Fantastic fungi are now vital ingredients in skincare products.
Ganaderma lucidum is perhaps the earliest recorded mushroom on the planet, first mentioned in Shennong’s Herbal, a Chinese pharmacopeia dating back around 2,000 years. In Chinese, it is called lingzhi, literally the herb of spirituality, but is commonly referred to as the mushroom of immortality. The highly thought of fungi grows only in mountain areas and because of its purported life-lengthening properties and rarity was so prized that it was reserved for use by emperors and nobility.
In China’s eastern neighbour Russia, the chaga mushroom is known sinisterly as ‘birch cancer’ because the fungi slowly kill the trees it feeds on. Bad for the birch, but great for humans, the chaga draws antioxidants and immune system stimulants from its host tree, making the mushrooms the focus of studies focusing on potential remedies for cancer, diabetes and tuberculosis.
Along with the elm oyster, a food mushroom in Asia and well known for its anti-inflammatory and immune system enhancing properties, these fantastic fungi are all turning up in contemporary skincare products.
Dr Andrew Weil, biologist and medical doctor, produced the Plantidote range for United States skincare company Origins. The ingredients include ‘mega mushrooms’ to enhance the healing, strengthening and revitalisation of the skin. Plantidote products use the elm oyster, chaga and g. lucidum mushrooms, while fellow US skincare company Aveeno uses a ‘natural shiitake complex’ in its Positively Ageless line of anti-ageing products. While the shiitake mushroom is available in most supermarkets as food, Aveeno claims its shiitake complex accelerates skin cell turnover and blocks the production of harmful proteins that cause collagen breakdown.
Pharmacists at Yves Saint Laurent have used g. lucidum, labelling it the ‘mushroom of eternal youth’, in the Temps Majeur range. At Menard, a Japanese cosmetics company, g. lucidum is known by its local name, reishi, and its red and black varieties are used as a moisturising ingredient across the Embellir range.
Hong Kong’s traditional Chinese medicine, skin, body and skincare brand Sen combines g. lucidum with ginseng in its Extreme Combat age-delay line of serums and rejuvenating creams. Expect more from the tradition that first harnessed the magic of this mushroom – Sen has a team of 160 pharmacists working in state-of-the-art laboratories near Shanghai to develop new compounds from traditional Chinese medicine. Let one hundred fungi bloom!
