Chaga Skin Food

We all love and adore adding our medicinal mushrooms to our favorite meals, coffee, tea, smoothies, chocolates and beyond! Well, another upcoming trend that you may be aware of is beauty care products that use medicinal mushrooms like chaga, reishi, maitake, shiitake, and tremella. We've been intrigued by the idea of adding mushroom extracts to body care for some time. So, we felt inspired and curious to explore this idea some more!

This is a classic skin balm inspired by a great recipe we found in the book Healing Mushrooms by Tero Isokauppila. It is both calming and hydrating as it is rich in shea, cacao butter, and coconut oil. These stable and soothing fats help nourish and moisturize dry skin. The addition of Chaga, which contains the unique compounds called SOD (superoxide dismutase) and melanin, which further boosts its skin nourishment and protective factors from everyday stressors like environmental toxins, UV light, dehydration, and nutrient-poor food. This skin food can really help during those times when you are putting your skin through the wringer! I hope you like it! If you make it be sure to tag us. We would love to see it! 🙂

Chaga Skin Food Ingredients

• 9 Tbsp shea butter
• 6 Tbsp extra virgin coconut oil
• 3 Tbsp cacao butter
• 10 drops tea tree oil (feel free to experiment with different essential oil blends here!)
• 2 tsp Real Mushrooms Chaga extract

Directions

1. Using the double boiler method. Add the shea, cacao, and coconut oil. Melt at low heat until everything is mixed just right. Be mindful not to turn the heat up too much!
2. Next, add your desired essential oils and chaga powdered extract. Use a whisk to combine everything nicely. Once you have done so. Pour into a small mason jar or some other fun creative jar you intend to use! Store in the refrigerator. It will need at least a 2-4 hours to solidify. You can then store at room temperature. This will keep for roughly a couple of years. ENJOY!!

Ingredient Benefits

• Chaga – Contains SOD (superoxide dismutase) and melanin, which boosts skin nourishment and protective factors from everyday stressors like environmental toxins, UV light, dehydration, and nutrient-poor food.
• Shea butter, extra virgin coconut oil, cacao butter – This trifecta of natural moisturizers mimic the oil our skin naturally produces and therefore their fatty acids are readily absorbed by our skin to hydrate it. They are also known to possess their own antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, so are helpful in repairing damaged, irritated, and inflamed skin.
• Tea tree oil – This essential oil has anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties which make it ideal for protecting abraded skin from infection, helping to diminish skin inflammation, and even to repair skin from acne lesions.

To learn more about how mushroom extracts can be used for skin care, read our article Mushroom Benefits for Skin: 5 Ways Fungi Foster Dermal Health.