THE BEAUTY OF BACTERIA
BACTERIA HAS HAD SOMETHING OF A MAKEOVER. IT WAS ONCE CONFINED TO CONVERSATIONS AROUND THE EFFICACY OF HOUSEHOLD CLEANING PRODUCTS, BUT A WEALTH OF RESEARCH AND RESULTING BUZZ AROUND THE NATURAL MICROBIOME IN HUMAN BODIES HAS TURNED BIOTICS – BOTH PRE AND PRO – INTO MAINSTREAM TERMINOLOGY. FRIDGE DOORS BECAME LINED WITH KEFIR AND BRUNCH WASN’T BRUNCH WITHOUT SOURDOUGH. THE SHIFT HAS GIVEN RISE TO A WHOLE NEW INDUSTRY OF PROBIOTIC FOODS AND SUPPLEMENTS, AND NOW – NEVER ONE TO BE LEFT BEHIND – THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY IS AFTER ITS OWN PIECE OF THE PIE.
The truth is that your skin is literally covered in bacteria.
At any given moment, trillions of microscopic single-cell organisms can be found whiling away the day on the top layer of your epidermis. It’s a microbiome, just as you have a microbiome in your gut, and it exists all over your skin – face and body. “Our microbiome is helpful to the body; if these get into the bloodstream and are transported to skin cells, they’ve been shown to trigger inflammation, acne, redness and dryness, says French cosmetic doctor Marie Drago. If the skin microbiome is compromised in a similar way – say, by applying products that are too abrasive or acidic or eating lots of high-sugar foods – you’re more vulnerable to environmental stressors, such as pollution and UV rays, resulting in inflammation, loss of elasticity, acne, rosacea, sun damage and more. So, the thinking goes that if consuming probiotic foods can help you maintain a healthy gut, feeding your skin with probiotics can also help the dermis.
