Shell ginger

Shell ginger is one of the Okinawa's most famous herbs. Its leaves are large, and from May to June it blossoms cute white flowers.

Shell ginger's excellent power

Shell ginger has high antibacterial and antioxidant power, and it has been used for food preservation in Okinawa for a long time. Recent studies have found that Shell ginger has positive effects on skin troubles, such as suppressing inflammation of the skin, suppressing atopy, and preventing aging with melanogenesis inhibiting action.

In addition, it has been found that it has an excellent bactericidal effect against the bacteria that causes acne. Because of such high functionality, it is also used as an ingredient for cosmetics in Okinawa.

Rare ingredient

Two types of shell ginger are mainly used as an ingredient of cosmetics: Okinawa origin Shima shell ginger and Taiwan origin Tailin shell ginger. These two types have different extracting rates of oils: while Tailin shell ginger can extract 100 cc of leaf oil from leaves of 100 kg, Shima shell ginger can only collect 30 cc.

Leaf oil of pure Shima shell ginger is becoming more rare as producers in the main island of Okinawa are more often combining Shima shell ginger with Tailin shell ginger.

Handmade extraction by our partner shell ginger farmer

Farmers cultivating Shima shell ginger in Nakijin village in Okinawa Prefecture extract leaf oil manually. Instead of using chemical solvents like alcohol and BG, our farmers gently extract leaf oil using a steam distillation method. This allows babies and pregnant women to more safely use our product.

Steam distillation method

First, we dry the leaves of the Shima shell ginger, then mince them into the kettle. Then we place the groundwater and heat it, so the oil will come out containing the leaf extract in the steam. We take out the leaf oil from the top of the collected water by taking the steam and cooling it. Since shell ginger leaf ingredients have melted into the water after extracting the leaf oil, it will become an ingredient for lotion and floral water.