Tepezcohuite: What it Has To Do With Burn Victims & Why Salma Hayek Raves About It

It’s hard to believe that a beauty like Salma Hayek isn’t still 25 – her skin is incredibly flawless, natural, always sun kissed, and shows no signs of slowing down. We don’t judge women who opt for botox or fillers, but she’s mentioned in several interviews that she’s had no work done.

So what’s her secret? She commonly brings up Tepezcohuite, an anti-microbial yerba native to parts of Brazil and Oaxaca and Chiapas in Mexico, but also as far as El Salvador and Panama.

The shrub has been traditionally used por nuestros antepasados para things like healing tooth pain, treating a cough (by submerging the bark in water and using it like a syrup), and more popularly in modern times for wound healing – think aloe vera – which is probably why it’s also so great for dry, cracked skin. In fact, the Red Cross used Tepezcohuite during a fire in Mexico City that left 50,000 people with severe burns.

She’s told Elle magazine “Some of the ingredients, when I took them to the American labs, they were like ‘Oh my god! How come nobody is using this?’ This is why I have no Botox, no peels, no fillings. I’m 48. I will be 49 this year and I only use my creams.”