This article was originally published in the Skin care Report. Receive your copy here
Stress affects the skin: it’s a widely known fact. But what if we could tell that a tough Tuesday could affect the microbiome a day or two day later, resulting in a skin reaction by the weekend – and that we could intervene by using a certain skin care product to lessen the impact?
What if the feel of a skin care product could be proven to provide instant stress relief?
It is questions like this that brands are working on in a rising number of scientific studies.
Unilever’s current research with University of Liverpool’s Microbiome Innovation Centre and Brain & Behaviour Laboratory is finding out if it is possible to develop products that can make the skin microbiome more resilient before its balance is upset by the impact of stress.
“We believe we can ground the link between emotional and biochemical mechanisms in science and show how the microbiome affects psychological as well as physical wellbeing,” says Dr Timo Giesbrecht, Consumer Scientist at Unilever. “This project is the first step of that journey of exploration.”
No7 Beauty Company is stepping up its research in the area by partnering the University of Nottingham in a fully funded doctorate research project to develop the understanding of the sensory properties of topical skin care and the emotional response of consumers.
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