What It Is
Centella asiatica is a perennial herb used in Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine. Skincare uses an extract of the leaves rather than the plant itself.
The active components
There are four main ones: asiaticoside, madecassoside, asiatic acid and madecassic acid. Together they are called centellosides. Different extracts contain different ratios of them, which explains why two products listing centella can behave quite differently.
How It Works
Centella’s main value lies in calming visible redness and supporting the skin barrier. Which is exactly why it turns up so often in after-treatment products and in care for reactive skin.
What the data says
Centella is among the better-studied botanicals, but much of that research was done in vitro or on animal models rather than on human skin in real conditions. The figures quoted in marketing materials most often come from there, and are worth reading with that in mind.
Who It Suits
Sensitive, flush-prone skin, skin after exfoliation or a treatment, and skin recovering from an over-active routine. It is exceptionally well tolerated and rarely irritates. A full regime is in our sensitive skin routine.
How to Use It
In a serum, essence or cream, morning and evening. It combines well with almost anything, and particularly neatly with niacinamide and panthenol, which pull in the same direction.
A useful trick
Cica, Centella and Madecassoside: Are They the Same
Cica is short for cicatrisant and is used as a marketing term for a whole category of soothing products. Not every product labelled cica contains centella, and not every one that does has it at a working level.
Madecassoside is one of the individual centellosides and is sometimes isolated and used on its own. A product naming the specific component and its percentage is usually more transparent than one that simply says “centella extract”.
What to Expect, and When
The sense of calmed skin arrives quickly, often within days. A visible reduction in redness takes longer: usually a few weeks, provided you are not adding new irritants during that time.
Centella is not aimed at wrinkles, pigmentation or blemishes. If you expect that, you will be disappointed, not because the ingredient is weak but because its job is a different one.
Common Mistakes
The first is using it as a rescue after an over-aggressive routine without changing the routine itself. A soothing product on skin that is still being exfoliated three times a week solves nothing.
The second is expecting it to remove existing redness caused by dilated vessels. Couperose and rosacea have a different mechanism and need a different approach, including a medical one.
If you use retinol or acids, apply a centella product on the evenings between them. Skin gets a rest without the routine going empty, and irritation is less likely to build up.
