Probiotics in skin care are amazing! Since our launch of Sweet & Creamy Oil Cleanser in 2015, we have used live probiotics in several of our products. We have developed our very own probiotic culture and in this article you can read more about what probiotics are and how Marina Miracle's probiotics work.
What is probiotics?
Probiotics are a common name for different strains of good bacteria that occur naturally on the skin.
You may have heard of all the health benefits you get from eating foods that contain probiotics, such as yogurt, kefir and kimchi, or taking probiotic supplements.
Probiotics are microorganisms that live in and on the surface of our body. Each person has his/her own distinctive combination of these organisms - also known as our microbiome.
We actually have over 10,000 different types of bacteria that live in and on us. They play an important role in our health and our skin condition. Probiotics and other microorganisms are actually vital to our survival!
How does probiotics work in skin care?
On our top layer of skin there are a lot of microorganisms that flourish. These bacteria and the balance of them have a great influence on the skin's appearance and condition.
A well-balanced mircoflora in the skin is very important. We can call the good bacteria as 'residential bacteria' (They live on our skin), while the bad bacteria are 'passing bacteria' (they may appear for various reasons). When the good bacteria fail to survive, the skin's microbiome becomes out of balance and researchers thinks that this causes skin problems such as acne, eczema and sensitive skin.
That's why probiotics in skin care actually work because it adds good bacteria to the skin's microbiome. The good bacteria, the soldiers for your skin, fights off the bad bacteria. Balance is restored and the skin's condition becomes healthy again.
Marina Miracle's unique and live probiotics
Live probiotics in skin care require careful and advanced formulation because these good bacteria are fragile and must be treated properly so that they don't die. We have developed our own probiotics that are perfectly synchronized in our skin care products.
Acetobacter is an aerobic bacterial strain that produces acetic acid and gluconic acid. Acetobacter xylinoides and acetobacter ketogenum are two strains that are in our probiotic culture. Other bacteria that are also in our culture: Saccharomycodes ludwigii, Saccharomycodes apiculatus, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Zygosaccharomyes, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, Gluconacetobacter kombuchae, Zygosaccharomyces kombuchaensis.
Our unique composition of living probiotic strains of microorganisms provides a very nutritious fermentation juice for the skin. It is packed with vitamins, enzymes and acids that gives an antioxidant effect. We also use herbs, fruits and vegetables to reach the exact desired effect and nutritional content of the different skin care products.
The image of the two petri dishes shows that our probiotics are alive, one can see that the organisms have grown over a short period of time.
Probiotic Fermentation Juices
With this active probiotic culture as a base, we can make different fermentation juices of plants, berries and fruits. In Sweet & Creamy Oil Cleanser we have broccoli sprouts, tomato sprouts and alfalfa sprouts, and in Acai Hydra Cream we use whole berries of açaí and raspberry and Norwegian nettle. In Shea Hydration Mask, we use green tea and aloe vera and in the Rosehip Peeling Mask there are broccoli and alfalfa sprouts. What is so amazing with probiotic fermentation in skin care is that the process makes the molecules in the plants become smaller and easier for the skin to absorb and thus even more nutritious to the skin.
The picture above is taken in one of our big containers where we produce the fermentation. The "cake" you see in the picture is the probiotic culture itself, it is unique to us and our ferments. The fermented juice lies below this ''cake'' and we tap it out from the bottom of the container and use it in our skin care products.
