How to strengthen your microbiome?

FIRST

Indulge yourself in washing your face twice a day - once is still a baaaay! 

Morning facial cleansing is, in most cases, completely unnecessary, because you are then washing away everything that your skin has so bravely produced for you throughout the night. 

And if you need a morning refresher, just splurge!!! and rinse your facial skin with plain water or do one puff!!! and spray it with a floral mist, but don't scrub and clean and lather anymore. And if you can't imagine life without morning cleansing then choose a cleansing oil for this task, not the foam of the century. Because an oil won't disrupt your skin barrier and won't rinse as many ingredients out of your priceless stratum corneum. 

Don't believe it? 

Studies show (link here and here) how foaming detergents wash super effectively, but in the process leach valuable components of your skin - like ceramides and lipids - from the stratum corneum , leading to redness, dryness and disruption of the skin barrier that is home to our microbiome. 

So keep foam to a minimum. And for the brave, I encourage you to completely eliminate such products from your daily care. And what! You can do it anyway 🙂 Try for a month to wash your face and body with oils (regular or those hydrophilic ones that turn into a milk in contact with water) and you'll see that you won't walk around dirty like Cinderella at all, and your skin will repay you with a glow. 

When it comes to skin, health does not mean super clean.

_{dermatologist Dr. Whitney Bowe} 

FIRST LIFE CHANGE:
Introduce one cleansing facial massage a day with a cleansing oil or oleo-gel. And say goodbye to piano.

SECOND:

Allow yourself and your skin 100% nature, not just 99% 

Because that inconspicuous 1% is most often an artificial preservative that, while super effective in killing any bad bacteria in your cream (and praise for that), also wreaks havoc on the good ones in the process, disrupting your microbiome - the natural life of your skin. 

And even if we add a dose of probiotics, prebiotics or postbiotics (e.g., ferments) to the cream of preservatives, you can imagine how little they will be able to do for us if their enemy is lurking just around the corner. The addition of one or two select probiotic strains is far too little to rebuild a system as complex and diverse as our microbiome. 

Let your skin live 🙂 

The easiest place to start is by eliminating the ingredients that disrupt this life. Artificial preservatives and foaming detergents (including those of natural origin) are the two main ingredients that contribute to reducing the diversity on our skin.(Click!) For that, contact with real nature, not the one from the lab, strengthens our skin's flora (research here and here). 

If your cosmetic also consists of true, 100% nature, all the more cool. Then, your microbiome can become your best beautician over time and start taking care of you. And not the other way around. 

Anything with a preservative in it probably damages some of your skin's microflora. 

_{physician and author Dr. James Hamblin author of the book "Clean"} 

SECOND LIFE CHANGE:
Make friends with forests and meadows and say no to preservatives. Or use only natural ones, but not every day, to increase the diversity of your microbiome.

THIRD

Discover the hidden power of vegetable oils 

Oils do not need preservatives. Natural vitamin E, the so-called vitamin of youth, extends their expiration date, and other bioactive ingredients in them make them capable of delaying the aging process (link here), have anti-inflammatory effects, repair the skin barrier, promote wound healing and protect the skin from water loss. Wow! Research here. 

However, you need to know which botanical oils to use, and which are best to stay away from. Moreover, many of the bioactive components in lipids are sensitive to heat. When refining oils, temperatures reach 100-200°C , and when making emulsions (i.e. creams) about 70-80°C. So look for creams made by the "cold" method, or even better - enjoy pure face oil instead of cream. 

Raw, cold pressed and unrefined tops 

Just take a peek at a study(click) comparing raw, unrefined sunflower oil, full of bioactive ingredients, with a refined version. When heated, the oil had: 

- 98.6% less carotenoids
- 8.5% less vitamin E
- 19.5% less phytosterols
- 45% less squalene

Then I guess you already know which botanical oil will be more nourishing for your skin 🙂 One that is full of carotenoids, vitamin E, phytosterols and squalene. But beware: don't confuse squalene (with an "e"), which is a bioactive component of many lipids, from squalane (with an "a"), which is a hydrogenated version of squalene subjected to high temperatures, so it loses its antioxidant properties. Although in return, this then produces an oil that is very long-lasting, lightweight and non-greasy. So the choice is yours as to which oil you prefer to apply to your face - something a little greasier, full of antioxidants, or a processed squalane, but light and non-greasy. 

Example of the content of bioactive components in cold-pressed, raw rosehip seed oil:

- Phytosterols (6,485 mg/kg)

- retinoic acid (0.36 mg/kg)

- Vitamin E (1,100 mg/kg)

- Carotenoids (108 mg/kg) 

Botanical face oil can reduce oxidative damage to the skin caused by UV radiation (read: counteracts skin aging) 

_{Dermatologist and scientific researcher Dr. Zoe Diana Draelos} 

THIRD LIFE CHANGE:
Frequent your skin with a cocktail of bioactive ingredients from raw plant oils. And remember to always apply them to slightly damp skin, moistened with water or a mist of

AFTER FOUR:

Don't cook so much 🙂 pull in more raw fruits, herbs and vegetables 

Fresh, raw ingredients contain much higher amounts of fiber than processed foods - fried or cooked. And fiber is the key to increasing the diversity of gut bacteria (video about it here), which communicate with those on our skin through the so-called gut-skin axis (link here).

Apples, pears, bananas, berries, celery, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, oregano, mint, lettuce, arugula. The greater the variety of these in the diet, the greater the variety of good bacteria will be. This is in contrast to eating full fat (dominance of meat, milk, cheese), which reduces this diversity (research here). 

Are you sure this makes sense? 

You only have to look at what societies eat where there is no acne at all (oh yes!), such as on the scientifically studied island of Papua New Guinea (link here), to fall in love with fresh, unprocessed food. 

So what do Kitava islanders eat? Vegetable tubers, fruits, fish and coconuts form the basis of their diet. In contrast, consumption of dairy products, alcohol, coffee and tea is close to zero, and oils, margarine, cereals, sugar and salt are negligible. And while whole societies without acne may seem too good to be true, it is indeed possible. Thanks to research on the human microbiome, we now know that what we eat affects what bacteria we grow in our gut. And they then communicate with those on our skin, affecting the condition of our complexion. This is the famous gut-skin axis. So when choosing your next meal, think about supporting your microbiome. 

When your diet includes berries, raspberries, cherries and the like, you get an array of protective antioxidants that protect your skin from free radicals. 

_{dermatologist Dr. Leslie Baumann} 

FOURTH LIFE CHANGE:
Push to your heart's content on everything fresh and colorful :) Because more good bacteria in your gut, means more good bacteria on your skin :)

FIFTH:

Put your pile of bathroom products in good hands and enjoy life! 

Believe: your skin and your microbiome don't need them 🙂 Our world of creams, scrubs, serums, acids and masks is a completely different world from our skin, the largest human organ that lives, breathes and has to deal with all those ingredients it is bombarded with by us every day. 

So leave 2-3 skin care products in the bathroom and give yourself a min. 4 weeks, because that's when your skin completely renews itself(link) and only then will you see the effects of your new skin care rituals. And in addition, you'll fit in with today's trendy skinimalism trend(link).

So little? And that's enough? 

Skin care is much simpler than the beauty industry tries to tell us. In fact, for most of us, all we need is something to wash and moisturize our faces. And that's it. And that's it. 

I personally use the following for facial care:
- gel facial cleansing oil - but only in the evening, and if I feel the need to scrub then I rinse the oil not with water, but with a dampened towel - then I spray my face with a mist with moisturizing ingredients, and only when the skin is dehydrated
- and on such a moistened face I apply a few drops of facial oil, which helps to retain water in the epidermis for a longer time, protecting against evaporation and provides my skin with a strong dose of nourishment. And I will admit that my skin, despite being severely problematic due to disturbed intestinal flora - through autoimmune disease and SIBO - has never been so radiant and full of life. 

If you use vitamin C, vitamin E, glycolic acid, retinoic acid, scrubs and toners in the same day, you are completely depriving your skin of lipids, and one of the most important things for our skin is its natural lipids. 

_{dermatologist Dr. Ellen Marmur} 

FIFTH LIFE CHANGE:
Remove 90% of products from your bathroom and give your skin a little breather. And 90% less junk for a more beautiful planet :)

And while the microbiome will not strengthen overnight, after a few months...

You won't recognize yourself and your gorgeous skin!