Ingredient Library
Turmeric
Curcuma longa
Turmeric is a golden root rich in curcumin, prized for calming redness and reviving a dull, tired complexion. It brightens and soothes, and suits uneven or stressed skin.
A natural history
Turmeric has colored life in India for some four thousand years, at once a spice, a medicine, and a sacred substance. When the explorer Marco Polo traveled through Asia around 1280, he was so struck by the golden root that he described it as having all the qualities of saffron, and for centuries afterward Europeans knew turmeric as Indian saffron. Its brilliant gold has always carried meaning, a color tied to the sun, to purity, and to blessing.
That symbolism still lives in the haldi ceremony, where a golden turmeric paste is smoothed over the skin of a bride and groom before a wedding for a luminous glow and good fortune, a beauty ritual performed across India and South Asia to this day. The same vivid pigment made turmeric a treasured natural dye, used to color cloth and even the robes of Buddhist monks.
What it does for your skin
Turmeric's active is curcumin, the pigment behind its gold color, valued for antioxidant and calming activity. A 2016 systematic review in Phytotherapy Research gathered eighteen clinical studies on turmeric and skin and found early, if still limited, evidence that it can support a healthier, calmer-looking complexion.[1] A 2017 review in the journal Foods attributes curcumin's effects largely to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity, the mechanism long credited for turmeric's traditional use to brighten and soothe the look of skin.[2] Its golden pigment can lightly tint a formula, which is natural and rinses clean.
References
[1] Vaughn AR, Branum A, Sivamani RK. Effects of turmeric (Curcuma longa) on skin health: a systematic review of the clinical evidence. Phytother Res. 2016;30(8):1243-1264. doi.org/10.1002/ptr.5640
[2] Hewlings SJ, Kalman DS. Curcumin: a review of its effects on human health. Foods. 2017;6(10):92. doi.org/10.3390/foods6100092
Found in these formulas
Questions, answered
Yes. It is one of the most iconic brightening botanicals in the world, valued for a more even, radiant-looking tone.
Its golden pigment can lightly tint a formula, but this is natural and rinses clean.
Haridra, a complexion-promoting root used on skin for centuries.
Our Vitamin C Glow Boost Mud Mask and our Citrus and Turmeric castile soap.