How Bamboo and Jojoba Can Be Used as Weaponry for Skin
The idea of bamboo and jojoba as weaponry for the skin may be a bit of stretch, but the two ingredients do help fight dry skin.
How so? You might recall in last week’s post I made mention of these two ingredients in “How to Keep Winter Skin Hydrated During the Winter,” as they help get rid of dead skin. Today I’ll delve a little deeper in to give you a better understanding of how jojoba beads and bamboo work.
What It Is
Bamboo, or Bambusa arundinacea, is among the fastest growing plants on Earth. It’s actually part of the grass family – obviously the largest member of the family. Bamboo is used in everything from food to medicine to construction and textiles. It’s been used as a weapon, in paper, as a musical instrument, and to scrub our dirty, dry faces. But can it take the trash out? Highly unlikely.
In skin care, bamboo is most commonly ground into a powder and used in face and body scrubs.
Jojoba, also known as Simmondsia Chenensis, is a shrub native to the Sonoran and Mojave deserts. No, it does not originate from China as its name might falsely allude to. Aside from serving as a food source to deer, javelina, sheep, squirrels and rabbits, it’s widely cultivated for cosmetic purposes. The form we typically see jojoba in is soft, oil-based beads.
How They Work and Where to Find Them
Both bamboo and jojoba work by exfoliating the skin – or you can think of it as weaponry for our skin to fight dryness and inflammation.
Jojoba beads actually penetrate the skin to reduce water loss. While they do exfoliate, they don’t cause stress or trauma to the skin. The natural oil from the jojoba is also absorbed by the skin to help rehydrate it.
Bamboo contains the richest source of silica, a silicon and oxygen compound also found in many rocks and the Earth’s crust. This is useful to our skin, because in addition to its ability to exfoliate dead skin away, with the help of silica, bamboo can soothe damaged, itchy and irritated skin.
You might be asking where one might find such amazing ingredients. Well, as I’ve noted, they are commonly found in exfoliating or scrubbing products for both face and body. Try to look for products that pair the two together – they create quite the dynamic duo.
For more information on jojoba beads and bamboo, see the RA for Men's Bamboo Scrub.