Licorice root turns up in two very different places: in a standardised cosmetic extract with a specified glabridin content, and in a jar of mulethi powder from a grocery shop. Both are licorice, and the difference between them is most of what there is to say about the ingredient.
The compounds
Licorice root contains a large number of substances. Two matter for skin.
Glabridin is found in the oil fraction of Glycyrrhiza glabra, and it is the one with the pigmentation evidence. It inhibits tyrosinase, the enzyme melanocytes use to assemble melanin, which puts it on the same pathway as alpha arbutin and kojic acid. It is also anti-inflammatory.
Liquiritin works differently. Rather than slowing melanin production, it appears to help disperse pigment that already exists, which is a different and less well-characterised effect.
Formulas sometimes name glabridin directly and sometimes list the root extract, and the two tell you very different amounts about what is inside.
Why the extract matters more than the plant
Glabridin content in licorice root extract varies enormously depending on the species, the growing conditions and the extraction method. A standardised extract states its glabridin percentage; an unstandardised one may contain a fraction of it. Two products both listing Glycyrrhiza glabra root extract can differ by an order of magnitude in the compound doing the work.
This is why mulethi powder, however traditional, is not a substitute. The active fraction is oil soluble and present in small amounts in the root, and neither a paste nor an infusion concentrates it. What a mulethi pack delivers is mostly what any pack delivers: brief hydration and a mild surface effect, the same conclusion reached about rice water and turmeric.
Where it sits among the brightening actives
It is the gentle end of the tyrosinase group. Less potent than kojic acid, less researched than arbutin, better tolerated than either, and almost never the cause of irritation.
That makes it a sensible choice in three situations. For skin that has reacted to stronger actives. For pigmentation that sits alongside redness, since the anti-inflammatory side is genuine. And as a supporting ingredient in a formula whose main active is doing the heavy work, which is where it most often appears in practice.
Kojic acid against alpha arbutin covers the two better-documented options on the same pathway, and the honest ranking is that licorice sits below both on strength and above both on tolerability.
What to expect
Slow. Everything on this pathway is slow, because it works by reducing new pigment production rather than by removing pigment already deposited. Existing marks fade at the pace of skin turnover regardless of what is slowing the supply, which is the point made in how long pigmentation takes to fade.
Modest. It will not do what a prescription will do, and what skin brightening means is the boundary that applies to it as much as to anything else: evening the look of marks rather than changing tone.
Dependent on sun protection. A tyrosinase inhibitor with an unprotected face is a tap being turned down while the other one runs.
Layering
It is one of the least troublesome ingredients to combine. It sits comfortably with niacinamide, with vitamin C, with acids and with retinoids, and it is often included specifically to reduce the irritation those cause. There is no meaningful stability problem and no pH requirement to work around.
The ingredient pairing checker covers the combinations Cham has written about.
Safety notes
Topical licorice extract is well tolerated and allergic reactions are uncommon. Patch testing still applies, as with any new ingredient.
One thing worth separating: the cautions attached to licorice in pregnancy and in high blood pressure relate to eating it in quantity, where glycyrrhizin affects potassium and blood pressure. Those concerns do not transfer to a cosmetic extract applied to the face, and conflating the two is a common source of unnecessary worry.
Cham makes no licorice product. The range works the same pathway through alpha arbutin in the face mask and niacinamide throughout, which is a formulation choice rather than a judgment on the ingredient. If a licorice serum has suited skin that reacted to stronger actives, that is a sensible place to be and there is nothing here suggesting a change.
