The problems with traditional skin care are twofold
What we call traditional skin care has one thing in common – it is skin care that contains preservatives and other additives that are there to conjure up unwanted odors and colors and get the right feeling when using the product. The main reason why preservatives have become a main ingredient in today's skin care is because it increases the durability of the product. Preservatives prevent growth, i.e. mold, in the cream caused by bad bacteria that the creams come into contact with when they are exposed to, for example, water, air or simply our hands.
Preservatives are therefore added to the skin care cream solely for the sake of the product and to reduce costs for the producers. A longer shelf life allows manufacturers to produce large volumes (because it's cheaper) and then keep it in stock for a long time. When it is then sent to retailers and stores, the products can be stored on shelves at room temperature and under bright light. This makes it easy for manufacturers and retailers to handle the products but is it good for the skin? No, hardly.
1. Traditional skin care disrupts the skin's microbiome
Recently, scientists discovered that the skin is home to trillions of microorganisms - bacteria, viruses and fungi - all of which are there and working hard for good skin health. This composition of microorganisms on the skin is called the skin microbiome, it is thus the skin's own good bacterial flora. Researchers believe that an imbalanced skin microbiome may be the cause of various skin conditions such as acne, rosacea and eczema. So what does this have to do with preservatives in skin care products? Well, preservatives kill the "bad" bacteria that can get into your skin care cream. Unfortunately, they also affect your good skin bacteria when you apply a traditional skin care cream, which means you can upset the balance in the skin microbiome. In the long term, it can affect your skin health negatively as the preservative unfortunately cannot distinguish between bad and good bacteria and your skin's microbiome can thus be thrown out of balance.
2. Traditional skin care does not ensure the effectiveness of active ingredients
Many times traditional skin care also contains active ingredients, such as e.g. Retinol or vitamin C. Our founder, Dr. Johanna Gillbro, has researched and developed new active ingredients and noted several years ago that many active ingredients are affected by air and heat to the extent that they degrade. They therefore lose efficiency, they become less effective, when they are exposed to it. This means that skin care products with active ingredients become less effective over time and if they are exposed to light, air or room temperature, such as when it is on the shelf in the skin care store under bright, hot lights, when you open and close the jar or store it in a warm bathroom cabinet. So even if the product originally contained an active ingredient, there is a high risk that it has degraded and is no longer effective. Of course, you can try to stabilize the active substances with even more additives, but many of these stabilizers are neither good for your skin nor our environment.
