20 INTERVIEW
colouration will be different to that of an ageing Caucasian woman. So it’s about cohorts, groups,
clusters and making sure skin care is used well within these parameters. It’s much broader than simply what is in the jar.
TP: What is your view of skin microbiome products? KS: I would argue that multinationals have put more than ten years of research behind the products, so scientifically they are in a much better place than start- ups or brands that don’t have the scientific backing. There a few exceptions to that
but really it’s the multinationals that have the strength in this field. There are more questions than answers in terms of the skin microbiome.
TP: What do you mean by that? KS: To work with the skin microbiome, first you need to understand it. We don’t really understand what a healthy skin microbiome means. Therefore, we don’t understand completely how to modify it or not. We are ten years behind
our understanding of the gut microbiome, for example. That had much more investment and much more focus, and the skin microbiome needs the same.
TP: With skin microbiome products, do you see the raw ingredient or the delivery system as more important? KS: It’s everything. We do not even understand what a healthy skin microbiome looks like. Then they are different niches and microclimates. And the skin is very diverse in
terms of microbiome. Mine will be different from yours, mine will be different after travelling and mine will be different if I’m ill. So, all the time there is a fluctuating baseline of what healthy actually means.
TP: What is your view of probiotics and prebiotics etc.? KS: Prebiotics for the microbiome are a wonderful concept and have been around for a long time, even when we didn’t speak about them in the same terms. I think understanding which
ingredient in your skin care is a prebiotic is a good thing and formulating with this knowledge is fabulous. But you need to know how prebiotics influence the microbiome in tandem with the preservation in the skin care as well. I have seen probiotics
PERSONAL CARE January 2023
“Skin care goes beyond just selling products, it is about how those products should be used in the hands of the consumer and teaching
people to understand their own skin.” Dr Katerina Steventon
work well in therapy. I think S-Biomedic’s probiotics work well. But the companies that have live probiotics that truly do what it says to the skin are few and far between. Therefore, I would say that’s not a mainstream thing going forward in skin care.
TP: You don’t think probiotics will be mainstream? KS: I think it will work in therapy in the clinic, but to keep the bacteria alive in the product for the shelf life is very complicated. Only few companies that do it well and, in general, the skin care industry will not be able to do it well.
There could be various ways
of packaging - different ways to store it - to overcome that but I don’t believe it’s a mainstream technology, even if the promise was there once upon a time. They could alter the definition
to say the probiotic is not live but then in my view it’s not a probiotic.
TP: Do you have a view on sustainability in terms of whether the personal care industry is going totally in the right direction in terms of efficacy? KS: We are all moving to sustainability like we are moving towards electric cars. Sustainability is great to have but efficacy is imperative, here and now. So,
my trade-off wouldn’t be high sustainability, low efficacy.
TP: Do you think the industry is trading off efficacy for sustainability? KS: No. I wouldn’t say that. I just think that the sustainability is probably something you can shout about a little bit more these days. It’s like net zero, it’s a big topic. I don’t believe that they compromise their efficacy necessarily, I just think it’s a work in progress. Also, cosmetics are not medicine so the efficacy is what the trials say. And it’s a long game. If you have pigmentation it takes time to reduce, and the efficacy is only limited. It’s not a drug or a medical device to get rid of a concern very fast. If you look at the cosmetics definition, it’s really about caring and cleansing and nurturing and each and every product on the market has to fit within the definition.
TP: Finally, do you have any thoughts on what the personal care industry could do better in terms of skin care? KS: Skin care goes beyond just selling products, it is about how those products should be used in the hands of the consumer and teaching people to understand their own skin care.
Also, we need to understand
skin care is actually part of health care. I know the regulatory aspects are very different, but it’s a big part of making us look and feel better. Feeing better should be
about feeling healthy and happy. Although certain campaigns are pushing in that direction, such as the menopause campaign that is very strong, this could still be more integrated and connected with skin care. The research is there, but I
don’t know if it always gets to the consumer in the right way or that people take it up and work with it. I’ve just run a project for the University of Southampton about skin health and mental wellbeing. I think this is where the
future lies - neuroscience, neuropsychology and dermatology. The ski-brain connection. Skin care contributes to a
person’s sense of wellbeing, whether that’s a perception or a physical reality. I think more and more that skin care is headed that way.
The future lies in marrying individual skin biology and ‘real-time’ needs with optimal application techniques for both the skin and the brain. A multi- sensory experience enhancing self-care, self-esteem and wellbeing.
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