Natural Beauty Secrets: Bamboo

Three unique ingredients - bamboo sap, bamboo vinegar, and bamboo extract - are quietly making their way into natural skin care products. But are they any good?

Bamboo isn't just for pandas - people can benefit from using it too. There are many varieties of this fast-growing grass. Strong and flexible, bamboo can be harvested every 3-5 years in comparison to 30-60 years for hardwoods. Each part of the plant has a purpose and is used for a wide variety of products including tea, houses, and baby diapers.

The plant is also considered eco-friendly because it improves the soil, helps stop erosion, and produces more oxygen than trees. Since it grows like a weed, no pesticides or fertilizers are necessary.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine bamboo sap preparations have long been used to treat infections, fever, and heal asthma and cough. The root has been used to treat kidney disease. Nowadays its use as an ingredient in natural skin care products is on the rise. Here are three uses of bamboo that will help keep your skin healthy and looking good.

bambooBamboo in the botanical garden in Vienna

Wikimedia Commons

AmorePacific's Treatment Enzyme Peel

Benefits of Bamboo Sap

Traditionally, Asian cultures revered bamboo sap as 'divine water'. Lately, it is gaining a reputation as a superfluid of sorts because it’s rich in the minerals potassium, magnesium, and iron. It also contains nine essential amino acids.

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The benefits of bamboo sap in skin care products is that it will improve skin elasticity and the appearance of wrinkles. It contains the building blocks that strengthen and energize skin. You can find bamboo sap added to lotions, serums, makeup, and even hair care products.

Most products using it are usually aimed at the anti-aging market because it does a great job on the common signs of aging. However, people with acne and hyperpigmentation (acne scars, melasma, sun damage) have reported good results with it as well.

Benefits of Bamboo Vinegar

During the process of making bamboo charcoal, the bamboo is heated in an airless container. As the smoke and fumes cool down, the condensation collected is bamboo vinegar.

Regular vinegar goes through filtration and distillation, but bamboo vinegar does not so it retains many of its organic compounds (over 200), and it’s only slightly slightly acidic in comparison to regular vinegar. This difference makes it a valuable addition to cosmetic and medicinal products.

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You may recognize bamboo vinegar as an ingredient in the detox foot pads that have recently been so popular, but in Asian countries it is a traditional folk remedy for atopic dermatitis, eczema, and scabies. The simplest way to use it is by adding it to bath water. Bamboo vinegar is acknowledged as having anti-inflammatory and anti-fungal properties.

Alterna Bamboo Shine Luminous Mist

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Benefits of Bamboo Extract

Silica supplements are used to improve hair and nail strength, and bamboo extract is a great natural source of it. Although the mechanism of how it works is not clear, it's believed silica helps to form collagen.

With the aging process, the level of silica in the body drops so if you if you're approaching middle age and want to see an improvement in your hair, this may be the supplement for you.

To make use of the extract you can take it internally in pill form or as a tea. Those who use it report accelerated hair growth, as well as stronger hair and nails.

Manufacturers have started to add it to hair care products. It seems that using it topically has benefit too as it imparts strength and flexibility to to the hair.

For now it seems that results are sufficient evidence for most people, but research on the exact process that causes bamboo extract to impart its benefits continues.


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References

Updated: 02/27/2017, Natural_Skin_Care

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Comments

Natural_Skin_Care on 01/16/2014

@Intuition Glad you enjoyed it.

Guest on 01/13/2014

Most interesting article.

Natural_Skin_Care on 01/06/2014

Thanks for commenting!

Rose on 12/22/2013

I hadn't heard of bamboo sap or bamboo vinegar before. Glad I visited this page!

marciag on 09/17/2013

Wow I only knew bamboo to make patio tables and chairs, but this is something really new to me.

Natural_Skin_Care on 09/15/2013

Yes, it's new to me too. Amazing plant - thanks for commenting!

sheilamarie on 09/15/2013

It's great that so many benefits to the bamboo plant are being recognized, especially as it's so easy to grow and it grows so quickly. Thanks for the article.

Natural_Skin_Care on 09/10/2013

@WriterArtist Yes, it's a pretty amazing plant. Thanks for commenting!