For real? Yes.
Before the ick factor kicks in, know that snail mucus or mucin has been used for years in the Asian beauty market. Now skin care companies in the US are marketing the slime of snails to help reduce signs of aging and inflammation. And the market is expected to reach $770 million by 2025!
Happy Trails to You
When snails glide along surfaces, they secrete a thick and sticky substance known as snail mucin or snail secretion filtrate. This slimy trail prevents the snails from losing too much moisture, as well as protecting them from injuries.
Realizing the vast potential contained within snail mucin, enterprising minds inquired: If mucin is so beneficial to snails, what can it do to soothe human skin?
What Is Snail Mucin Exactly?
Contained within snail mucin are many helpful compounds, including antioxidants, peptides, glycoproteins, hyaluronic acid, low-dose glycolic acid, and growth factors. These help moisturize and regenerate skin, as well as possibly stimulate collagen.
Antioxidants are also present to help reduce signs of aging like sagging and uneven skin tone and wrinkles. In fact, studies reveal that snail mucin can help protect against damaging free radicals.
In a study of 25 individuals with moderate sun damage, a snail mucin product was used for 14 weeks. Users saw significantly less fine lines and crow’s feet when compared to the placebo group.
Another study found snail mucus helped decrease the growth and spread of melanoma cells in the lab.
Standing alongside niacinamide and hyaluronic acid for their abilities to maintain healthy complexions, snail mucin can be thought of as a humectant, an ingredient that helps lock moisture in the skin.
Years ago, those who handled these creatures noticed that snail slime left their hands soft and smooth.
How to Use It
Healing and hydrating to the skin, snail mucin works well with other skincare ingredients due to its unique composition. Some may not like mucin’s feel on their skin, as it can be thick and gooey. But if used properly, many find it provides a dewy glow.
Snail mucin can be found in moisturizers, serums, toners, masks, and eye creams. Apply product to a damp, just-washed face to boost moisture absorption. Results are experienced over time with consistent application of one to two times daily.
Moisturizers tend toward the heavier side, so use them at night. Some use snail mucin moisturizer in addition to their favorite moisturizer, adding the snail product as a bonus step to combat dry skin.
Since snail mucin moisturizer goes on rather sticky, add it last to lock in hydration.
Not Just for the Face
Snail mucin has other applications as well, including skin restoration after wounds. It’s also been known to combat gastric ulcers, act as an ingredient in surgical glues, and heal post-surgical infections due to its ability to form a protective barrier to keep out irritations.
The Price of Beauty?
Snail mucin is collected in various ways; some approaches kinder than others. One technique has the snails crawl over a mesh net, which collects their mucin in a dark and quiet room. The product brand that uses this specific collection process emphasizes that the snails do not experience external stress.
Other techniques can be harsh. In order to produce a certain protective mucin, snails must be under a stressful state. To achieve this state, the creatures may be poked with a stick or sprayed with certain substances to push a stress response. When the snails recover, they are released back to their homes.
Another method that can be employed is to crack the snails’ shells. The snails’ bodies are then removed and washed in water to collect the mucin.
Look for brands that sell a cruelty-free product.
Allergy Alert
If you decide to use a skin care product with snail mucin, be sure to do a patch test first on an area of the body besides the face.
Although those with sensitive skin can use snail mucin, allergies are possible, especially for those with sensitivities to snail-derived ingredients.
