Is Sea Cucumber Collagen The Next Big Thing In Skincare? We Investigate

Forget snail mucin: There’s another gooey substance ready to claim the spotlight as the next trendy ingredient in skincare. You may not have heard of sea cucumber collagen (hint: You won’t be finding these at a supermarket), but the ingredient could potentially supercharge your moisture barrier, reduce signs of sun damage and alleviate adult eczema — if Bescher Beauty’s claims are to be believed. The Australian skincare brand offers a range of toners, serums and face creams with sea cucumber collagen as the star ingredient. While it may not be getting as much attention on your FYP as snail mucin, we predict it might start to catch buzz in the beauty industry in the coming months.

To help you figure out whether sea cucumber collagen is just a fad or the next big thing in beauty, we’ve done a deep dive into what the ingredient is — and what exactly it will do to your skin — along with our honest thoughts on Bescher Beauty’s sea cucumber collagen range after trying it out for a month. It might just be the winter skincare tweak you needed.

Sea cucumbers are marine animals that reside close to the ocean floor. These unassuming creatures resemble a stodgy caterpillar and are vaguely phallic looking. They don't make the prettiest Google Image search result, that’s for sure.

As someone who was born and raised in China, I’m quite familiar with sea cucumbers and have eaten them on a number of occasions. They are a popular delicacy in Asia, and I’ve had soups and stir-frys containing air-dried versions of the sea animal.

In my culture, sea cucumbers are a pricey and highly sought-after ingredient: Its Chinese name, hai shen, literally translates to “ginseng of the seas”. According to traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, they provide a rich source for collagen, since its gelatinous body walls are literally made up of collagen. Eating sea cucumbers is believed to improve your skin’s elasticity and health in the long term, and promotes the healing of wounds.

On Bescher Beauty’s part, its products contain collagen directly extracted from sea cucumbers, but the benefits of that are a bit harder to understand. There are a lot of confusing scientific terms thrown around on the brand’s website, but essentially, it boils down to the claim that the collagen will help aid your skin’s renewal process and moisture retention.

Studies around the benefits of marine collagen is still a developing field: In the publicly available research I’ve found, sea cucumber collagen is described as a “cosmetics ingredient with great potential”, especially in building up strength and elasticity in the skin. It’s also been tapped as a suitable alternative to collagen derived from mammals, as many people are not able to use the latter due to health and religious reasons.

It’s worth noting that we have previously called collagen products a skincare myth: While they can help with moisturising the surface of your skin, it doesn’t impact the collagen levels underneath. And of course, this is still an animal by-product. So if you’re into vegan skincare, this won’t be your cup of tea.

I have to admit, I was initially a bit skeptical about trying the Sea Cucumber Collagen Regeneration Serum, the brand’s hero product. Knowing firsthand the jelly-like nature of sea cucumbers and not liking the texture of snail mucin, I was worried that the product would be too much like mucus.

Thankfully, I had nothing to worry about: The clear serum was on the runnier side and not sticky at all, and absorbed into my skin really quickly.

I used the serum, along with the Sea Cucumber Collagen Anti-Ageing Cream (£70) in the morning and evenings for about three weeks. The last quarter of the year is always a hectic period for my in terms of travel and work commitments, and my skin is extra prone to dryness, dullness and break outs. The sea cucumber collagen serum and face cream had a calming effect on my skin: My dry skin took to it right away, and didn’t feel like I was trying to break into a new product at all. About two weeks in, I noticed that my skin looked more glowy and the pigmentation has greatly subsided.

I was impressed by how supple and healthy my skin looked after using the products regularly, but I did feel like I needed a bit of extra moisture while using them in the winter months. I loved how lightweight the face cream is, and my face never felt greasy even after applying it generously, but I find that I needed an extra something — such as a face oil — to seal in the moisture in the colder and drier months. Overall, I feel like this would work very well as part of a daytime routine or in the summer, or for people who don't like heavy skincare products in general.