Guest Authors Medical and Science

France Harvests Snail Slime for Beauty Products

Boy holding snail slime in  his hands
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic LicensePhoto by  stev.ie

 
France, the European country known for indulging in Escargot, may put aside their diet of snails for a while, because they predict their slimy friends are about to become the latest in a beauty trend. France has boosted their production of snail slime for makeup.
 

What is in Snail Slime?

Scientifically, snail slime contains antibiotics, collagen, glycolic acid, and other healing compounds that are known to heal cuts and regenerate skin cells.
 
France is predicting that snail slime will be a new ingredient in beauty products, which is a proposition that they gladly accept, since their country is the main one that produces this special product. Until now, the country has only been known for eating their slimy little friends in the form of escargot.
 

More on Escargot…

Escargot is an appetizer that is very popular in French restaurants, made with cooked land snails. The species most commonly eaten is Helix pomatia, and the next most eaten are Helix aspersa and Helix lucorum.
 
Archaelogical excavations in the Mediterranean region have revealed ancient diets that have included escargot. The Romans considered escargot an elite food. Pliny the Elder (AD 23 – AD 79) referred to eating escargot in his ancient writings.
 

A Snail Farmer in France Has Cranked Up Snail Slime Production

A man by the name of Louis-Marie Guedon in Champagnolles, France is ahead of the curve — in snail farming, that is. He has been manually extracting snail slime for three years now, and has been raising snails for the past 25 years. While Guedon maintains a policy of secrecy about his techniques to squeeze out every last drop, he assures animal rights activist that his methods of extracting snail slime does not involve killing or harming the snails involved in the process.
 
According to Guedon, local cosmetic laboratories in France have contracts orders with him for large quantities of snail slime. These cosmetic laboratories create consumer beauty products for very popular brands of makeup throughout the world.
 
Maybe its Maybelline, maybe its not.
 
Guedon is expecting to produce three tons of slime in 2013 alone to keep up with the contract orders.
 
That is a lot of snail slime.
 

A Japanese Spa Knows About Snail Slime

The only other country that does anything remotely with snail slime is Japan. One spa in Tokyo will adhere several snails to a woman’s face and let them “do their thing” for an hour. In that amount of time, they could potentially do several laps around your face, oozing a trail of mucus all over your pores.
 
Makeup companies in Asia and South America have already incorporated snail slime into their beauty products.
 
Reader Discussion: Do you think this new beauty trend will start to catch on in more countries?
 


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8 thoughts on “France Harvests Snail Slime for Beauty Products
  1. I already heard so many good references about Snail beauty mission that i’m even ready to try it myself)))hahah Well, i would rather taste them()))

  2. Martin,
    Beauty is only skin deep, but the snail slime might be the secret to anti-wrinkle cream.

  3. well, the reptiles have been of great value for the humans for a long time.
    Be it for agricultural purposes or for the food.
    And now, for beauty purposes!
    Snails are really going to win the race!!!

  4. Yogesh,
    Snails seem to becoming more valuable. I have never eaten a snail, and I haven’t let them glide across my face either.
    Thank you for reading and commenting.

  5. I believe that in some Korean skin care products are also having snail slime as ingredients. However, I think I wouldn’t really use this because I hate snails :

  6. I would like to know if anyone could share how to get snail slime. I am tired of being searching for a method to get it. Thank you very much.

    1. Anh,
      To harvest snail slime, you need to contact a snail farmer. If you just want to buy the slime outright, there may be a place to do that if you do an internet search for “buy snail slime”

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