5 THINGS PROBIOTICS DO FOR YOUR SKIN:
- They protect you from pathogens (like armour for your face)
- They improve barrier function
- They maintain calm and reduce sensitivity
- They manufacture moisturising factors
- They maintain skin pH
Skin armour
Probiotics protect your skin from pathogens. They form a layer and use all the available nutrients so that opportunistic pathogens can’t colonise. They also produce anti-microbial peptides that make life really tough for incoming bad guys.
Barrier Function
Tight junctions are “stitches” between skin cells that keep water in and toxins and pathogens out. They are essential for good barrier function. Lactobacillus has been shown to improve the quality and quantity of tight junctions in skin.
Probiotics for sensitivity
Probiotic bacteria on the skin can communicate with your skin’s immune system to keep it in check so that it doesn’t overreact. The improvement of barrier function also prevents many toxins from penetrating the skin in the first place.
Probiotic moisturisers
Probiotic bacteria can produce Hyaluronic Acid, which is an intensely moisturising active that naturally holds moisture in your skin. They have also been shown to decrease trans-epidermal water loss and improve skin hydration by improving barrier function in skin.
pH
As we age, our skin’s pH drifts higher and higher. Many probiotics produce Lactic Acid and other acids that keep your skin’s pH in the optimal range … 4,5 to 5. A little help to keep the pH down will be welcomed by your skin.