Mycelium shielding for optimal hair protection

COVID-19 has accelerated economic change, including a laser focus on sustainable practices. As consumer awareness evolves, environmental and traceability concerns spearhead new product development, not only in personal care, but also every societal facet. Many convenient technologies, such as plastic packaging, harm the environment, but nature can also offer solutions for versatile and biodegradable alternatives. In nature, mycelium is the final decomposer, working to make components available for reuse in the ecosystem; a true circle of life. 

Fungi are at the forefront of an environmental and medicinal movement, making them essential for the future of the planet as well as health and innate immunity. Growing awareness of health boosting superfoods, especially in the midst of a global pandemic, has contributed to research in mycology, or the study of fungi. Consumers are typically familiar with mushrooms, due to their popularity throughout food and nutrition, yet only recently has the magic of mycelium taken centre stage. Harnessing this innovative potential, Lentinus Edodes (Shiitake) Mycelium Extract is the beginning of a mycelium expansion into personal care through the creation of a sustainable technology to shield and strengthen the hair.

Mycelium, or the root structure of mushrooms, co-exist in nature’s complex communities forming symbiotic relationships with various plants and ecosystems. Mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus consisting of a single-cell wide interwoven mass of threadlike hyphae. Fungi do not reproduce by seed or photosynthesize like plants. Instead, they reproduce by spores. These spores germinate to produce hyphae. Under the right conditions, the mycelium may send out a ‘bloom’, which is the visible fruiting body better known as a mushroom.