C and placed in a beaker with a depth of 5 cm； the beaker is placed in a vacuum desiccator； the vacuum desiccator is evacuated with a vacuum pump for 20 minutes； the pure water in the beaker is stirred with a stirring bar at a number of revolutions of 100 rpm for one minute； and the beaker is left to stand for 30 minutes, not less than 95% by mass of the sample precipitates on the bottom of the beaker.
