If you’re new to Korean cosmetics and skincare, also known as K-beauty, you may not be familiar with snail in skincare and its benefits.
However, if you’re a big fan, you’ve probably already seen products with snail secretion filtrate as one of the ingredients. Either way, snail mucin may not seem glamorous. However, it’s an extremely useful and effective ingredient that offers countless benefits. It’s commonly found in essences, serums, moisturizers, and sheet masks.
Today, we’re covering some helpful information and tips about topical snail beauty products and their many advantages.
Continue reading to learn more.
What You Need to Know About Snail in Skincare
Before we get into the benefits of snail mucus, let’s catch up on its background and beginnings.
Snail mucin goes by several names, including excrete slime and snail secretion filtrate. This slimy and thick mucus naturally produced by snails is used to protect themselves against infection, bacteria, UV rays, and it keeps their tissue from drying out.
Our skin can absorb many of the nutritional and beneficial components of snail mucus and provide us with the same magical benefits and functions. Snail secretion is jam-packed with a beautiful balance of valuable nutrients like proteins, hyaluronic acid, allantoin, antioxidants, elastic, antimicrobials, collagen, glycolic acid, and copper peptides, known best as beauty enhancers that aid in healing, skin regeneration, and hydration.
The History of Snail in Skincare Products
You may be surprised to learn that the use of snail secretion has an extensive history. It reportedly dates back to ancient Greece, where the famous “father of medicine,” Hippocrates, used crushed snails as a topical treatment to treat skin inflammation.
Snail mucin-based creams started when Chilean farmers traded escargots for the French food market. While they worked, they began to notice the visible and surprising improvement in their hands and wrists. Not only did their hands start looking and feeling softer and smoother, but also their wounds healed faster, and scarring was less visible.
While South Korea is today’s leader in new beauty trends containing snail products, there is a massive demand for snail in skincare products all across the globe. Many mainstream cosmetic and beauty companies are launching anti-aging products using synthetic ingredients that offer many of the same benefits and mimic the effects of snail mucin.
How is Snail in Skincare Harvested?
Many people interested in snail-related skincare products wonder how manufacturers can extract it and whether or not the products are cruelty-free. The answers vary from one manufacturer to the next. But the common denominator they share is that they provide a quality environment and good conditions for the snails.
Some companies harvest snail slime by placing these nocturnal gastropods on a tight net surface in a dark room for up to a half-hour. Their secretions drip through the mesh and are then collected. Another way to harvest snail secretions is by placing snails on an uneven surface and collecting the mucus that the snails naturally leave behind. No external stress or harm comes during the process, and after, workers will take the snails to their habitat to rest.
Once the snail mucus is collected, all impurities are removed through pasteurization and undergo a stabilization process so manufacturers can use it in cosmetic products.
What Are the Benefits of Snail in Skincare?
We like to think that snail mucin has incredible superpowers. We can use it for countless skin issues, ranging from anti-aging properties and repairing skin damage to fading acne scars and soothing redness.
Many skincare enthusiasts and gurus have declared snail mucus the holy grail for achieving a youthful, softer, and flawless complexion. Here are just some of the ways snail secretions in your skincare products can help you:
- Improving tissue repair and wound healing
- Evening skin tone and fading hyperpigmentation
- Reducing irritation and redness
- Improving skin texture and the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles
- Reducing free radicals activity
- Fighting off the growth bacteria that cause acne
- Increasing hydration
- Improving the production of collagen and elasticity
How the Components in Snail Slime Skincare Can Benefit Your Skin
Hyaluronic Acid — Hyaluronic acid is a molecule that your body naturally produces that helps your body hold onto water. However, as we age, our bodies lose the ability to hold on to moisture. Adding supplemental hyaluronic acid helps your skin replenish moisture and mitigate water loss. It also helps diminish the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and helps your complexion appear firm, supple, and plump.
Glycolic Acid — Thanks to the tiny molecular size of glycolic acid, it can penetrate deep into the skin layers and is one of the most effective alpha hydroxy acids (Known commonly as AHAs). It aids in removing dead skin cells, smoothing texture, and helps reduce the signs of aging.
Peptides — As we age, the body stops producing as much collagen, and the collagen we do have starts to break down, resulting in more wrinkles. Enter polypeptides. Peptides are small compounds made up of short-chain amino acids that are the building blocks of proteins like keratin, elastin, and collagen. In short, collagen gives the skin the ability to create a plump and supple look and minimizes the appearance of fine lines, resulting in more youthful-looking skin. The hype is real with peptides!
Allantoin — Allantoin conditions, soothe, and protects your skin and is one of the leading ingredients in Korean beauty products. Producers can harvest this substance from various plants, like chamomile, comfrey, wheat sprouts, and sugar beets.
Antioxidants — We have antioxidants to thank for protecting your skin from the damage caused by free radicals and allowing the skin to repair itself. Some antioxidants can brighten your skin tone, stimulate collagen production, soothe irritation, and reduce fine lines, wrinkles, and pigmentation.
Antimicrobial — The antimicrobial properties of snail mucus come in handy for those who suffer from acne since one of the leading causes of pimples is bacteria. Moreover, antibacterial agents prevent infections, which aid in wound healing.
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