Your Skin Protects More Than You Think

Most people think of skincare as a surface-level concern. The mainstream beauty industry has built a billion-dollar empire on that assumption, selling products designed to deliver cosmetic results while paying little attention to the living ecosystem on your skin. But a growing body of peer-reviewed research is overturning that assumption entirely.

Your skin is home to trillions of microorganisms that form a complex community known as the skin microbiome. These organisms train your immune system, produce antimicrobial compounds, manufacture short-chain fatty acids that maintain barrier integrity, and communicate with your body’s internal systems through chemical signalling. When this ecosystem is healthy, it functions as your body’s first line of defence. When it’s disrupted, the consequences cascade far beyond the surface.

Skin Damage Alters Your Gut:

For years, scientists knew that gut health affects skin health — conditions like eczema, psoriasis, and rosacea have all been linked to gut bacterial imbalances. But it was assumed the relationship only ran in one direction.

A landmark 2024 study in Nature Communications proved otherwise. Researchers at UC San Diego demonstrated that skin damage directly reshapes the gut microbiome. When the dermal layer is disrupted, it releases hyaluronan fragments into the bloodstream. These fragments travel to the colon and alter intestinal immune defences, reducing beneficial gut bacteria and increasing pathogenic species. The altered gut bacteria then penetrated the intestinal lining and increased susceptibility to colitis. The researchers confirmed this wasn’t coincidental — they replicated and reversed the effect through multiple experimental methods.

A Disrupted Gut Affects Your Brain:

The gut-brain axis is one of the most well-established areas in microbiome science. Your gut produces neurotransmitters including serotonin, GABA, and dopamine. Around 70–80% of your immune cells reside there, and metabolites produced by gut bacteria cross the blood-brain barrier to affect neuroinflammation, memory, and cognition. Gut dysbiosis has been linked to anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, and neurodegenerative conditions including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

A separate 2024 pilot study in Scientific Reports provided the first direct evidence that skin microbiome changes alone can alter brain activity — with measurable shifts in EEG patterns related to attention and cognitive processing, detectable with over 88% accuracy.

What This Means for the Skincare You Use:

Most modern "skincare" is water-based, which requires preservatives that don’t discriminate between harmful bacteria and the beneficial microorganisms your skin needs. Add cleansers that strip the skin’s lipid barrier and emulsifiers that disrupt sebum composition, and you have a formula for chronic, low-grade skin barrier disruption — the exact kind of damage the research now shows cascades into the gut and brain.

I formulate differently because the science demands it. My products are built on New Zealand grass-fed tallow — a lipid profile that mirrors human sebum and requires no synthetic emulsifiers. Because my formulations are water-free, they need no preservatives, meaning your skin’s microbial ecosystem stays intact.

Your skin is a critical point in a communication network that connects to your gut, your immune system, and your brain. Every "skincare" product you apply is either supporting that system or undermining it. 

I believe skincare should be healthcare.