Licorice boasts a number of active ingredients and properties that give your skin some serious love, especially when it comes to protecting and brightening. Here are just a few of the reasons why licorice root benefits your skin:

Dark spot brightening
#1: Helps hyperpigmentation
Improving hyperpigmentation is one of this plant’s most well known attributes. Hyperpigmentation occurs when your skin produces more melanin in certain patches or spots than in others, giving skin an uneven tone and darkened appearance.

This often happens because of free radical exposure: free radicals can damage melanin-forming skin cells and prompt them to produce excess pigment. Licorice root combats this process by hindering melanin and free radical production. That’s part of why gentle, effective dark spot removers contain licorice root extract to help even out skin spots.

#2: Carries glycyrrhizin, a powerful antioxidant
Licorice does well in treating atopic dermatitis, rosacea, and psoriasis – and you can thank glycyrrhizin (glys-err-eye-zin) for that! It’s the acid responsible for making licorice taste sweet. The official name for the licorice plant is Glycyrrhiza glabra root, which is what you’ll find as the key ingredient in our Brightening Serum.

Glycyrrhizin is anti-inflammatory, which means less redness and irritation for inflamed, irritated skin. As an antioxidant, it protects our skin against free radicals. Some of the most obvious signs of free radical damage show up on our epidermis, and sun damage is one of the most prevalent stressors in daily life. This is why it’s so important to protect yourself from UV rays with a clean, cruelty-free sunscreen!

#3: Contains glabridin, a UV-fighting super ingredient
Glabridin (glab-rye-din) is one of the most active ingredients in licorice root extract. This substance helps diminish any dark spots you have from scarring or sun damage. It also prevents pigmentation from UVB rays by inhibiting tyrosinase, an enzyme that causes dark pigments after sun exposure.