Gallinée, for the skin microbiome”. This is cute, but in reality, what is the microbiome, and why should we care so much?

Because every day is a school day, this Friday, we’ll talk a little bit about science.

Let’s start with a bit of very very old history: bacteria appeared on Earth about 3.8 billion years ago and followed the emergence of more complex organisms until the Human we know (Hominidae) 7 million years ago.

As Charles Darwin would have said, evolution is based on 3 pillars: the principle of variation, the principle of adaptation and the principle of heredity. The aim for each species is, of course, to reproduce itself in order to survive.
However, a species can’t survive without being integrated into this huge living ecosystem.

That’s here that symbiosis comes into play. What is symbiosis?
It is the understanding of two different species, for example, humans and bacteria, which bring each other good vibes: one can’t live without the other.
In an easy way, no symbiosis, no evolution. (no evolution, no life, no life, no world, no world, no universe… too far?)

“Bacteria do a job that the body can’t do itself”

We can’t speak about bacteria, humans and symbiosis without chatting about the microbiome term. (finally!)
The microbiome is the set of bacteria that live every day in symbiosis with us, in and on our body: we can say that they are our invisible pets. Your dog will give you happiness every night when you come home, while some intestinal bacteria help you digest the fiber of your salad eaten at noon.
Well, it’s less glamorous, but just as useful.

How do bacteria work?

They are single-cell organisms that are extremely good at adjusting to their environment, whatever it is:
– if there is oxygen or not
– pH value
– physicochemical properties
– surrounding cells
– etc.
It’s like you and I, who can only live on a planet where there is water (H20) and oxygen (O2).

So, the composition of microbiome is not the same according to the flora explored:
– skin flora
– oral flora
– intestinal flora
– vaginal flora
– etc.
The cutaneous flora itself changes a lot according to the different parts of our body: the population of the dry desert of the forearm is quite different from the wet areas of the armpits.


But, what are the benefits of the skin microbiome and why do we have to take care of it?

First, thanks to anti-oxidant properties, we can now fight against external aggressions such as UV, pollution, and chemicals products in make-up.

Oxidation is a molecule that, because of a chemical element (pollution particle) or a physical element (UV), is transformed into its structure. It becomes toxic for skin cells and these cells are damaged or killed. #NotCool

Besides, the ability of bacteria to form a biofilm (this term will be explained to you soon, so stay tuned!) allows your skin to be hydrated naturally, and not to dry out, and the Gallinée team validate this.
It also fights against excessive inflammation and thus minimizes ageing skin. So, you can store all your other products against ageing skin, youpi!

Inflammation? What’s that? It is the process of body defence in order to fight against external aggression. Clearly, the white blood cells move to the pathogens to eat and destroy them. The signs of inflammation are redness, pain, swelling and heat. And excessive inflammation? Sometimes, the immune system (master of inflammation and white blood cells) turns on when it should not, that causes, for example, autoimmune diseases, as psoriasis, eczema etc.

For some years now, the scientific world has been more and more concerned by the interest of microbiome. There are still unanswered questions but we remain convinced that there is a multitude of beneficial properties for the skin that our commensal bacteria brought.

“The skin naturally supports its own micro-ecosystem”. So let’s support our body together in this maintenance of bacterial homeostasis. Dare?

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