It’s important to find a skincare routine and products that suit both your skin type and lifestyle. This will help you get your skin under control and also allow you to indulge in a skincare treat every evening, taking time for yourself and relaxing after a busy day.
But, did you know that all of us have billions of skin bacteria living on our bodies and faces right now? That’s right, we’re home to lots of little living things, including a lot of bacteria. Whilst this may sound a bit horrible, these are actually really good for us and help to keep our skin healthy and glowing.
What is the microbiome?
This community of living microorganisms on our skin is called our microbiome. Our microbiome works to protect our skin and keep our skin barrier working well.
When our microbiome becomes disrupted it could lead to inflammatory skin conditions such as eczema and rosacea flaring up. This is why it’s good to keep an eye on what products you are putting onto your skin, some ingredients such as prebiotics and probiotics help to balance the levels of good and bad bacteria leading to a healthier microbiome.
What can disrupt your microbiome?
Although the thought of lots of different microorganisms living on your skin may instantly make you want to grab your exfoliator and scrub them off - don’t!!!
As we’ve explained, these are our friends and are all working together to keep our skin healthy, radiant and glowing. The last thing we want to do is remove the good bacteria from our skin, as they help to protect it.
Using harsh products that contain a lot of soap and sulfates can massively disrupt your microbiome. These can create a chemical environment for your microbiome and can disrupt good bacteria from working and doing their job.
Other activities that can disrupt our microbiome include, scrubbing skin too much, over cleansing your skin, waxing and even shaving. But there are ways that we can help towards protecting our microbiome and replenishing any good bacteria that has been lost along the way.
How Can I Help Replenish my Microbiome?
Using gentle products on your skin is probably the best and easiest way to keep your microbiome as healthy as possible. Products that include prebiotics and probiotics work great because they feed and nourish your microbiome.
Probiotics are live bacteria that live both inside and outside our bodies. They help to keep our microflora healthy by restoring the levels of good and bad bacteria in the gut, replacing any good bacteria that may have been lost.
They also help to balance the skin and reduce inflammation. This is why we’ve included them in our new and first probiotic product - our 360 Eye and Lip Contour. The probiotics in this cream help to reduce dark circles and puffiness.
Prebiotics are a type of fiber that feed the probiotics in our bodies. They help to restore and balance our microbiota, which is why we’ve reboosted our Daily Defence Moisture Mist with an added addition of prebiotics! These prebiotics not only balance the good bacteria on our skin but also reduce irritation and help to protect our skin against bad bacteria.
Altogether, be more gentle on your skin. Think about these little friends who live there and look after it for you. Use products that care for them rather than get rid of them.
