When we heard about the world’s first nutricosmetics cafe finding a home in none other than Green Point, we couldn’t wait to see what it was all about. ERTH Café, owned by THE SKIN CO, is a tranquil space located on Green Point Main Road, offering a host of delicious meals and elixirs that specifically target your skin to promote optimal skin health and vibrance.

ERTH is more than just another health cafe, it’s a study in cruelty-free, ethical skin care supplements that are made to complement your diet and promote long term glow, from the inside out. We visited ERTH to find out more about their philosophy and how they have uniquely incorporated nutricosmetics into their menu in an accessible and easy-to-understand manner.

What are Nutricosmetics?

A new concept to many, nutricosmetics are natural, food-grade active ingredients, such as hyaluronic acid, resveratrol and collagen, that are added to one’s daily diet to boost long term skin health. At ERTH, they serve their nutricosmetics in small, high-dose shots that are added to your juice, smoothie or meal, at no extra cost to you. Everytime you go to ERTH, you’re receiving a strong boost of these powerful ingredients, in both your meals and your drinks.

We suspect many of you don’t know exactly what each of these nutricosmetics actually do (we didn’t either… ) so we’ve broken them down to explain each ingredient’s role in skin health.

Hyaluronic Acid

You’ve probably heard of this ingredient before (from one of your fave skinfluencers no doubt) as it’s all the rage at the moment and for good reason. Hyaluronic Acid (HA) is a gooey substance naturally produced by the body and is most commonly found in our skin where it binds to water to retain moisture, making the skin look and feel healthier and more supple.

Although we naturally produce our own HA, frequent exposure to the sun and other pollutants can decrease the body’s ability to produce enough for our skin to remain looking healthy and full of moisture. Taking HA supplements in the form of nutricosmetics, as well as topical products, will hugely improve your skin’s ability to retain moisture, resulting in a constant glow. It also helps reduce signs of ageing, scarring and skin trauma. HA taken orally, like you’d be doing at ERTH, also has the added benefit of improving joint and bone health.

Collagen

The word on the tip of everyone’s tongue at the moment, collagen is proven to help reduce signs of ageing in the skin by boosting hydration and elasticity. At ERTH, they serve marine collagen from sustainably caught fish. ERTH incorporates marine collagen into their dishes, smoothies and pressed juices. For vegans, they offer a vegan phytocermamide, or collagen alternative.

Resveratrol

A powerful antioxidant derived from none other than fermented red grapes (see, drinking red wine isn’t all bad), resveratrol has been proven to help fight diabetes and has shown promising signs in cancer cell research. In addition to its internal health properties, it’s been shown to have powerful skin brightening and anti-aging properties as well. An all-round power supplement to have in your arsenal.

What to Expect at ERTH

ERTH have developed their menu around incorporating these potent elixirs into your everyday meals and beverages. They are tasteless, so can easily be added to a pressed juice without changing the flavour of it and can also withstand heat of up to 90℃.

Expect to see menu items like a Vegan GRN Bowl with a HA dressing or a Hot Quinoa Breakfast Bowl with resveratrol. They also boast an extensive pressed juice offering from the Moon Juice with activated charcoal, spinach, ginger and hyaluronic acid to Eternal Glow with orange, carrot, ginger, HA, marine collagen and resveratrol. If you’re looking for a quick pick-me-up, try one of their cold pressed shots. The Beauty Shot is a potent elixir of beetroot, celery, ginger, HA, resveratrol and marine collagen or vegan phytoceramides. It makes you feel instantly alive!

Everything on the menu has been carefully chosen with skin health and glow in mind. THE SKIN CO, as a company, is also dedicated to cruelty free and ethical practices, so you’ll find plenty of vegan options on their predominantly plant-based menu.

Advocates for Long Term Skin Health

ERTH pride themselves in educating their customers about how to transition to a lifestyle that supports healthy, youthful skin. Incorporating nutricosmetics into your daily, or weekly diet will show better long-term results than if it was just a once-in-a-blue-moon treat. All of these nutricosmetics are also available as topical creams and ointments. Adopting a combined approach to skin health, of both nutricosmetics as well as topical creams, will show you positive results in as little as three months.

Prioritising your skin health has never been more important. We live in an environment full of toxins and irritants that work against our skin’s natural ability to fight off aging, pigmentation and puffiness. Constant exposure to the sun is a good enough reason to start paying attention to your skin and ERTH is the perfect place to start educating yourself on healthy, long-term practices. a

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