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7. Microbiome Skincare- Can Bacteria and Probiotics Help You?

Microbiome of your skin is actually good for your skin. This and many such facts are spelled here, as we try to understand the truth about Microbiome Skincare. If you have never heard of a microbiome, then I think it is time you learned a little something about them. Specifically, the microbiome of your skin. There are millions - even billions - of organisms on your skin. They are considered bacteria, which may sound gross, but you need these bacteria. They eat your dead, dry skin. They help create oils that make your skin healthy. They even help fight away bad types of bacteria. So, let's talk about how you can take care of these tiny friends since they take such good care of you. Probiotics Maybe you have taken a probiotic pill before to help out your digestive tract. Well, there are also marketed probiotics for your skin, usually in the form of sprays, soaps, and creams. These will encourage the growth of the organisms living on your skin and help them to do their jobs. Some types contain actual live bacteria, living cultures, like yogurt, that will add to the population on your skin. However, most contain things called prebiotics, which only help to feed and stimulate growth in the bacteria already present there. Lactic acid is one type of prebiotic commonly found in these formulas. Things You May Be Doing That Harm Your Microbiome Using probiotics will help your helpful organisms, but you need to stop hurting them as well. Using antibacterial soap will obviously do great amounts of harm to the skin microbiome, that is why it will often result in dry skin. The top layers of skin are dead, but because of the organisms living there, it looks lively and beautiful. Anything that claims to kill germs, may kill the bad germs, but it will kill the necessary ones, as well. If you poison all of the helpful creatures on your skin, it will look like a barren wasteland, because that is essentially what it will have become. Microorganisms hate chemicals. Using natural soaps and shampoos will help keep your skin healthy and your bacteria alive and well. Honestly, bathing less, in general, will do a lot of good as well. Instead of bathing every day, bathing every other day could really help, or even less frequently, if you think you won’t become too dirty. If forgoing showers is too much for you, you could also shower without soap every other day. This way you will still feel shower fresh, but you will not be blasting you skin microbiome with unnatural things every single day. This will also help your hair look better and shinier because – guess what! – there are microorganisms living there, too! About 3 percent of your body is made of bacteria, so you should definitely think about its health and not just yours. Keeping your skin healthy is very important, after all, it is our largest organ. So, go the extra mile for the little guys that help make it look good, as a way of saying thanks for all that they do.