The Microorganisms in the Beauty Aisle

Certain products or treatments can, at least in theory, help maintain that balance and provide specific benefits. After all, that old beauty trick — a simple yogurt mask — was used by the Greeks millenniums ago and has been adopted by many other cultures since. The lactic acid produced by the probiotics in the food can break down dead skin cells, gently exfoliating the skin and brightening its tone.

While a yogurt treatment remains affordable and accessible — just stop by the dairy aisle of your local grocery — new products promise exfoliation and more. This spring, the New York-based skin-care brand Holifrog launched its Utopia Toner, a watery formula meant to be applied after cleansing that, unlike traditional toners, doesn’t strip the skin. It contains isolates of Lactobacillus bulgarius, a probiotic, and oligosaccharides, prebiotics, which the brand says will improve skin tone and elasticity by promoting cellular renewal, speeding up skin repair and increasing collagen synthesis. The Swiss brand Valmont uses similar ingredients in its Primary line, devised specifically to protect and encourage balance in the skin’s microbiome. Its Primary Cream, a light formula that soothes and strengthens, is particularly well suited for acne-prone skin because of its inclusion of panthenol (also known as vitamin B5) and lactic acid.

The products of the Los Angeles-based skin-care brand Venn, many of which contain pre- and postbiotics, are the result of decades of microbiome research conducted in South Korea by the label’s scientific advisory board. Its Synbiotic Defense Mist improves upon typical water-based face mists, which quickly evaporate and leave the skin dry again. “We replaced water with probiotic ferments,” says Venn’s founder, Brian Oh. “The probiotics get broken down into postbiotics, including hyaluronic acid, vitamins and peptides, which nourish and hydrate.”

Oh’s isn’t the only company experimenting with fermentation, or the process by which microbes like probiotics break down organic molecules. “Because fermentation makes the molecules smaller, the product can penetrate the skin surface more deeply,” says Jeff Rosevear, the head of skin-care research and development for new brands at Unilever; the company’s new line, Ferver, has a serum made with fermented collagen. Symbiome also uses some fermented ingredients, as with its new body oil the Premise. It contains only six ingredients, five of them postbiotic oils that, before they’re fermented, are sourced sustainably from the Amazon.