UK skin health co-op JooMo is presenting its latest research on microbiomes in San Francisco on 13 September.
Working in partnership with the Medical University of Graz, in Austria, JooMo is looking at the possible link between everyday cosmetics and the enormous rise in skin allergy problems in the western world.
The trials are looking at the effect of cosmetics on human skin microbiomes – communities of micro-organisms – and the consequences of this for skin health.
JooMo, which is unveiling the findings at the Global Skin Microbiome Congress, says the trials show how high street cosmetics appear to maintain the depleted western microbiome, while third-wave microbiome-friendly products like JooMo increase skin microbiome biodiversity, which improves skin health.
Everyday cosmetics were also shown to greatly de-moisturise the skin, a key reason why skin becomes damaged, the co-op says – while its own third-wave technology makes it “the only product to maintain skin moisture”.
Kit Wallen Russell – research coordinator and lead author of the peer-reviewed 2017 paper Meta Analysis of the Skin Microbiome – said: “The terrifying rise in skin allergies has led many to speculate whether regular contact with everyday cosmetics are a major contributor to this problem.”
“These results, coupled with other complementary research, are now suggesting a definitive link.”
This should not really come as any great surprise, he adds, pointing out that the food industry has been restricting the use of additives for many decades.
“Cosmetics consumers are finally cottoning on to the fact that covering their bodies with harsh unfamiliar chemicals every day probably isn’t a good idea,” he said.
“These results show how the cosmetics industry must urgently introduce the same safety standards as the food industry, including the ending of misleading labelling and the severe restriction in the use of chemical additives.”
JooMo, which is based in Reading, was formed in response to an increase in childhood skin problems such eczema, allergies and acne, and developed a 100% natural preservative-free face wash.
It says its ‘Third Wave’ microbiome-friendly products “repair the damage caused by normal skin care products, and focus on empowering, not changing, the skin’s natural environment, protecting it against the destructive work of harmful synthetic chemicals and opportunistic pathogenic microbes”.
