Snail slime is the unexpected ingredient for cosmetics

Don’t turn your nose up at it, even today's miraculous ingredient is widely used on the Asian continent, where many of young girls have long been faithful admirers. We are talking about snail slime. In Japan, in fact, one of the facials proposed in the Tokyo Spa consists in letting live snails flow on your face, after a vigorous exfoliation.

But in reality, as we have already seen for honey and olive oil, its roots go back to ancient Greece: Hippocrates used snail slime to soothe skin inflammation, thanks to its decongestant properties. Also in the Middle Ages it was widely used in the traditional medicine of the time, always to treat wounds, but also stomach problems.

The story of how it became one of our beauty secret to have perfect skin is really curious: in the mid 80s in Chile it was noticed that all those who raised snails for the food market had soft and velvety skin. So it was that by studying the Helix Aspersa species, the one that peeps into our gardens after rainy days, we noticed its beneficial properties, perfect for use in the cosmetics industry.

 

Which are the benefits?

This secretion is produced by the snail's glands only while it is moving, in order to better adhere to the surfaces, while avoiding scratching. Heliculture, or rather the breeding of snails, today takes place outdoors and in complete respect of these small molluscs, thanks to a non-invasive and cruelty free manual stimulation (just think that in the past electric stimulation was used instead).

The benefits for our skin (and also for our hair) are many, it is therefore suitable for very different skin types with very specific needs. This happens thanks to the many precious elements contained in snail slime, including vitamin E, collagen, elastin and glycolic acid, which perform all the following actions:

• Moisturizer
• Regenerating
• Healing
• Anti-wrinkle
• Anti-stretch marks 
• Anti-bumps and acne scars

Obviously it is important to control the quantity and concentration of the substance within the products we find on the market. We have tried and tested creams, masks, serums and essences, here are our 10 favourites.