This Legal Way To Celebrate 4/20 Has One Side Effect: Good Skin

For the uninitiated, the 20th of April is internationally recognized as ‘Weed Day’. Where marijuana is legal, it’s a blazing holiday that's history remains a mystery but has roots that stretch back to the 1970s. In the UK where the drug remains off-limits, it’s an esoteric interest that’s marked merely by the occasional puffer and the prolific pothead. Right now a burgeoning beauty trend is attempting to change this.

While still in its infancy, kush as a cosmetic ingredient is gaining ground. Milk Makeup has just launched a cannabis-infused mascara, Holland & Barrett has started stocking hemp oil and Space NK sell a Malin+Goetz range that’s not just scented but made from the pot plant.

Simply put, the cannabis plant is composed of hundreds of different chemical compounds (cannabinoids), of which the most famous is psychoactive THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). While in places like California and Amsterdam, where dope is more accessible, THC is used among other things to treat inflammation, it can only be accessed here in small doses - anything over 0.3% is illegal. That said, there is one active ingredient, CBD (cannabidiol) that can be legally harvested in the UK. It’s this cannabis off-shoot that’s giving beauty buffs a buzz.

Harvard Medical School recently published a study that confirmed that marijuana is ‘a fantastic muscle relaxant’, that it helps with chronic pain, manages nausea, combats IBS, PTSD and alleviates insomnia, anxiety and eating disorders. But, it’s not just the mental but the physical effects of this powerful plant that have become a topic of study, Dr Sarah Shah from Bespoke Aesthetics told Grazia, ‘Patients with acne and seborrheic dermatitis were treated with a 3% cannabis-seed extract cream, and results showed they went on to have lower levels of skin sebum and erythema (or redness)’. Not only does it regulate sebum but also moisture retention and in turn treats acne, wrinkles and eczema.

See: The Cannabis Beauty Products That Will Give You A Buzz

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.