The Skin Microbiome And How To Protect It

“The skin is the human body’s largest organ, colonized by a diverse milieu of microorganisms, most of which are harmless or even beneficial to their host. Colonization is driven by the ecology of the skin surface, which is highly variable depending on topographical location, endogenous host factors and exogenous environmental factors,” reads a paper published in Nature in 2011.

The skin microbiome and the gut microbiome are known well-enough by the general public, but it’s theorized that the “human microbiome” pervades almost every organ and tissue in our body.

Let’s focus on the skin microbiome for now. The organisms that live on our skin are in large part why we don’t spend our entire lives sick. It projects against harmful bacteria which cause colds, and viral infections like staph.

Rampant use of antibacterial soap has been theorized as one of the root causes from the rise of antibody-resistant bacteria. One way you can protect against these absolutely lethal bacteria strains like MRSA, is to wash your hands with gentler soap that helps your skin flora flourish and stay intact.

There are a number of products you can use to this end instead of common public bathroom soap which obliterates your friendly skin-forest dwellers if you are a teacher, or an office worker, or a martial artist – in other words people who have a lot of contact and proxy contact with other humans.

Great Probiotic and Natural Soaps.

It seems I run into a soap vendor everytime I go to the farmer’s market. Their shelves are stocked full of beautifully colored soaps which boast no harmful ingredients to skin microbiomes such as

sodium lauryl sulfate
sodium laureth sulfate
phthalates
parabens
synthetic coloring agents (FD&C Yellow, etc.)
artificial fragrance

Colorado Aromatics sells natural and seasonal soap with shea butter. Defense Soap is the #1 seller of skin-friendly, anti-fungal soaps which are designed using natural ingredients only. They also so a special kind of anti-fungal soap specifically for athletic fungal problems like athlete’s foot, and that is approved and evaluated by the FDA.

I read a lot about Dr. Ohhira’s Probiotic Soap. It’s one of the most popular probiotic soaps online. It also talks about the ph level which the skin flora and fauna we all carry is acclimated to survive in. Some antibacterial and other chemical soaps alter that ph to become more alkaline, proving another painful obstacle for the microbiome to recover from. Dr. Ohhira’s soap is formulated to keep your skin’s ph levels intact.

There is all kinds of information online for the concerned skin-lover who wants to lend a helping hand to their skin-forest. It’s becoming known that it’s as important as any thing we do for our help to keep our gut and skin flora intact, diverse, and healthy.