Just when you’d got your head around taking probiotics every morning, prebiotics came along. And now? It’s all about postbiotics. While they might sound like a new art movement, postbiotics are actually the skincare ingredient your skin’s stressed-out microbiome has been dreaming about.
Here’s the need to know…
1. They’re rubbish
No, really. Let’s take a look at the biotic food chain. Probiotics are the ‘live bacteria’ and yeasts that make up our microbiome (and your favourite yoghurt drink). Prebiotics are like the food for these probiotics, helping good bacteria multiply and keeping a healthy balance of bacteria on the skin. Like their name suggests, postbiotics come at the end of the chain as the by-products of these bacteria.
Produced during the fermentation process, postbiotics include probiotic cell fragments, chemical by-products and ‘waste’ from the dead probiotic bacteria. Although it sounds pretty unappealing, this fermentation process releases all the nutrients from inside the bacteria cell, making it available to nourish our skin.
2. They’re all about diversity
Our skin is home to about one billion microbes per square centimeter. If that gives you the ick, it’s important to remember that these tiny microbes can have a huge impact on our skin health – both good and bad.
Postbiotics play an important role in keeping this microbe population naturally rich and diverse, giving us a better chance of a healthy microbiome (the mix of types and number of microbes).
3. Healthy microbiome = healthy skin
If you’re wondering why any of this is important, our skin’s microbiome is key to clear, healthy-looking skin.
The mix of microbes on our skin influences everything from our skin’s ability to fight off pathogens to our ability to deal with the effects of air pollution. Changes in our skin’s microbiome have been linked to inflammatory conditions including acne, psoriasis and rosacea.
4. They’re an ideal skincare ingredient
‘Live’ microbes can be tricky to formulate into skincare that will last on our bathroom shelves. A bit like Tamogotchis, they require regular feeding and a controlled environment.
As postbiotics are not ‘live’ they’re much easier to store and deliver to the skin, helping to diversify and balance the microbe population without concerns over which microbes are in the mix. Postbiotics have also been shown to have a hydrating, anti-inflammatory effect, making them an ideal skincare ingredient to add to your routine whenever skin has been through stress.
The SkinHit Balancing Serum with Prebiotic and Postbiotic uses a blend of postbiotics and prebiotics to restore balance back to the skin. Helping to speed up barrier repair and giving the skin’s renewal process a much needed boost, these clever microbes keep skin strong and resilient.
5. You’re probably already using postbiotics
Using lactic acid? You’re already using postbiotics. Although it’s also made by the human body (and the culprit for your post-workout muscle soreness), the lactic acid in our skincare is a glow-boosting and pH balancing by-product of the probiotic bacteria lactobacillus.
