Rub your face with silkworm cocoons to wipe away wrinkles
It sounds bizarre — but it works
My eight-year-old daughter Nancy appears in the kitchen l ooking cross. ‘What’s that disgusting thing bobbing about in the bathroom sink?’ she demands.
‘It’s just a silkworm cocoon,’ I reply airily — much to Nancy’s baffled disgust.
No wonder. At the age of 46, there is almost nothing I won’t try to keep the years at bay — but this must be the strangest yet.
The latest weapon in my anti-ageing arsenal is, in truth, fairly revolting: silkworm cocoons, the casing that silkworms — which are in fact a type of caterpillar — spin for themselves before they turn into moths.
It is the mulberry silkworm cocoon, the same as used to spin silks in industrial production. The cocoons are harvested in Asia and shipped to Europe.
They look and feel like a tiny, hollow white bird’s egg covered in embossed wallpaper and have been hailed on internet forums as the latest secret to flawless skin.
According to Naomi Moriyama, author of Japanese Women Don’t Get Old Or Fat, trainee geishas in Kyoto have used them for centuries. ‘Japanese women are obsessed with beautiful skin. They are far more comfortable using natural products than many Western women,’ she says.
‘Some of our remedies are thousands of years old,’ adding that it was the youthful hands of women who extracted silk from cocoons in ancient China and Japan that first alerted sharp- eyed matrons to the potential cosmetic benefits of silkworms.
Now the idea has gained traction again thanks to the internet and our new obsession with all things natural.
Even so, the idea of rubbing an insect cocoon on my face horrifies me. The silk worm — which look like a white maggot — spins the cocoon from its saliva glands. yuck!
However, considering my distinctly greying, lined face, I decide it’s worth a go.
Surprisingly, the cocoons are easy to find. When I look them up on Amazon, I’m pleased to find they cost a mere £3.99 for ten. They are described, perfunctorily, beneath a photograph as ‘white silkworm cocoon facial cleanser’. I order 30.
They turn up three days later in little plastic wallets covered in bubble wrap, without any instructions, or in fact, any information at all.
THANKFully, there is some cursory guidance on the retailer’s Amazon page, advising me to soak the cocoon in hot water to soften it, then rub it gently over my face concentrating on lines and blemishes. Each cocoon should only be used once.
Before I actually dare to rub the cocoon on my skin, I seek the advice of top cosmetic specialist Dr Michael Prager — who is surprisingly enthusiastic.
‘Women have used oils from the cocoon as a moisturiser for over a thousand years. It’s wonderful stuff, packed full of healing properties,’ he says. ‘When you soak the cocoon, you release sericin, the substance that binds the silk thread together. This is an amazing protein, containing 18 amino acids, which will definitely help your complexion.’
He explains that sericin acts as a thin film over the face, sealing in moisture to keep skin hydrated.
What’s more, he says, it’s been shown to replenish collagen, the substance that keeps skin elastic.
I decide to put silkworm cocoons to the test by having my skin scientifically analysed before and after using the cocoons. To this end, I visit Dr Sunil Chopra at the london Dermatology Centre, whose skin-analysing Visia machine measures the signs of ageing — skin texture, pore size, wrinkles, spots and uV damage.
Depressingly, I do badly on spots — 90 per cent of women my age have clearer skin than me — and my uV damage is worse than half of women my age.
However the elasticity of my skin is good and I’m cheered to learn that my pore size is better than three out of four women my age.
‘There’s some discolouration and scarring from acne and there is quite substantial uV damage around your mouth and on your forehead,’ Dr Chopra says. He advises using the cocoons every other day for a month as part of my beauty routine — I apply my usual moisturiser afterwards — before we analyse my skin again.
Soaking my first cocoon in the bathroom sink I’m surprised and gratified that it doesn’t disintegrate into a sludgy mess.
I leave it for a couple of minutes in hot water, then pop it onto the end of my finger and rub it in a circular motion around my face — concentrating especially on my chin and forehead where I have most acne scarring and sun damage.
The cocoon feels slightly abrasive and surprisingly solid for something that’s been soaking. It certainly doesn’t feel greasy. Afterwards my skin has a sort of pinkish glow. I wonder if I’ve overdone it and simply peeled off the top layer of skin.
Applying my moisturiser, my face feels a bit raw. It stings a little and I resolve to be gentler next time.
looking at my face the next day, I can’t see any difference at all. In fact all week and then into the second week, there’s no change.
In all honesty, I’m highly suspicious of these cheap white cocoons with their bubble-wrap packaging. I like my cosmetics to smell lovely and be beautifully boxed.
By THE third week, the novelty of soaking my cocoons has worn off, and I’m convinced it’s j ust a gimmick not worth 4p, never mind £4.
To top it all, I start to get a nasty spot near the right side of my mouth. I can feel it coming up on Tuesday evening and rubbing the cocoon over it, I wonder whether I’m doing more harm than good.
On Wednesday morning however, the spot is shrinking. It hovers beneath the surface of my skin for a couple of days and then, miraculously, it slinks away.
At the same time, I notice my skin feels softer, and my complexion looks a little bit plumper and fuller. Peering into the mirror, I wonder whether I’m imagining things.
A quick internet search reveals an answer: it turns out any new skin regime will take around four weeks to work, as that’s how long it takes the skin the renew itself.
Meeting my friend laura for lunch, she stares at me quizzically before asking what on earth I’ve been doing to my face. ‘you look much less wrinkly,’ she says bluntly, adding that I look five years younger.
Dr Chopra, too, when I see him at the end of the month tells me that my skin looks much better.
‘your complexion is clearer and smoother. I can see that without the Visia,’ he says.
The results from the Visia are astounding. My acne spots, uV damage and scarring have improved by 20 per cent and the texture of my skin is now better than 96 per cent of women my age — an improvement of 20 per cent. My wrinkles too, have noticeably softened, especially around the mouth and eyes.
Analysing the results, Dr Chopra is impressed. ‘For a completely natural product with no side- effects this is pretty stunning,’ he says.
He tells me that my results are backed up by a study in the Indian Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research, which demonstrated sericin’s hydrating and healing properties.
The only way that my skin could have shown an improvement of that magnitude, he says, is by increased collagen. ‘The sericin in the cocoon has clearly promoted collagen production. This explains the healing of acne scars, the increased elasticity and the huge improvement in pigmentation and uV damage. I’d carry on using those cocoons if I were you,’ he says.
As we leave the clinic I notice the nurse on her iPad. ‘What are you doing?’ I ask.
‘Ordering some of those cocoons of course,’ she replies.