Source: Vogue
If you are a skincare junkie, chances are that you have come across products with licorice in the ingredient list. While licorice has been around for centuries in Ayurveda, it is emerging as the hero ingredient of the year. The reason is its outstanding ability to reduce inflammation and blemishes. As the consumers turn conscious about what they are putting in their drinks, licorice is making a move from the pantry to the skincare cabinets.
What should you know about licorice?
Scientifically speaking, licorice also referred to as Yastimadhu in Ayurveda and Mulethi in Indian households is an adaptogen, which means a natural substance that helps body to adapt to stress. “It has a unique combination of being an adaptogen as well as complexion-enhancing botanical. On one hand it helps stressed skin by calming it by fighting external stresssors like UV, sun damage, irritation and redness, and on the other hand, it also helps with hyper pigmentation. This makes it a winning ingredient,” says Prasanthy Gurugubelli, a clean beauty formulator, and founder of beauty brand Daughter Earth. It’s a plant that grows in West Asia and Southern Europe and has nearly 300 compounds that have antiviral, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties.
It’s one of the rare ingredients which refuses to be stereotyped between Ayurveda and pharmacy, and continues to straddle both the sectors with ease. “Licorice can be extracted both using taila paka Vidhi as well as modern day green extractions in glycerin etc. Brands are homing on to this as it not only helps in spot reduction, but also calms atopic dermatitis, redness and irritation,” adds Gurugubelli.
Licorice in beauty
“While people may debate its’ flavor in candy, as a brightening agent licorice works to reduce hyperpigmentation while calming the skin types according to board-certified dermatologist Dr Mona Mislankar, MD, FAAD. In simple terms, it works in balancing skin tone and texture. “It does this by inhibiting tyrosinase, an enzyme crucial in the pathway for melanin production. As a brightening agent it not only improves existing hyperpigmentation but also removes excess melanin and therefore can prevent new ones from forming. As an antioxidant, it can help with both anti-aging and hyperpigmentation,” adds Dr Mislankar.
Explaining hyperpigmentation, dermatologist Dr Geetika Mittal Gupta, founder ISAAC Luxe, says, that it occurs when your skin cells produce excessive melanin in certain areas. When the skin is exposed to free radicals present in the body, the cells that generate melanin get damaged and produce more melanin. “It also contains glycyrrhizin, which is an antioxidant that helps in protecting skin against damage from the free radicals and sun’s UV rays, which in turn prevents premature aging. As a result, it effectively lightens and helps remove dark spots to give you an even skin tone,” states Dr Gupta.
How does it play a role as a skincare ingredient?
Licorice is making its presence felt in brightening, anti- ageing and acne categories primarily within skincare. That it works to treat roasea, meleasma and eczema is an added bonus as traditionally those skin types used more of corrective productive rather than nourishing or maintenance-oriented. Dr Gupta explains its sudden rise and popularity. “Licorice root contains glabridin, liquiritin, flavonoids, and licochalcone A, which are known for their skincare properties. Glabridin is an antioxidant that inhibits tyrosinase which is an enzyme that causes pigmentation in response to sun exposure. Liquiritin helps reduce melanin, contributing to its lightning qualities that help improve the clarity of your skin over time. Glabridin, which is an antioxidant, helps to soothe your skin. It helps in preventing hyperpigmentation and is perfect for sensitive skin due to its anti-irritation properties. Antioxidants like glabridin and flavonoids target your free radicals. Free radicals can cause aging, wrinkles, and hyperpigmentation.
