"Microbiome skincare is the next generation after probiotic beauty"

Q. What did you present at 2019 INNOCOS Seoul Summit?

A. Most of all, I was delighted to be a speaker at this year's innocos Seoul. I presented what is microbiome skincare and why it's the future of beauty. Also, I presented the trends in the field, and where microbiome beauty is going.

For me, microbiome skincare is the next generation after probiotic beauty. Where probiotic products being bacteria to stimulate the skin, microbiome skincare goes to the next step and support the bacteria already existing on skin, helping to balance the right kind of bacteria on skin, supporting the existing microbiome and building back a healthy skin barrier. This really answers to current concerns about sensitive skin, inflammageing and also acne and eczema.

Beauty brands need to take the microbiome into account when formulating skincare products, and that will lead to streamlined routine, simpler products and a new time of testing both actives and excipients. We also see the rise of the "microbiome friendly" claims, which raises the question of testing and models.

Q. What is the key point of microbiome skin care?

A. It's skincare aimed at supporting the existing skin microbiome. It is usually a mix of prebiotic, probiotic and postbiotic actives, and excipients that disturb the existing ecosystem as little as possible. It's specially great to answer the concerns of sensitive skins and inflammageing.

Q. Please explain briefly about the difference between probiotics, prebiotics and postbiotics.

A. Probiotics are just another word for good bacteria. Prebiotics are the nutrients for good bacteria. Postbiotics are a by-product of good bacteria that will create a virtuous circle on the existing microbiome.

Q. What kinds of ingredients are consist of?

A. Our probiotics are mainly from the lactobacillus and lactococcus family. whenever we can, we use tyndalised probiotics, as they present a very good efficacy profile. Our prebiotics are all from natural sources, and I am especailly proud of our algae prebiotics that you can find in our face vinegar. our main postbiotic is lactic acid in a slow release form.

Q. Which bacteria are good in human skin especially?

A. S. hominis(Staphylococcus hominis) and S. epidermidis(Staphylococcus epidermidis) are the main good bacteria in the skin microbiome. But it will depends also of the skin site and the person individual microbiome. On the face, the most prevalent bacteria is C. acnes(Cutibacterium acnes), and more and more we are starting to think it's not all a bad bacteria, and that only some strains are inflammatory.

Q. Why did you start a business about skin microbiome?

A. After graduating from Ph.D. in pharmacology,　I always worked in skin care brands. I was "lucky" to have some rare autoimmune diseases that got me interested in the microbiome before it was cool. I saw the need for some microbiome skincare, and passed my pharmacy thesis on it, which is used as the basis for Gallinée formulations.

Q. You mean that you were interested in microbiome because of autoimmune disease. What changes have happened to you after you use microbiome skin care?

A. I got very interested in the microbiome while reading about the reasons for my own disease, pyoderma gangrenosum. It's a rare inflammatory disease that is getting less and less rare, and might be linked to the fact that we destroyed our own microbiome. I seem to manage it pretty well thanks to a "microbiome diet", which consists of eating a little bit of everything, mostly plants, with a lot of fibres and fermented foods. I also used to have reactive skin, which is behaving much better now that I have Gallinée.

Q. What is your future plan?

A. Gallinée is a very young brand based in Europe, but are currently developing fast in Asia. Our aim is to keep expending internationally and keep on launching the most innovative products.

Q. Is there anything you want to emphasize?

A. It's not all about active ingredients! I think the beauty industry need to think more about how products are formulated and the impact their daily use can have on the microbiome.

[The K Beauty Science =www.thekbs.co.kr/en, www.thekbs.co.kr]