BEAUTY & GROOMING

Is snail slime really the ultimate anti-ageing, anti-acne ingredient?

By Avanti Dalal
05 September, 2022

Dermatologists aren’t particularly bullish on this ingredient but influencers and just about everyone on social media is. Here’s what you need to know

There’s a new outlandish skincare ingredient that gains steam everyday, and if you’re a beauty obsessive, you’ve likely tried a product with ingredients like caviar, red algae, mung beans, fish scales, bone marrow or sheep placenta—the list is endless. While some are passing fads, others, like snail slime, have gotten super popular and have proved they have staying power. It might sound icky but the secretion has become a hero ingredient in some cult-favourite products that promise to get rid of hyperpigmentation, improve hydration and bolster wound healing. We spoke to dermatologists about the much-hyped ingredient, and they helped us suss out the cases where it could be helpful, and the cases in which you could stand to skip it.

It might sound icky but snail secretion has become a hero ingredient in some cult-favourite products that promise to get rid of hyperpigmentation, improve hydration and bolster wound healing. Photo: Pexels

Snail slime is made up of glycoproteins, hyaluronic acid, glycolic acid and allantoin. Photo: Pexels

What is snail slime and what does it feel like?

Snail mucin is essentially excretion from the snail. You’ll find it as snail slime, snail secretion filtrate or SSF on ingredient lists but essentially, it is made up of glycoproteins, hyaluronic acid, glycolic acid and allantoin, all of which are well-studied ingredients that are super beneficial to the skin. The consistency is extremely viscous: “It contains large glycosylated proteins that bind to each other so they form a slimy consistency,” says Dr Kiran Sethi, skin and wellness specialist and founder of Isya Aesthetics. However, when it’s formulated into skincare products like face masks, creams or serums, it has a bouncy, gel-like texture.

The reason it’s gotten so popular is because the powerful mix of actives works to pull triple-duty—glycolic acid exfoliates to improve cell turnover, glycoproteins help to strengthen the skin’s barrier, while hyaluronic acid hydrates the skin, confirms Sethi.

Does it work wonders for acne or anti-ageing?

The jury is out on this one. It soothes the skin, thanks to allantoin, so if you have red, angry zits, snail mucin can definitely calm them down, and increased cell turnover will help to unblock pores and therefore prevent congestion in the first place. Plus, some initial studies have shown snail slime to improve wound healing (likely thanks to its barrier-boosting properties), so it's a great ingredient to apply if you’ve popped a zit or healing Post-Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation.

When it comes to anti-ageing properties, some brands have touted snail slime to be just as effective as retinol or AHAs, but dermatologists are still unsure about it. “There is minimal evidence on anti-ageing in human skin, but when you hydrate well, the look of fine lines is reduced. However, if you’re looking for a true uptick in collagen and elastin production (which are the building blocks to supple, taut skin), we don’t have that data yet,” says Sethi.

Dr Madhuri Agarwal, founder and medical director, Yavana Aesthetics Clinic, is also looking for more information before she can get on board. “Most of the independent studies that are available for the anti-ageing benefits of snail mucin are on mice, and then there are one or two human studies. But in those lab environments, they use almost 80 per cent snail mucin, which is high. In most regular products, they have a percentage of about two per cent snail mucin, so I don’t think we’d find much anti-ageing effects with those,” she says. Snail mucin does have growth factors, copper peptides, zinc and magnesium, all of which are ingredients that stimulate collagen production. “But snail mucin goes through so much processing to be stabilised in a formula, it may lose a lot of these vital constituents,” says Dr Agarwal.

When it comes to anti-ageing properties, some brands have touted snail slime to be just as effective as retinol or AHAs, but dermatologists are still unsure about it. Photo: Pexels

What should you look for in a snail mucin product?

“I would want a high percentage of snail mucin in a single phase serum because I don't know if the emulsion process of a cream will destroy the mucin itself,” says Sethi. She also says that it would play well with honey, gums and other polysaccharides and proteins like collagen as it looks like they can solubilise together. Since it is hydrating, Agarwal says that it can be applied over other actives too, like retinol at night or Vitamin C in the AM.

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