Demand for Italian mollusc secretions has increased by 46% in the past 10 months, thanks to its popularity as an anti-ageing ingredient. But does it really work? In a never-ending quest to find a miracle product to hold back unforgivable wrinkles and banish your hideous over-twentysomething skin, cosmetics companies may have unearthed the magic ingredient: snail slime. The demand for it is certainly growing, with reports that that snail farming in Italy has increased by more than 325% over two decades, with 44,000 tonnes of snails produced every year. “In the last 10 months alone, we’ve seen a 46% increase in snail slime, due to demand from the cosmetics industry,” Simone Sampo, the president of Italy’s National Heliciculture (that’s snail farmers) Association, told the Telegraph. Snails as skincare have been around since the ancient Greeks, who apparently used them crushed as a ointment, but in more recent years, products have been including the slime with claims that it can help heal acne and reduce wrinkles. In 2013, inspired by treatments in east Asia, you could pay to have snails slither over your face at one spa in Northamptonshire (this facial is no longer offered). Marginally less yucky, other salons offer facials where the skin is pricked with tiny needles before a serum containing snail secretions is applied. You can also buy skin products containing mollusc slime. Continue reading...
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