What To Know About Pre, Pro, & Postbiotics

In short, it's a skin care product that has been designed and formulated to take care of your skin microbiome, or the buildup of bacteria, fungi and microorganisms that live on your skin. The emergence of this skin care subgenre didn't happen overnight either. It developed along with the wealth of research into the role of the skin microbiome in our overall health, immunity, and skin barrier function.

Sometimes it's called bio-friendly skin care, microbiome skin care, microflora skin care, or a number of other terms – but it's all the same category. Biotic skin care is the broad term we use to classify products that are infused with bio-specific ingredients such as pre-, pro- and postbiotics. The ingredients all work towards supporting barriers and promoting a thriving microbial community. Of course, the ingredients do this to varying degrees of effectiveness and mechanisms (don't worry, explain briefly). The cool thing about these ingredients is that you can really use the biotic skin care anywhere: on the face, body and scalp.

This is an important step in the skin care and beauty industry because when your biome thrives – ideally the end result of these products – your skin will be better able to stay hydrated, treat inflammation, protect yourself from environmental stress, and deal with skin conditions (like acne or rosacea) , help your immune response and age healthier. Sounds good, no?

"No new skin care product that hits the market can claim to benefit the skin without keeping an eye on the microbiome. It uses ingredients that support a healthy microbiome and avoids ingredients that disrupt or damage the microbiome," says the state-certified dermatologist Whitney Bowe, MD

But to understand why and how biotic skin care does all of these good things for the skin, we must first understand the microbiome itself.