Skincare & Fermentation: What You Need to Know Part 1

Whether you’ve been on a kombucha or kimchi kick to improve your gut health or love Asian beauty brands, you’re probably aware of fermented ingredients in skincare and why they’re so popular. While the trend is definitely not new, we continue to see products on the market that claim to be special due to fermentation. Some even sound downright good enough to eat — like Drunk Elephant Sweet Biome Fermented Sake Hydrating Spray and Fresh Kombucha Antioxidant Treatment Essence. Curious to learn what’s fueling the trend and how fermented drinks entered both your fridge and skincare routine? Read on for Part 1 of our series on fermentation in skincare, in which we’ll cover some basics. 

A Lil’ Background

Fermented skincare, like many beauty trends of late, takes its cue from the food and health/wellness industries, including the focus on naturally-derived ingredients and the skin microbiome. Seeing how certain foods have gained popularity in the name of gut health, the skincare industry has also applied the concept of fermentation to skincare. According to Mintel, 28% of all skincare products launched between December 2018 and November 2019 contained fermented ingredients, and 16% of women in the U.S. reported interest in using skincare products containing fermented ingredients. We’re seeing probiotics and post-biotics, by-products of fermentation that have featured heavily in food marketing, get a lot of play (and recently, legal action, as was the case with TULA and its claims around probiotic skincare). 

Many iconic products feature fermented ingredients — the SK-II Facial Treatment Essence, Neogen Dermalogy Real Micro Ferment Essence, Benton Fermentation Essence, and COSRX Galactomyces 95 Tone Balancing Essence are just a few examples. The SK-II product features a great origin story. It’s hero ingredient is Pitera (a.k.a., galactomyces ferment filtrate, or fermented sake), a by-product of the sake fermentation process, which the brand claims contains a unique blend of vitamins, amino acids, minerals, and organic acids that rejuvenate and renew the skin. This claim is accompanied by a narrative in which Pitera was first discovered in a sake brewery where workers’ hands appeared surprisingly youthful compared to their aging faces!

This story is a great example of how traditional methods combined with new technologies have helped to align fermented skincare with “clean” beauty values. The marketing appeal of fermentation is only increasing with the potential of ingredients such as mushrooms to balance the microbiome, and newer categories like  “regenerative beauty,” which use growth factors produced via fermentation technology (as seen in the SkinMedica TNS Essential Serum and in some injectable and filler formulas). 

Fermentation 101 

We’ll have to revisit some middle school science here, but don’t worry no pop quizzes, we promise. Fermentation is a process in which microorganisms (like yeast and bacteria) allow small amounts of energy to be released from complex, energy-rich organic substances (like glucose and carbohydrates) into more simple compounds (alcohols and organic acids) in the absence of oxygen. Cool fact: The word fermentation is derived from the Latin word to boil or glow (fervere) which references the bubbles that are often observed during the process. 

Fermentation is most commonly associated with food and drink — bread, alcohol, yogurt, and kimchi are classic examples. Some of these foods contain healthy bacteria, including prebiotics and probiotics, which has made them more popular for their gut-friendly properties. Another fun fact? It plays a role in drug development — human insulin is derived through the fermentation of e. coli. 

So, what’s the difference between healthy fermentation and something just spoiling? Fermentation is closely related to decomposition, but they’re very different. Fermentation occurs under very specific conditions and can produce foods that are edible and safe. And as you might have unfortunately experienced, food that has decayed can lead to food poisoning. Fermentation in skincare features none of the bad that accompanies natural decay of living organisms — it’s super-specific and controlled. 

The specificity and control factor allows fermentation to be leveraged in food, cosmetic, and biotech product development. The process enables cellular adaptation to environmental conditions (including temperature and pH levels) using enzymes and microorganisms. These conditions can lead to the expression of bioactive material. 

Biotransformation is another process in which simple nutrients are converted into novel compounds (e.g., metabolites, bioactives, peptides, growth factors), and recombinant technologies are also used to genetically modify organisms. Another method which is very relevant to skincare is stressed lysate technology (it is used to create fermented skincare ingredients like bifida ferment lysate), in which yeast are grown under the stress of heat, UV, peroxides, and other conditions and materials to increase output and create new molecular compounds. 

Ok, you got through the science and the basics. We’re going to unpack a lot more in Part 2, including the trends behind fermented skincare ingredients, what the benefits might be, and whether they’re worth incorporating into your routine. Stay tuned.