Maybe you’ve seen white birches in landscapes near where you live. Maybe you’ve seen or owned a beautiful little birch bark basket. Or you might have had a drink of refreshing birch beer. It’s clear that the birch tree is a useful plant in a lot of ways, but did you know that it’s good for your skin too?
Why use birch products in skincare?
Birch sap, birch juice, and birch extract are some of the ways you might find birch included in skincare products. But why is it used in skincare?
Birch has been used in Europe for centuries due to the nutrients it contains. It’s usually consumed as a drink or in food, but it is also used in skincare.
There are a few different kinds of birch ingredients out there. Birch juice is typically juice extracted from the leaves of the birch tree, while birch water is the collected sap of the tree. Birch oil may be an extract of birch bark in a carrier oil, while birch essential oil is usually steam distilled from the birch bark.
Any of these ingredients may contain the nutrients and other components of birch that benefit human health.
Birch water contains minerals like magnesium, calcium, manganese, and zinc. It also contains varying amounts of B complex vitamins and vitamin C.
But that’s not all.
Birch ingredients also contain tannins and triterpenes that have antioxidant and astringent properties.
It’s also a natural source of niacinamide.
The benefits of birch products in skincare
The benefits of birch products in skincare have been studied, and while these studies were performed in labs and not on real people, there are promising results.
In vitro studies have demonstrated that application of birch to skin appears to stimulate fibroblast production. Fibroblasts are the cells in your body that produce connective tissue. That means that they also build the collagen matrix that supports your skin and keeps it supple and flexible.
Studies also show that birch sap boosts keratinocyte production. Keratinocytes are the cells that make up the outermost layer of your skin, the stratum corneum. These cells make up the protective layer of your skin and are tougher than underlying skin cells. They’re cemented together with ceramide and help keep your skin from drying out or becoming infected.
In skincare, this new cell production is referred to as “cell turnover.” As you age, your production of these skin cells tends to slow, which means that your skin is producing less collagen, and your stratum corneum is becoming thinner and more fragile. Increasing cell turnover is a way to slow the aging of your skin.
We offer a birch concentrate that is produced from the leaves of the birch tree and refined without any solvents.
How to incorporate birch into your skincare routine
As with many ingredients in skincare, you want to use your birch products in a leave-on product. Things like serums, creams, moisturizers, and masks work well. If you use birch in a cleanser, this is just going to be rinsed off of your skin before you have the opportunity to reap the full benefits.
Birch products are gentle enough that you can use them every day, and this is the best way to work toward the results you want.
When and how you use birch products depends on the product! In a toner, apply after you have washed your face and patted it dry.
As a serum, put it on after your toner but before your moisturizer.
Your birch moisturizer goes on after your serum and before any makeup.
While birch products are considered safe to use on your skin, reactions can occur with any product. If skin irritation results, stop using your birch product immediately.
How to use birch in your DIY skincare products
If you’re developing your own birch skincare products, here are a few things to know.
First, birch sap and birch leaf juice are water soluble, so you’ll want to use them in water based products like serums and toners. When including birch in an emulsified product, like a moisturizer or cream, you’ll want to add it in the liquid phase, or with your cooldown phase.
Recommended dosage rate is between 1% and 10%. Typically serums will have a higher concentration of active ingredients than other products like toner or moisturizer.
So there are the reasons why you might want to introduce birch into your skincare routine, some things to look out for, and how to use it in your own DIY skincare products. It’s a great ingredient to help keep your skin healthy and moisturized.
