Bacterial friends
I posted on Aug 12 about this Mother Dirt product, and spraying live bacteria on my face in an attempt to change the whole environment there.
The ammonia-oxidizing bacteria supposedly feed off urea and ammonia in sweat from the skin, turning them into nitric oxide. And I still haven't done my research on nitric oxide, really. But the more these friendly bacteria settle in, the less food and space is likely available for p acnes, right? The kicker is that surfactants (read: soaps) kill the AOBs, which are rather delicate, so you have to stop washing your face -- a detail Mother Dirt is trying to downplay by selling their own AOB-friendly non-soap cleanser.
Anyway, it's been almost four weeks. My skin care takes less time than it ever has, because literally all I do is spray my face twice a day and (some days) (let's admit it) squeeze out glop from my pores.
What's happened? Good things. At first, I got greasier and, not coincidentally, stopped needing moisturizer. Natural skin oils for the win! Pore-squeezing also got easier, which means less disruptive to the skin. I also do it less than before, because I'm not all up against the mirror with clean wet skin twice a day from washing it.
After about a week, my skin seemed noticeably calmer/nicer, and I got my period early -- surprise! -- which led to double surprise, because, wait a minute, that means that week was my pre-period breakout.
Since then, skin has been... interesting. Still better. It seems more resilient, and, again, I've never spent less time on it. Of particular note:
AOBiome, the research branch of all this, has this product in Phase 2 clinical trials for acne, eczema and rosacea -- all of them inflammatory skin conditions. I definitely intend to keep going and see what happens. I'd also recommend this for anyone who doesn't like the smell of their underarms -- it cuts BO considerably when sprayed there.
The ammonia-oxidizing bacteria supposedly feed off urea and ammonia in sweat from the skin, turning them into nitric oxide. And I still haven't done my research on nitric oxide, really. But the more these friendly bacteria settle in, the less food and space is likely available for p acnes, right? The kicker is that surfactants (read: soaps) kill the AOBs, which are rather delicate, so you have to stop washing your face -- a detail Mother Dirt is trying to downplay by selling their own AOB-friendly non-soap cleanser.
Anyway, it's been almost four weeks. My skin care takes less time than it ever has, because literally all I do is spray my face twice a day and (some days) (let's admit it) squeeze out glop from my pores.
What's happened? Good things. At first, I got greasier and, not coincidentally, stopped needing moisturizer. Natural skin oils for the win! Pore-squeezing also got easier, which means less disruptive to the skin. I also do it less than before, because I'm not all up against the mirror with clean wet skin twice a day from washing it.
After about a week, my skin seemed noticeably calmer/nicer, and I got my period early -- surprise! -- which led to double surprise, because, wait a minute, that means that week was my pre-period breakout.
Since then, skin has been... interesting. Still better. It seems more resilient, and, again, I've never spent less time on it. Of particular note:
- The airplanes on Monday and Saturday didn't seem to bother it, which is notable because plane flights usually clog me up horribly.
- A little bump had hiding way below the surface of my skin, above my eyebrow, I think for well over a year -- for so long I was starting to think it might just be scar tissue or something. But after two weeks of bacteria it came up and popped without fanfare, and now it's gone.
- I've gotten new blemishes. They just don't seem very dedicated to their jobs. It's like they show up and say "we're supposed to wreak some havoc here? okay... wreak... well, I hope this is enough, because union rules say we take our lunch break now." And they go away, rather than blowing up.
AOBiome, the research branch of all this, has this product in Phase 2 clinical trials for acne, eczema and rosacea -- all of them inflammatory skin conditions. I definitely intend to keep going and see what happens. I'd also recommend this for anyone who doesn't like the smell of their underarms -- it cuts BO considerably when sprayed there.