By Samantha Hayes
Women have tried many things in the search for eternal beauty. Victoria Beckham is said to be a fan of the bird poop facial, which uses nightingale excrement as an exfoliant. Angelina Jolie opts for the vampire facial, in which her own blood is injected into her cheeks.
Now another facial beauty treatment is in the spotlight – snail slime.
MISSHA beauty stores say their snail slime products are big sellers and can help with a number of skin conditions.
“[It helps] acne problems as well as redness,” says sales representative Stephanie Lee. “If they have dull and uneven complexions, as well as dry skin, it's very beneficial because it has moisturising properties.”
The creams are manufactured in South Korea using slime extracted from French snails fed on ginseng. The fad caught on here two years ago and has also spread to the US. The trouble is, the experts aren't sold.
“I don't think there's any evidence that it is effective in beauty creams at all,” says Dr David Nicholls of Christchurch Dermatology. “There aren't any reputable studies or trials that would make me confident about using any cream containing snail slime.”
However, references can be found of the ancient Greeks using crushed snails to relieve inflamed skin, and more recently, Chilean farmers handling snails for the French restaurant market claim cuts on their hands healed rapidly with no scarring.
There's not a lot of detail available on how the snail slime is extracted, except to say live snails are mechanically stressed to encourage the production of mucin, or mucus, and it can take six hours to get 1g.
Surely there's a quicker way? One American boy won a world record for the most snails on his face.
“I wouldn't recommend that, probably for two reasons,” says Dr Nicholls. “In rare instances there have been cases of allergies reported to snails, and the other possibility is that snails could be passive carriers of various bacteria.”
But those in the business are convinced it's a wonder treatment worthy of a price tag ranging between $50 and $100 a bottle.
3 News