SCIENCE & COSMETIC THROUGH OF THE HISTORY

The Earth is an immense botanical laboratory that reveals unknow properties of the plants and it constitutes the basis of the modern cosmetology.

From the Amazonian Forests to the Chinese Plateaus, we travel through the five continents to discover millennial formulas and trees and plants with healing properties, going round the world through the science and the cosmetic.

EUROPE

In a small town located in the Pyrenees and called Cauterets, there is a thermal source famous due to its benefits in the skin treatments. Its water is rich in sulphur, mineral salts, silicon and magnesium, elements with excellent antimicrobicidal properties. It purifies the epidermis, it cures the acne and it balances the functions of the cutaneous cells. The laboratory Galenic has a line for treatment of the fatty skins, elaborated with water of Cauterets.

Along the coast of Bretagne, in the north of France are gathered several classes of algae very appreciated in the field of the cosmetic. One of them is a rosy alga called coralline oficinalis that is used as cosmetic ingredient to eliminate the signs of the fatigue in the skin and to counteract the signs of the age. Some research laboratories like that of Phytomer, in Saint Malo, elaborates cosmetics, using in their formulations molecules obtained from the algae.

The myrtle, is a tree native of Greece. The macedonian made with its flowers an aromatic water known as Angel Water that lefth the skin soft and brilliant. However, what was the most interest to the laboratories Pierre Fabre were the antiseptic and desinfectant properties of the myrtle flower and they discovered the properties of the myrtle to close the sebaceous channels.

AFRICA

For centuries, the moroccan women have applyed in the skin an oil extracted from the fruits of a tree, the argan, very rich in linoleic acid. The laboratories Galenic has increased its action of free antirradicals and they use the argan oil as the basic ingredient in the cosmetic line Argene.

The island of Madagascar is the paradise of the botanists with more than 12.000 species of plants. At the present time the one that concentrates all the attention of the laboratories is the vincapervinca or maiden grass because it contains more than 50 molecules that protect the plant from the insects, the mammals and the plagues. The native used the juice of their roots as an antibacterian eyewash and the cosmetic has discovered the exceptional properties of their grains in the cellular renovation.

The Borage is a plant native of the Central África with whose roots were made dishses of dried vegetables and infusions with diuretic effect. Moreover, from the grains of its flowers an oil was extracted that the modern cosmetic has discovered full of essential fatty acids, indispensable in the organism. This oil has an anti-wrinkle action, it increases the elasticity of the skin and improve the tone of the cutis. It is used in antiaging products.

AMERICA

Of Mexican origin, the tree of the skin, called Tepescohuite or mimosa tenuiflora, it is very similar to the Acacia. Used by the Mayan in several ointments, it was a revelation in the earthquakes of 1805: the powder of its bark, applied to the burns, calmed the pains and it allowed to the epidermis an speedy rhythm of healhing and without leaving scars. Clarins uses it in its cosmetics.

In the exuberant Amazonian flora, from an small oleaginous grain grows a big and vigorous plant as it is the Palm. Verifying this extraordinary capacity of growth and reproduction, Yves Rocher's investigators extracted an active element with great regeneration power. This palm oil has been included in the Bio-vegetable line Retinol of Yves Rocher.

The modern cosmetic uses an oil, extracted from the grains of a bush named Mosqueta o Kerria Japonica that it grows in the south area of the American continent. This oil is very rich in essential fatty acids, of great power anti-imflammatory and healing power and it is used in the products for dry or sensitive skins due to its softening and nutritious action, such as the line B21 of Orlane.

ASIA

The Dead Sea has always been a natural factory of salts and minerals of great benefits for medicine and cosmetic. At the present time, several cosmetic firms elaborate products based on the formulas including salts and the mud of the Dead Sea with the mineralizant benefit from the calcium, the iron, the zinc and the potassium of the waters of the Dead Sea: Doska, Jordan, Jericó and Natural Sea Beauty.

The millennial culture of China has bequeathed to the modern cosmetic an inexhaustible reservation of ingredients.

Ginkgo biloba. It is a surviving tree from the prehistoric flora. Considered as the sacred tree, the Chinese have used it for centuries like the youth's elixir. Besides their antiageing action, it favours the blood circulation, it eliminates toxins and it protects the cellular membranes. It is very used by Clarins in products for the eyes contours.

Grass of the dew. Poetic name of Cyanotis arachnoides . This plant was used to cure the rheumatic infections in the China Imperial. The laboratories Dior investigated its properties and they discovered surprising virtues: it regulates the mechanisms of hydratation of the epidermis and it favours the cohesion between the cells and the horny layer. It is the main ingredient of Hydra Star.

Ginseng. Its root has been recognized from the antiquity as the root of the long life. It has stimulating virtues and the extract is used in cosmetic due to its tonic and invigorating effects in the cellular renovation. The cosmetic firms Clarins and Essential Mediterranean are using this extract.

Green tea. Rich in vitamins and minerals, it has a great anti-oxidizing power and anti-tiredness effects. The green tea is part of the composition of Estée Lauder's cosmetic products and those of the firm The Body Shop.

OCEANIA

The primitive cultures used the malaleuca oil to cure burns and to disinfect the wounds. In the modern cosmetic it is an essential ingredient of René Furterer's anti-sensibility shampoo.

Finally, in the Polinesia, the inhabitants of these paradisiac islands are immune to the sun. The secret is that they daub themselves from the head to the feet with the oil of Monoï elaborated by themselves according to a simple recipe: they cut flowers of Tiaré and they are macerated in copra oil until the oil become fragrant. The firm Klorane has used this oil as basic component of its solar line The Polysianes, in which an authentic oil of Monoï is included. Yves Rocher also has a solar line with the name of Monoï.

More information:
www.clarins.com
www.phytomer.com
www.mar-muerto.com

MAYTE SUÁREZ SANTOS
Journalist specialized in Medicine and Thermalism