Mushroom Q&A with Dr. Andrew Weil

[SephoraSkinTeam]

Hey Community!

We’re no longer in Finland but we can’t stop talking about mushrooms! Gaby, our skincare merchant sat down with Dr. Weil—the granddaddy of wellness, mushroom enthusiast, as well as the brains behind Origins’ newly relaunched Mega-Mushroom line, to answer our top mushroom questions!

 

What is the most fascinating thing about mushrooms?

We are more closely related mushrooms than we are with plants! We share more DNA sequences with mushrooms than plants—there’s a real close connection.

In your opinion what is the biggest skin benefit for mushrooms?

They counteract inflammation, reduce redness, and protect skin from irritation

People are starting to ingest mushrooms and put it topically on their skin, in your opinion, what’s the difference between the two?

You can affect the skin both by what you put into your body and what you put on it, both approaches work, and you want to do it simultaneously. What you put in helps and affects the appearance of your skin and you do that by what you put on it as well.

Why do you think mushrooms are having such a moment right now?

Mushrooms have always had a moment in many other cultures, in China, in Japan, in Korea, Russia, and Nordic countries—they’re just suddenly have a moment in our part of the world!

Fermentation is a big trend that we’re seeing in some of the skincare products, what are the benefits to the skin?

Fermented products are more soluble in water, they’re more bioavailable, so when you ferment a product, the skin is able to use more of it.

For the mega-mushroom collection, why did you chose those (Chaga, Reishi, Lion’s Maine) mushrooms?

These are medicines that are traditionally very prominent in the traditional medicines of Korea, China and Japan and highly valued for their health effects.

Chaga mushroom is the one that is fermented in the formula, what are the skin benefits of that mushroom?

It’s a powerful inflammatory mushroom, so it reduces the skin, boosts immune defenses, and good for health in general!

What are the coolest wellness trends right now?

I’d say I would pay attention to gut health, microbiome, all these organisms inside us and how they contribute to our physical and mental well-being.

What is your favorite mushroom recipe?

I like to barbecue mushrooms—marinade them briefly and mix them in soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar—and then grill them!

Have YOUR own burning mushroom questions? Leave below and we’ll be back to answer!

[MistBerry]

Thank you for this.
I've been curious about the products, how they would help with redness and inflammation from rosacea. I'm not sure my local Sephora carries it though, so haven't been able to try it out with samples.

[curlychiquita]

This is wonderful, Gaby! I love your picture with Dr. Weil!  I don't have additional mushroom questions, but I wanted to say that I'm really excited to try his Origins line now, especially the Origins Dr. Andrew Weil Mega-Mushroom Skin Relief Face Mask! 

https://www.sephora.com/product/dr-andrew-weil-for-origins-tm-mega-mushroom-relief-resilience-soothi... grid:p429246

[SephoraSkinTeam]

The Skin Relief Face Mask is a must try! Amazing, especially in the winter when my skin is feeling extra dry!

[fashionyflowers]

I've been seeing mushrooms everywhere! So cool to see the health benefits for both skin and ingesting! 🙂