The Best Probiotic Skin-Care Products
You might not think that microorganisms and skin-care products mix, but you are quite wrong! Probiotic skin care is something is gaining more and more popularity as researchers continue to identify strains of healthy probiotic microbes that can protect and heal your skin to help prevent inflammation, acne, aging, and more.
The two more popular probiotic strains include Lactobacillus plantarum and Bifidobacterium longum. And after some careful research, we have helped identify some of the most useful skin-care products that utilize probiotics on the market today.
But first, let’s go over how probiotics can help your skin
Probiotics are the name that researchers and scientists have given the microorganisms that offer healthful benefits to the body. Mostly, probiotics are found in the body’s gut microbiome as they colonize the digestive system.
These colonizing critters primarily help the body soak up important nutrients from the food that we eat, help support our naturally occurring immune system in identifying and destroying pathogens, and help reduce the risk of ailments such as bloat, diarrhea, and more.
But that isn’t all probiotics have been found to do. In fact, as research continues to grow, a fascinating connection between the gut and the brain – known as the gut-brain axis – has been revealed. Scientists now believe that this can reduce the risk of mental health illnesses such as anxiety and depression.
Probiotics can also, of course, help improve your body’s skin. One way is by reducing inflammatory responses throughout the body. They can also reduce the risk of allergies such as eczema.
When it comes to topical creams, topical probiotics mostly help protect the skin with a physical layer of microbes which can help protect and defend the surface of your skin.
Now that you have a quick rundown of how probiotics can help your skin, here are some of the best options on the market for you:
Best for dry, itchy, eczema-prone skin
La Roche-Posay Lipikar Balm AP+ Intense Repair Mosturizing Cream
$20.00
Those who struggle with eczema tend to have imbalanced skin microbiomes, that are marked by an overgrowth of itch-inducing Staphylococcus aureus bacteria.
When staph takes over, it can kill healthy bacteria which only helps the eczema proliferate and grow.
This cream can help keep staph in check by utilizing spring water which serves as prebiotic nutrients for probiotics that can help protect the skin from staph.
On top of that, the APF formula is known for integrating Vitreoscilla filiformis, which is known helping to improve severely dry skin. It helps provide long-lasting hydration which keeps your skin healthy and clear.
Aveeno Eczema Therapy Moisturizing Cream
$14.00
Much like the other Aveeno creams, this cream contains oats which serve as an important and powerful prebiotic to help the probiotics living on your skin flourish and grow.
In a randomized clinical study involving both men and women with mild to moderate eczema, subjects using this cream experienced improvements in skin PH and skin barrier function.
On top of that, the cream has been found to restore skin to a healthier state within 24 hours.
Best for Oily and Breakout Prone Skin
Mother Dirt AO+ mist
$49.00
While other options on this list help encourage probiotic growth, this one is one of the few that can really be considered a true probiotic skin-car product.
Bacteria live in this mist product that originate from healthy soil and are an integral part of a healthy human microbiome.
The goal of this probiotic mist is to reintroduce our skin to the Nitrosomonas eutropha strain and bring its benefits along for the ride.
Those benefits primarily include antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties that help reduce the risk of breakouts and skin irritation.
In a company’s trial of this product, subjects who used the mist for a four-week period saw a 35 percent improvement in skin clarity and blotchiness, as well as a 22 percent drop in oil.
Best for Combination Skin
Marie Veronique Pre+Probiotic Daily Mist
$40.00
The prebiotics in this mist product are natural sugars such as beta glucan which hjelp ensure that probiotics keep doing their job as they should.
The fascinating aspect of this product is that instead of adding moisturizing ceramides to your skin as many other skin products do, this prebiotic actually help encourage the probiotics living on your skin to produced ceramides of their own. That means that your skin is naturally hydrating itself! Science!
That isn’t all this mist does, either. Also in the mist is Lactobacillus plantarum, which offers antibiotic-like molecules that can help control and kill unhealthy bacteria that can get into your pores and create breakouts.
On top of that the high levels of Bifidobacterium aids sensitive skin by increasing its defense against physical and chemical irritants.
Best for rosacea-prone skin
LaFlore Probiotic Concentrated Serum
$155.00
This serum not only includes prebiotics and probiotics, but postbiotics as well! That means that it introduces sustenance and nutrients for probiotics such as Lactococcus ferment lysate and kefir probitoics, as well as seven different yeast and bacterial strains that are meant to help keep the newly introduced probiotics and the microbes that were already living on your skin microbiota healthy and strong.
All this together makes your skin defense system much stronger, more resilient, and better hydrated, which help reduce the risk of red, stingy, burning, and flaky skin irritations.
A strong skin microbiota is crucial to reducing the risk of inflammation and irritation in the skin, and this is one of the best options on the market to do just that.
Columbia Skincare Probiotic Concentrate
$190.00
This particular lysate contains a mix of molecules released by the bacteria. It also offers fragments of cytoplasm and cell wells to enhance skin’s immune function. The company combines it plant stem cells that can help encourage L. ferment lysate growth.
This was found to hasten skin renewal, improve the cohesiveness of skin cells to strengthen the barrier and increase the skin’s own production of antibiotic-like chemicals.
This is an especially useful serum to consider if your even engage in chemical peels, laser treatments, or micro needling. It helps offset the drying and irritating effect of retinoids and exfoliants and helps restore your skins microbiome barrier quickly.
Best for Dull, Damaged Skin
Elizabeth Arden Superstart Probiotic Skin Renewal Biocellulose Mask
$67.00
The primary active probiotics in this mask include L. ferment lysate, as well as inactivated strains of L. casei and L. acidophilus.
These combinations can help prevent sun-induced wrinkles from forming by turning off the enzymes that that chew up collagen. At the least, this mask will help shore up moisture barrier to keep you skin hydrated and healthy while you do the work to improve your skins microbial diversity as well.
Glowbiotics HydraGlow Cream Oil
$59.00
The major power of this cream comes from Lactococcus ferment lysate which turns off MMP enzymes, which break down skin-plumping collagen, as well as chemical messengers that increase inflammation in the skin, which means that it can really fight wrinkles.
It also accelerates the skin’s renewal process, encouraging fresh cells to the surface of your skin to build a thicker and more resilient epidermis.
On top of that, this cream also encourages the release of an important molecule called beta-defensin, which can boost the skin’s immunity helping it protect itself from possibly harmful bugs.