To wear a face that is supple in appearance is something that most women desire. After all, a supple face is a youthful-looking face. It is also the part of your body that people see first. You bear witness to it every time you look in the mirror.
After a careful examination of your reflection, you notice that your skin is in poor condition. Your immediate impulse may be to splurge on the newest skincare products, which often overpromise but underdeliver. Perhaps rewilding your skin may be just the different (and better) approach you need.
You cannot accurately judge the state of your skin based on your sense of sight and touch alone. Skincare brands are typically quick to offer a product where its use promises the skin appearance and feel of your dreams. Only, it may be worth considering whether the health of your skin is at the forefront of their claims. Rewilding your skin is about resetting it to its natural condition, for which we have evolved. But it’s more than just ditching synthetics for natural ingredients.
We recently interviewed Trevor Steyn, the founder of Esse Skincare. This is a South African nature-based skincare brand that has successfully gone global. Trevor is deeply passionate about using African plants in their cosmetic products.
Rewilding your skin’s ecosystem
Trevor discussed the company’s drive to reimagine modern-day skincare through personalized and rewilding treatment.
Esse believes that to be able to best nurture your skin, you must understand (as well as measure) the condition of your skin microbiome.
Steyn explains how his upbringing set the stage for vision. He grew up keeping things as natural as possible, whether it be eating or living. He gained further beneficial knowledge with a degree in organic chemistry, alongside obtaining his master’s, to prove that an alternative business model (which champions rewilding) in the skincare industry can be viable.
What is your skin microbiome?
Everybody knows about the buzz around your gut microbiome, but few know your skin possesses a microbiome of its own. People fixate on what they are shoving down their throats and how to optimize their digestion; except they fail to consider the contents of what they are putting on their faces. Much like the gut microbiome, your skin is a breeding ground for bacteria.
Studies have shown that looking at the composition of your skin’s microbes is valuable for illuminating the cause of common skin issues. Your skin microbiome acts as your body’s first interface with the world. It can shift to different conditions and seasons through different exposures to different chemicals.
This is done to assist your body’s ability to adapt to its external environment. Therefore, rewilding your skin is all about helping it thrive by fostering the growth of the skin’s beneficial bacteria. What you apply to your skin is the determining factor in whether the good or bad bacteria will prosper.
A rewilding approach to skin product development
Esse’s endgame is to have clients who age more gracefully and have skin that looks younger for longer. In pursuit of this, Steyn expressed how he remains firm in adhering to scientific methods in product development. Their testing takes place in Hamburg, Germany, which allows them to make statistically relevant and authentic claims that prove the product works.
Esse aims to optimize skin health in the short term by encouraging the skin to behave in a way that it has evolved to develop. Steyn shared how it has become abundantly clear that the microbes on the skin are just as important for skin health as the microbes in the gut are for gut health. He believes that by shifting to an industrial lifestyle, we have done our skin a disservice. Through Esse’s rewilding approach, the goal is to lean on nature to take the reins on correcting our skin.
A whole food diet but for your skin
When we look at food and the gut microbiome, the consensus is that whole, unprocessed foods are the best for us to eat. Research has concluded that this diet is the best for us to follow and nobody contests this idea. Essentially, it mimics the conditions that we have been exposed to for the previous 2 million years. Yet, the same concept is not demonstrated when it pertains to your rewilding your skin for better skin health.
Trevor Steyn, Esse Skincare Founder.
“Whenever we build a product, we look into what we call evolutionary first principles. At what point are we arrogant enough to believe that we can do better than 2 million years of evolution?
If we don’t necessarily believe that synthetic chemistry is the answer, then how can we use biotechnology to deliver results on our skin in a way that mimics the conditions for which we have evolved?” says Steyn.
We tend to apply products to our skin that are foreign most of the time and deliver short-term results with long-term consequences. Esse is different from the average skincare brand. They are result-driven while ensuring that the rewilding of your skin for its lifelong health is kept as its focal point. By assessing the skin microbiome, the company hopes to rewild the ecosystem of our faces with favorable microbes.
How do you know if your skin microbiome is off-kilter?
Normally, we judge whether a skincare product is working by looking in the mirror and noticing how our skin feels. However, you cannot properly perceive the day-by-day shift in the skin’s condition yourself. Esse offers sequencing where a swab of your skin is taken to determine what percentage of your skin microbiome is made up of which microbe. The most accurate skincare intervention will then be introduced to move the microbiome back into balance.
Your environment plays a role in skin health
Considering Esse’s global presence, they have been able to record data that highlights the differences in skin microbiomes across the world.
“The difference between any two South Africans, for example, is about the same as the difference between any two Swedes. Therefore, the skin microbiome is highly variable among individuals. But, when we combine all our data, we do see trends in South Africa versus trends in Sweden,” describes Steyn.
Evidently, factors like climate, lifestyle, and environment have an impact on the quality of our skin microbiome. The products manufactured on a global scale do not reflect these critical elements. The “one size fits all” phenomenon does not cater to each individual’s varying needs when it comes to rewilding skin.
Personalized healthcare is the direction in which the future is heading and Esse has recognized this. Everyone has a unique body, so it’s important to understand what interferes with your own distinctive set of genes and how you can take care of it. What works well for one person may not necessarily work well for another.
Bottom line
Understanding the true state of your skin can help you in your efforts to attain (and maintain) that much-sought-after glow. Esse Skincare’s use of biotechnology to rewild your skin, all the while sourcing only natural ingredients and applying scientifically sound testing, is a testimony to their genuine care for the skin health of their clients.
Watch the full interview below:
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