Is TCM The Answer To Better Skin?

Trusted and practised for generations, growing interest in TCM today now includes beauty, particularly from young women.

- Goh Yee Huay

Feeling “heaty” and breaking out in zits? Drink lots of cooling herbal teas like chrysanthemum. Fatigued and in need of a boost? Time for some ginseng chicken soup.

For many Chinese, these little pearls of time-honoured wisdom have long been part and parcel of their culture and upbringing. And now, it seems, these traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) concepts are increasingly being tapped for beauty purposes.

This isn’t exactly a new development – after all, skin nourishers like bird’s nest and pearl powder have long been staples in medicine halls. However, it has been given a significant boost in recent times by the booming wellness trend.

Jolene Wong, co-founder of local brand Grandma Lotus, which offers ready-to-drink TCM herbal brews, says: “Lifestyles have changed over the years. There is a growing emphasis on natural ingredients.”

“Consumers are realising that outer beauty starts from inner wellness,” adds Melissa Aw-Bamadhaj, the brand’s co-founder.

And now, with the anxiety caused by the pandemic and a greater emphasis on mental health, consumers are turning to TCM to deal with stress and achieve a more balanced body.

Balance, synergy and holistic care are very much what TCM and, by extension, TCM beauty is about. According to Serene Ang, a trained pharmacist who created her TCM skincare label 5erenity2 after Western medicine failed to treat her vitiligo, both are built on the same principles.

“In TCM beauty products, all the ingredients must work synergistically with one another to bring about balance and healing to the skin,” she says.