Ingredient Library
Ginger
Zingiber officinale
Ginger is a warming root whose antioxidants stimulate and revive a tired, dull complexion. Energizing and balancing, it suits dull or sluggish skin.
A natural history
Ginger is one of the oldest spices in human hands, so long cultivated that it no longer grows truly wild and its exact origin in tropical Asia is lost. For thousands of years it traveled the spice routes west, an article of trade between India, China, and the Roman Empire, prized as much for medicine as for flavor. The philosopher Confucius was said never to be without it at the table.
Its value could be staggering. In fourteenth century England a single pound of ginger cost about as much as a whole sheep. Across Asia the warming root was brewed into tonics for digestion and circulation and pressed onto aching, tired bodies, a fixture of traditional medicine from China to India that survives in kitchens and apothecaries to this day.
What it does for your skin
Ginger's warmth comes from pungent compounds called gingerols and shogaols, which are also potent antioxidants. In laboratory testing these compounds scavenged free radicals and calmed markers of inflammation, with the compound shogaol the strongest of the group.[1] Further antioxidant testing confirmed ginger root's broad free radical scavenging activity, benchmarked against rosemary.[2] In a formula ginger is an enlivening, antioxidant rich botanical that helps defend the look of tired, stressed skin. That antioxidant defense is well mapped in laboratory studies.
References
[1] Dugasani S, et al. Comparative antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of 6-gingerol, 8-gingerol, 10-gingerol and 6-shogaol. J Ethnopharmacol. 2010;127(2):515-520. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2009.10.004
[2] Sueishi Y, et al. Heat treatments of ginger root modify but not diminish its antioxidant activity as measured with multiple free radical scavenging method. J Clin Biochem Nutr. 2019;64(2):143-147. doi:10.3164/jcbn.18-41
Found in these formulas
Questions, answered
It is a warming, antioxidant-rich root whose gingerol compounds help defend the look of tired, stressed skin against environmental stress.
As a warming botanical it is used at low levels in a formula. Concentrated ginger oil can be sensitizing, so balanced formulation matters.