Dr Bollmann, Skin Care Specialist, Anti-Aging Expert We at Bare Skin Care always use the best ingredients in our products. During our development phase, we realized licorice root was very good for the skin. When I advised our chemists of the effects on the skin I wanted, we did clinical trials and errors on all our products. And initially, we had very good results with our products in restoring, maintaining, and protecting the skin. One of our problems in the beginning was the amount of licorice root we were using, which can turn the skin yellow. So I went back to our chemists, and told them while everyone's skin looked great, they were all yellow - it looked like they were all jaundiced. I told them I wanted the product to be white, and they said they could not do that. So we compromised and used less licorice and made those products tan. That was in 1996, and since then we have got the products right. The folllowing is from Skin-Hair Botanical Agents, showing we were on the right tract in using licorice root. "Topical application of licorice root extract may protect the skin from the effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The root extract of the plant Glycyrrhiza inflata (Chinese Licorice) is a source of Licochalcone A, a compound for which previous studies suggest antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. German researchers assessed the effects of Licochalcone A in cell culture, isolating human skin cells and irradiating them with solar simulated light mimicking sun exposure. The team observed that skin cells pretreated with Licochalcone A produced a higher amount of 'self-protecting', antioxidant molecules. Consequently, significantly less harmful radicals were detected in Licochalone A treated human skin cells. In addition, the investigators also conducted a study with healthy volunteers demonstrating that the application of a lotion containing Licochalcone A-rich root extract on the inner forearms for two weeks protected the skin from damage after UV irradiation. The study authors submit that: “We conclude from these data that topical application of licorice extract is a promising approach to induce [NF-E2-related factor 2]-dependent cytoprotection in human skin.”
