Is snail slime the secret to keeping your skin youthful? Product harvested from creatures is key ingredient in new anti-aging products!

It is the perfect thing if you want to slow down the aging process to a snail’s pace? Slime harvested from the creatures is the key ingredient in new range of anti-aging products. The makers claim they can make users appear six years younger in just four weeks. 

Following the success of a Snail Gel face and body cream, manufacturers are now releasing a wider range of products backed by a £600,000 marketing campaign. The campaign will be fronted by the singer turned model – Louise Redknapp – while it is also understood to be used by A list celebrities such as Katie Holmes and Pussycat Doll Ashley Roberts.

The products contain a cocktail of proteins, antioxidants and hyaluronic acid which removes dead cells, reduces inflammation and helps skin retain moisture. The benefits for human skin were discovered by Chilean snail farmers who noticed their skin healed quickly without scarring when they handled the creatures which were being exported to France.

Dr Oganic marketing director, Martin Lightowlers, said: ‘It sounds like something you wouldn’t want to put on your face, but you would be surprised. It is obtained from snail farms that are created to support them, look after them and help build the population. Essentially, they are there to help the snails mate.'

They are given a natural plant hormone, this helps them to secrete hormones to mate. When they travel across glass plates to get to their partner the snail secretion is collected. That is then turned into a powder which is used in cosmetic ingredients.

The reason the snail secretes this gel is so that it can regenerate itself or its shell, once it has been harmed. When it is used on the face it is helping to regenerate the skin cells.’

Dr Organic said that an additional anti-aging ingredient called proteolea has been added across the portfolio and enabled the brand to claim that users would look ‘six years younger in four weeks’.

Kate Waddell, director of consumer brands at design agency Dragon Rouge said the range is a good fit with the trend towards more extreme beauty and skin regimes... but she told The Grocer magazine that consumers would need some ‘serious reassurance’ and positive reviews from real women if they are to be won over.

She said: ‘The key question with a snail slime-based product is when does the 'eeeww' factor tip the balance to 'wow' factor?’

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