Reishi has been crowned queen healer by traditional Chinese herbalists for centuries. Known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits, this super mushroom contains skin-soothing powers and hydrating abilities, properties that have made it a coveted ingredient in skin care products.

Let’s dive into Reishi mushroom’s benefits for skin and everything you want to know about how to get plump skin with this ancient adaptogenic shroom.

What is Reishi?

Reishi or Lingzhi (scientific name Ganoderma lucidum) is a large, woody mushroom with a glossy exterior that grows on trees in the United States, Asia, and even part of the Amazon, under a wide range of conditions. Offering polysaccharides, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals like zinc and iron, the fungus has a remarkable nutritional profile that offers us numerous health benefits.

This calming mushroom is an adaptogen known to help balance mood and support concentration. It’s also a brain nourisher, immune supporter, energizer, stress reliever, and beauty food. Available in supplement form and topical skin care products,

Reishi is prized in the beauty world for its soothing effects on the skin and ability to protect the skin barrier from irritation.

The Nutritional Value of Reishi Mushrooms for Skin Health

While Reishi is primarily known to support mood and concentration, it also has several skin health benefits. To understand them, let’s break down the components. 3 key elements in medicinal mushrooms like Reishi include beta-glucans, triterpenoids, and ergosterol.

• Beta-glucans are polysaccharides found in the cell walls of fungi. They penetrate the skin by passing through cells to help calm dryness and irritation. These hydrators help your body synthesize ceramides, keeping skin moisturized and less reactive to environmental stressors. Because the better hydrated your skin is, the better it can adapt to whatever time, stress, and toxins bring to it.
• Additionally, Reishi mushrooms are chock full of triterpenoids (compounds that actually make plants bitter to deter animals from eating them). They’re shown to be antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and protective for the liver. These triterpenes encourage good blood circulations, which can help enhance the skin’s appearance by giving you a healthy glow.
• Ergosterol is a type of triterpenoid present in all fungi. It’s a precursor to Vitamin D, also known as the sunshine vitamin, which is an important micronutrient for skin health.

With age or sun damage, your body starts to lose its natural supply of ceramides vital for the protective layer of skin that keeps in moisture. As a result, your skin can start to appear thirsty, wrinkled, and irritated. With its bountiful beta-glucans that draw water in from the surrounding environment, Reishi helps to counter accelerated aging, redness, and fine lines.

Our organic Reishi powder supplement has 700 mg of 1,3 and 1,6 beta-glucans per serving. It's grown on the hardwood in fresh air and sunlight, and hand-harvested and sun-dried by local farmers. We formulate with a 100% fruiting body since it’s the most bioactive part of the mushroom, and we always test for purity, potency, and heavy metals.⁣ This yields the highest medicinal quality and ensures our formulas are benefit-packed.

The Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Reishi Mushrooms on Skin

Inflammation in your skin can show up as redness, patchiness, acne, itching, and rashes.

By way of antioxidants, the nutrients in Reishi extract, powder, or natural form can help neutralize free radicals and counter inflammation in your body.

Those beautiful beta-glucans in Reishi mushrooms are known for their skin-soothing properties and ability to fight skin inflammation. As a result, Reishi extract and powder is renowned for holistic skin care practices for addressing breakouts and redness.

Reishi Mushroom’s Role in Boosting Collagen Production

With time, our bodies naturally start to surrender collagen. It’s one of the reasons that our skin’s appearance changes with age. Static wrinkles, or the wrinkles that are etched into your skin due to a change in skin composition, as well as looser, sagging skin, can be concurrent with a loss of collagen.

Reishi mushrooms are plentiful in amino acids, particularly lysine, and leucine. Leucine is known for its ability to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Lysine is known to help build collagen, the structural protein that supports skin structure and elasticity, giving it a youthful bounce.
How to Incorporate Reishi Mushroom Into Your Skin Care Routine
When used topically, Reishia also has a range of benefits for the skin. You can find it in all of our skin care products, used for soothing, protecting your skin barrier from stressors, and supporting skin hydration. In Plump Jelly, a hyaluronic acid serum, Reishi works synergistically with Hyaluronic Acid and Silver Ear mushrooms to preserve elasticity and bounce. Experience the powerful benefits of hyaluronic acid serum with Plump Jelly in your skin care rotation.

Moon Juice’s Plump Jelly needs H20 to activate. It draws water into your cells, so it needs a splash of hydration to do its business. Start with freshly washed and undried skin, a mist of hydrating spray, or Acid Potion first, and apply three pumps of serum to your face.

As the first step in your evening skin care ritual, use Acid Potion, a liquid exfoliator, combining a blend of AHA+BHA exfoliants with Niacinamide and Reishi to tame irritation and restore the barrier. At the end of your sleep routine, cap everything off with Cosmic Cream™, a natural moisturizer melting in Emollient Fatty Acids, to seal moisture and Reishi to nourish your skin barrier.

Takeaways

Reishi mushrooms have been shown to offer a range of benefits for your skin health. Packed with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties they can help protect against environmental stressors and prevent inflammation. Reishi can also help soothe skin inflammation associated with breakouts and other skin flare-ups, making it a valuable addition to all types of serums and other products. Whether consumed as a supplement or applied topically, Reishi offers a natural and effective way to support your skin from inside and out.