Why Probiotics For Skin & Fermented Ingredients Should Be Part Of Your Regime

Many skin concerns are caused by an imbalance in your skin’s microbiome – the trillions of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that live on our skin. When ‘good bacteria’ outnumbers ‘bad bacteria’, the microbiome is in harmony and skin is calm, clear, and healthy-looking.

An overgrowth of bad bacteria leads to inflammation, which can result in blemishes, redness, premature ageing, and irritable skin conditions such as eczema. Here’s how probiotics for skin can help restore balance to your microbiome to foster a calm, comfortable complexion.

Probiotics for skin: Kalibiome

Antipodes’ Calming & Clearing range features the innovative Kalibiome Probiotic, a natural, non-live bacteria (also known as a ‘postbiotic’). It gets to work populating the skin with good bacteria, to help balance to the microbiome.

Scientific testing and clinical trials show that Kalibiome probiotics for skin can have a skin-enhancing and anti-ageing effect, increasing hydration and elasticity, while reducing redness and softening wrinkles*.

Antipodes uses two Kalibiome strains, which offer different benefits to skin. Kalibiome Sensitive is a strain specially formulated for sensitive skin and is the key ingredient in Flora Probiotic Skin-Rescue Hyaluronic Mask.

Kalibiome AGE focuses on rejuvenation, to address blemishes and signs of ageing. You’ll find it in the other two products in our Calming & Clearing range: Credo Probiotic Ferment Revitalise Serum and Culture Probiotic Night Recovery Water Cream.

How Kalibiome probiotics for skin are sourced

It starts with an initial sample of a very small amount of bacteria, extracted from human skin cells. This bacteria is cultured, or grown, into a much larger number of bacteria, using only water and sugar agents. These bacteria are then put through a patented double-fermentation process and filtered to remove bad bacteria and toxins. The resulting compound is good bacteria that is active, non-live, natural, and free of toxins. 

Natural & clean 

Our probiotics for skin are created through a 100% natural and clean process, with no synthetic chemical growth mediums added. The additives used are mannitol (sugar alcohol) and maltodextrin (polysaccharide starch), both natural additions to help with fermentation.

The benefits of fermented ingredients

We know fermented foods are good for gut health, but when used as skincare ingredients, they also provide multiple benefits for your skin.

• Fermentation breaks down an ingredient into smaller parts, which makes is easier to absorb. This means it gets to work more quickly, allowing skin to reap the benefits sooner.
• Fermentation increases an ingredient’s potency, making it stronger.
• Fermented ingredients attract and retain moisture, offering skin an extra dose of hydration.
• Fermented ingredients are better tolerated, making them a good choice for those with sensitive skin.

In addition to these benefits, fermented ingredients cultivate the growth of good bacteria, encouraging a healthy, clear complexion.

Fermented ingredients in Antipodes skincare

Hyaluronic acid

Found naturally in the body, hyaluronic acid is a powerful hydrator, with the ability to hold up to 1000 times its weight in water. Antipodes uses plant-based cruelty-free hyaluronic acid, produced from a bacteria found vegetables, which is fed a sugar solution in the lab, triggering a fermentation process.

Benefits of hyaluronic acid for skin

• Provides intensive hydration
• Helps to soothe irritation and itchiness
• Softens the skin surface, reducing roughness

Find it in: Flora Probiotic Skin-Rescue Hyaluronic Mask, Credo Probiotic Ferment Revitalise Serum, and Culture Probiotic Night Recovery Water Cream.

Bamboo ferment

Produced using sustainably sourced bamboo stalks and leaves, bamboo ferment boasts an extremely high antioxidant level. On top of bamboo’s benefits in skincare, as a fermented ingredient it also feeds the skin with a further dose of good bacteria.

Benefits of bamboo ferment for skin

• Improves the appearance of blemishes and breakouts
• Helps rejuvenate the skin, to even the skin tone
• Softens the appearance of fine lines
• Boost skin defences to promote skin health

Find it in: Credo Probiotic Ferment Revitalise Serum.

Kombucha

Also known as fermented black tea, kombucha’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties help to soothe blemishes and redness. Kombucha also encourages the growth of good bacteria on the skin, to further promote a thriving microbiome.

Benefits of kombucha for skin

• Anti-inflammatory to foster a calm, clear complexion
• Gently detoxifies congested skin
• Helps to strengthen the skin barrier

Find it in: Credo Probiotic Ferment Revitalise Serum.

The probiotics for skin Calming & Clearing range

Flora Probiotic Skin-Rescue Hyaluronic Mask is a soothing face mask to destress and freshen skin that is blemished, itchy, or irritated. Dermatologically tested for sensitive skin**, Flora features probiotics for skin that have been specially formulated for sensitive skin, as well as a soothing dose of plant hyaluronic acid.

Kalibiome Sensitive probiotic has been clinically shown to reduce skin redness, increase hydration levels, and soothe sensitive skin. After four weeks’ use, 73% said Flora visibly reduced the appearance of imperfections, redness & inflammation†. 

Use the skin-recovery treatment once or twice weekly, or whenever your skin needs relief.

Credo Probiotic Ferment Revitalise Serum is a daytime serum to help balance stressed skin, to deliver a healthy, clear complexion. Credo features Kalibiome AGE, probiotics for skin that focus on rejuvenation, anti-ageing, and blemish control, plus high-tech ferments bamboo, kombucha, and plant hyaluronic acid.

Kalibiome AGE has been clinically shown to help improve elasticity and reduce redness, to help reveal healthier-looking skin. After four weeks’ use, 87% said their skin looked clearer and more even†.

Apply the serum daily in the morning, before your moisturiser.

The first product in our Calming & Clearing regime, Culture Probiotic Night Recovery Water Cream, features Kalibiome AGE probiotics for skin. The cloud-soft moisturiser also contains plant hyaluronic acid and New Zealand botanicals, to help soothe inflammation that leads to blemishes and calm your complexion as you sleep.

Massage Culture into your skin as the final step in your nightly ritual.

Together, the Calming & Clearing probiotic trio promote skin that is calm, comfortable, and at its healthy best.

*Independent laboratory study: 59 men & women with sensitive skin (New York, 2021)  

**In-vivo trial results from 45 participants after 4 weeks of use. % of participants who agree with the statement

†Kalibiome Sensitive probiotics/postbiotics 600: clinically shown to reduce redness and water loss, and increase hydration