The Next Big Thing In Skincare? The Skin Microbiome

Welcome to the future of skincare

If you’ve ever taken a probiotic, eaten yogurt, or sipped on a glass of kombucha, you were feeding the trillion-strong community of benevolent microorganisms that make up your microbiome. Breaking new research into the many skin benefits of a balanced microbiome have made it the new enfant chéri for both the health and beauty worlds. It’s likely that you already know about the importance of the microbiome that exists in the gut. What you may not know is that the skin also has its own microbiome. And understanding it will help define the future of anti-aging skincare.

What is your microbiome?

Essentially, the skin microbiome is an ecosystem composed of countless types of microorganisms which vary in type and number from person to person. Though you inherit yours from your mother at birth, with time and exposure to new environments, your skin microbiome becomes completely unique.

Everyone’s skin microbiome has at least one thing in common: its balance is essential for your skin’s health and appearance. A balanced skin microbiome essentially acts as an invisible line of defense against potential aggressors that can stress skin. It also plays a crucial role in the skin’s ability to recover. Naturally, this discovery is providing fresh insight into the way we should take care of our skin.

How to improve skin microbiome?

As with any ecosystem, the microbiome is affected by the world around it. Larger factors like climate, age, and lifestyle can change its make-up, as can small, individual factors like shower habits. By providing the skin microbiome with probiotics (or beneficial bacteria), we can nourish it with skincare ingredients that are essential to its balance. In addition, probiotics can be made more effective by pairing them with a kind of ‘food’ known as prebiotics.

Thanks to our advanced microbiome research, we now have an even deeper understanding of how a balanced microbiome is essential for skin’s health and appearance. At Lancôme, we’ve already begun tapping into the potential of skin microbiome science with the new enriched formula for Advanced Génifique anti-aging serum, which contains a complex made of 7 beneficial pre- and probiotic fractions and acts on the skin microbiome. Naturally, our research continues—and we can’t wait to see what new insight it will bring.