I put Snail Mucin and Bee Venom on my face and I love it!

Now most people would think you're crazy if you told them that you put bug juices on your face and at one point I would have agreed with them. That is until I looked into the benefits of these juices and tried them for myself.

Snail Mucin

This is the trail of stuff that snails leave behind as they creep across the forest floor. Gross right? But think about it. Those snails have a soft underbelly that scrapes across rocks, bark and other rough surfaces. How do they not get scraped raw? The answer is that slime. Snail mucin has great healing powers, thus the reason why these little creepers don't sustain continuous injuries to themselves from their crawling. 
 Researchers noticed the amazing healing and hydrating powers of snail mucin when they looked at the hands of workers who harvested snails. Their hands were smooth and incredibly supple from handling the snails and having them continuously coated in slime. So the researchers started to test them in skin care products and found that snail mucin increased healing and repairing of the skin as well as increased moisture and reduction of pores. 

Bee Venom

Now I've long known the benefits of honey for the skin among many other things but it is only in the last few months that I have come across the benefits of bee venom for the skin. I have somewhat sensitive skin that turns red easily. You would think that putting a so called poison on my skin would not have positive effects on skin such as mine or any skin for that matter. But that is not the case. In fact, recent studies have shown that bee venom can actually help reduce acne and sensitivity in skin. 

Personal Views

So how does this relate to my Asian skincare routine? I have yet to see many Western brands introduce these products into their skincare but many Asian brands have embraced them. In fact, looking through scholarly articles on these ingredients I was only able to find Korean research. It is not surprising to me then that people state that Western skin care is 12 years behind that of Korea when Western researchers are not even willing to look into new ingredients such as snail or bee products. 

It has only been a few months since I have introduced Asian products into my skincare with some them containing these ingredients. I have noticed some decrease in the redness of my skin as well as increased hydration. I still get hormonal acne but the duration and redness of my blemishes has decreased dramatically. It will be interesting to see the long-term affects of their use on my skin.

These are the products I am currently using that contain one or both of these ingredients. Most of these I use daily.

Below are the citations for the scholarly articles:

Kim, J., Lee, W., Kim, K., An, H., Chang, Y., Han, S., Park, Y., Pak, S. C., Park, K."Effects of bee venom against Propionibacterium acnes‑induced inflammation in human keratinocytes and monocytes". International Journal of Molecular Medicine 35.6 (2015): 1651-1656.

Kim, Yun-Hee. "Overview for Pattern and Results of Herbal Medicine-derived Atopic Dermatitis Clinical Researches." The Journal of Korean Oriental Pediatrics (2012): 53-61.