Asian Beauty Ingredients Discovered: Snail Slime

Snail Slime Time! With great devotion, yours truly once again conducted some thorough research (you'll be amazed how snail slime is harvested...) and tested another ingredient that is populair in Asian Cosmetics: the secreted mucus from our slimy little garden friends, snails.

Skincare with Snail Slime, or “Helix Aspersa Muller Glycoconjugates”, is not typically Asian. The use of snail slime to improve skin dates back to Europe instead. In ancient Greece, the famous physician Hippocrates reportedly prescribed the use of crushed snails on the skin to get rid of inflammation. Nowadays, creams with snail slime (not crushed snails) are sold all over the world.

I very well remember the first time I saw snail slime skin care being advertised, which must have been late nineties, in an infomercial on Tell Sell. It was featured somewhere between the Tiger Torso, Ab Shaper and Window Wizard, which to me didn’t add much to its credibility.

Across Asia, popularity of snail slime products increased in the past years, following a hype that -of course- started  in beauty-obsessed Korea. Face masks in particular are popular, but products with snail slime are available in many different forms, from face creams to foot masks.  

The most extreme end of the snail slime spectrum seems to be live snail treatments offered in Japanese spa’s, where actual snails are placed on your face to crawl on your skin to release their fresh mucus.

What is Snail Slime?

When a snail crawls, it emits a thick fluid trail of mucus, commonly called snail slime. Chemically speaking, snail slime consists of a.o. proteoglycans, glycosaminoglycans, glycoprotein enzymes, hyaluronic acid, copper peptides, antimicrobial peptides and trace elements (copper, zinc and iron). It’s rich in proteins and antioxidants. Many of these nutrients are already commonly added to beauty products for their assumed benefits to the skin, like hyaluronic acid and antioxidants.

Why is Snail Slime believed to be good for your skin?

I couldn't withhold from sharing the pic on the right - this woman looks insanely extatic with her 
dubious-looking snail slime...

Thanks to abovementioned nutrients, snail slime supposedly has a double function when applied to human skin: 

1. It is claimed to stimulate the production of collagen, elastin and dermal components that repair the signs of photoaging (i.e. changes to skin induced by chronic UVA and UVB exposure);
2. It is claimed to minimize the damage generated by free radicals that are responsible for premature skin aging (research by Maria José Tribó-Bixareu et al, 2004).

In particular, this is supposed to lead to the following particular benefits for skin:

• Reduction of inflammation and redness;
• Softening and Healing of troubled skin (a.o. acne);
• Softening scars and smoothing out stretch marks;
• Regeneration of damaged skin;
• Prevention of dryness;
• Improved elasticity, firmness, density & texture of the skin;
• Stimulation of skin regeneration.

How is the Snail Slime used in Skincare obtained?

Reading about snail slime got me wondering how the slime is obtained – are there actual snail farms? Commercially, snail slime turns out to be obtained from the common garden snail species Helix Aspersa. Apparently, snail slime even varies in appearance and quality according to the environmental conditions, season, and food sources used by the snails.

Turns out there are actual snail farms, but not as romantic as I had envisioned them to be. No wobbling around freely, chewing some crisp leaves, chillin’ in the farm field for these snails – instead, they live in buckets and are taken to a lab where the snail slime is harvested manually. The lab workers stimulate the snails with a small wooden stick, whereupon the snails discharge their slime. The slime is collected in glass jars which actually looks really gross. I found a video that shows this process, and although it’s in French, it’s a good watch for non-French speakers as well (most interesting part is starting around 2:13):

Another (horrific) technique that is used, is to dehydrate the snail with sodium chloride. Apart from the lack of animal friendliness in the latter case, all manual techniques have a low productivity. Allegedly, several snail farms are therefore developing mechanical methods to stimulate the snails and collect the mucus that promise to be more snail friendly. Let’s hope so.

PRODUCT REVIEW: ElishaCoy “Skin Repairing Snail” Eco Pulp Mask Sheet 

I must start with the description in Konglish (Korean-English) on front of the sachet, as it’s just too amusing (and totally incomprehensible):

“Elishacoy is which can cause irritation to the skin to maximize the chemical composition of vegetable ingredients to the skin a valid prescription for the skin, optimized for “natural cosmetics”

On the back of the sachet,  most text (amongst which the ingredients - yikes) is in Korean and Japanese. The only English explanation given is the following:

“This essence-type, eco-friendly pulp mask sheet is containing purified snail slime. It gives your skin a cool feeling, rich with moisture and nourishment for your skin, while tightening your skin to give the long lasting moisture you desire.”

Upon opening the sachet, I'm very curious whether the formula is as sticky and slimy as the stuff I've seen during my pre-post research. Turns out it's not; the mask formula is transparent and although initially it looks somewhat slimy on my hand, it doesn't feel sticky or slimy at all.

The fragrance is very pleasant, a fresh and invigorating botanical 'green' scent. When applying to my face, the mask gives a cooling sensation that lasts for about 5-10 minutes. There's no product dripping off the mask, which enables me to lacquer my nails in the meantime - I love beauty multi-tasking.

What I especially like about this mask, is that after removing the mask it feels like my skin absorbed most of the product. Usually, after using a sheet mask, the formula residue from the sheet needs to be massaged into the skin, which can result in a sticky complexion. Not with this mask, as there is not much leftover product to massage into my skin or to get rid of!

So what about the snail slime? It honestly did not gross me out at all, not like placenta and Bird's Nest. I can't tell yet if the snail slime did anything significant to my skin, but I do feel like my skin looks healthier than before, with a nice dewy glow. 

I really like this mask because of the scent, fresh sensation and ease of use (no dripping, no residue) and will definately use it again!

ElishaCoy “Skin Repairing Snail” Eco Pure Pulp Mask Sheet, 23 grams - 10 pieces for 25 SGD
Available at a.o. Selektiv by Sasa (find stores)