Probiotic pioneers
BLIS Technologies are the probiotic pioneers behind our skincare.
Founded in 2000, the biotechnology company commercialised the world's first oral probiotic, BLIS K12™, followed by BLIS M18™. They are leaders in probiotic health for the mouth and throat, with many science accolades and published studies.
In 2005 they discovered the skin-specific strain BLIS Q24®, and since then we've been perfecting how you can use it to help restore and balance your skin microbiome.
Wait, my skin has a microbiome?
Just like your gut, your skin is home to a special type of ecosystem called a microbiome where the collective genomes of over a trillion microbes live, including both good and bad bacteria. In the same way you look after the health of your insides, you can keep your outsides happy by inviting more of the peace-loving microbial guests to stay.
What an unhappy microbiome looks like
If your skin microbiome is a little off balance you might notice the following types of symptoms:
Dryness
When the balance in your microbiome is upset, alarm bells ring in the skin’s immune system. This can trigger a response that weakens the skin’s barrier function leading to dryness, dullness and dehydration. Hands up if you’re familiar with that fun trio.
Eczema
Eczema can be a sign that one particular microbe, not naming names, but, *cough* - Staphylococcus aureus - is overabundant. If facial eczema is a thing in your life, a probiotic may help bring balance back to your microbiome.
Breakouts
Acne symptoms are caused by everyday bacteria hanging out in the wrong place - inside clogged pores. Many acne treatments wipe out all bacteria on the skin, both good and bad, leaving you with one very sad microbiome that needs rebuilding and restoring.
Our Live Probiotic Hydration Serum is a true live probiotic, adding the uniquely beneficial BLIS Q24® strain directly to your skin microbiome. Think of it as your microscopic ally keeping the peace just the way your skin likes it.
Why live?
While many other probiotic skincare products use lysates (dead bacteria), Unconditional Skincare Co. has developed a revolutionary way to bottle the live BLIS Q24® probiotic strain so that you can add it to your routine. This means you get the benefits of a live probiotic, postbiotic, and lysates, morning and night.
It starts out on your skin as a live probiotic, acting as crowd control to reduce the number of bad bacteria in your microbiome. During its life cycle it also produces postbiotics, which combat bad bacteria as well as helping to modulate your skin’s immune system.
Then at the end of its lifecycle, the probiotic cell breaks down to release lysates. These are essentially the pieces of bacteria, made up of beneficial ingredients – carbohydrates, proteins and DNA - which help to further calm inflammation and nourish the skin.
What is BLIS Q24®?
BLIS Q24® is the name for the unique probiotic strain found in Unconditional Skincare Co. products and a bit less of a mouthful than its scientific name, Micrococcus luteus Q24.
When Professor John Tagg discovered the skin-specific strain's unique power to naturally balance and optimise the skin microbiome, he quickly knew he was onto a good thing.
What makes BLIS Q24® unique from other probiotic strains used in skincare (most of which are postbiotics from gut probiotic strains), is that it naturally lives in the skin microbiome. The skin microbiome is its own ecosystem, different from the other microbiomes within our body.
This is why Q24 is able to thrive within yours, colonising and duplicating, and bringing skin-specific benefits such as hydration and strengthening of the skin barrier.
BLIS Q24® is proven to inhibit the growth of bad bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Cutibacterium acnes and Corynebacterium minutissimum - all associated with different skin conditions you’d rather avoid.
What does CFU mean?
CFU is the industry standard measurement that lets you know the concentration of probiotics per one square centimeter of skin. Typically you have about one million microbes in an area that size, while our Live Probiotic Hydration Serum contains 150 million CFU/dose of BLIS Q24®.
That’s really crucial to keep your skin happy and healthy. Here’s why: The number is high enough that you’ll still have plenty if some die off due to environmental conditions on the skin, it’s a dose that we know is safe and tolerable, and it means there are enough in each application to do the good work we want it to in your skin microbiome.
Get more updates on the science behind the serum
