This article originally appeared on Prevention
Make your skin care come alive
You already know that eating or taking probiotics can improve your skin from the inside out. But as a new batch of products and research would suggest, you can reap the anti-aging benefits of probiotics by applying them topically, too. “We have good and bad bacteria on our skin, just as we do in our gut,” says Ellen Marmur, MD, an associate professor of dermatology and genetics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. “If the balance is off-kilter, it can result in acne or rosacea.” The right bacteria may also keep skin young. “A study found that probiotics can stimulate skin’s protective mechanism from the inside, and this may also happen with external application,” says Eric Perrier, a cosmetic scientist.
Scientists weren’t the only ones impressed. Here, five products that treat serious skin woes with, well, bacteria.
1. Smooth Dry Skin
Burt’s Bees Intense Hydration Night Cream ($18; drugstores)
Look for probiotics in a night cream—like this one by Burt’s Bees—to give the active cultures a full 8 hours to do their dirty work. Here, the probiotic technology helps your skin retain the moisture it has while natural butters feed your skin restorative antioxidants that combat fine lines and wrinkles.
2. Minimize redness or rosacea
Clinique Redness Solutions Makeup SPF 15 ($27; clinique.com)
Facial redness, chronic or not, is caused by inflammation, which makes your blood vessels visible at the skin’s surface. This liquid makeup—the first of its kind—actually treats facial redness while you wear it. Little invisible yellow- and green-tinted pearls neutralize and camouflage the visual redness while active probiotic Lactobacillus and a slew of natural extracts calm, soothe, and strengthen the skin’s barrier to lessen redness over time.
3. Fix fine lines and dullness
Nude Miracle Mask ($48; Sephora)
The active probiotics in this weekly mask stimulate your skin to produce its own anti-aging ingredients—including collagen, hyaluronic acid, and antioxidants—while rice beads and AHAs gently buff your skin to a smoother, brighter finish. And since its made with natural, allergen-free fragrances and ingredients, it’s suitable for vegans and those with very reactive skin
4. Calm stressed-out skin
Christina Cosmeceuticals Unstress Total Serenity Serum ($105; prestostore.com)
The probiotics in this soothing anti-aging serum boost your skin’s natural defenses against environmental damage while calming down seriously stressed skin with cucumber, pinus bark, and Frangipani extracts. This serum is just one step in a whole line of probiotic-enhanced creams and facials, meant to target redness, stress, and aging.
5. Perk up a tired face
Dr. Tabor Good Morning Anti-Aging Moisturizer ($50;healthydirections.com)
Consider this your skin’s daily cup of coffee. This daily moisturizer is formulated with a yeast complex that activates and energizes your cells so your skin can stay better hydrated, fight off free radicals and environmental damage, and renew itself for younger-looking skin faster. And all without a single paraben, phthalate, or synthetic fragrance.
