ARIANNA FILIPPINI¹, ANDREA MALTAGLIATI²
1. Formula Protection – ROELMI HPC
2. Personal Care – ROELMI HPC

LET ME INTRODUCE YOU... MICROBIOTA AND ITS FRIENDS

I bet many of you nowadays have found the word “Microbiota” and its definition pretty much everywhere in personal care magazines, articles or any cosmetic-related discussion. In case you did miss it, Microbiota refers to the assemblage of microorganisms present in a defined environment, such as the human body or individual body-sites. Trust me, they are a lot! In the Personal Care field, the main interest is of course on Skin Microbiota, which means all those microorganisms living on our skin. They are an army of 100 quadrillion cells, which keep us safe and have a key role in skin’s health and appearance. So, what do we mean when we talk about Microbiota-friendly ingredients? A lot of different substances, honestly. We can divide them in four main categories, that are sometimes wrongly swapped with each other: prebiotics, probiotics, postbiotics and biome-friendly. Prebiotics are food for the microorganisms, in fact they induce microbial growth; probiotics, instead, are the actual microorganisms, believed to provide health benefits. These however, so far, cannot be introduced in a cosmetic formula ...