Ready to let biotechnology take over the beauty #shelfie?

Fiddling around with nature in a lab saves the environment and gives us some potent beauty products

On the one hand, there's skin minimalism and skin fasting. On the other are heaving online shopping carts. It's challenging to strike this careful balance because some need something more than a Glossier regime. But the more we buy, the more we are left with a mountain of packaging and a list of ingredients that we know has knocked off a tree here and a shark there.This is why biotechnology and skincare are fast emerging as the hottest couple to 'ship'. Biotechnology in beauty is a broad term, but the basic definition refers to microorganisms cultivated in labs to mimic naturally occurring active ingredients. The principal components used here are bacteria that go through a process of fermentation. Your end product is natural and has almost zero impact on the environment.

So why should this concern you?

Well, because as biotechnology and beauty become more of a 'happily-ever-after couple', beauty products will no longer be associated with statistics like this:

1. Palm oil farming has led to 39 per cent deforestation in Borneo.

2. The beauty industry is responsible for more than 120 billion units of packaging, most of which cannot be recyclable.

In the first case, because companies like New York-based company C16 Bioscience have developed a palm oil alternative. And in the second, because brands like Dr Barbara Sturm have created a "100 per cent bio-based material composed of mainly wood and plant-based binders from responsibly sourced, sustainable raw materials, including wood from certified forests" for the packaging for their Skin Super Anti-Aging oral supplements. Both are products of biotechnology.

Biotechnology (biology+technology aka chemistry) is very abstract. It's easier to understand it through its effects and products. Like botox. "It's created in a biotechnological process from a bacteria called Clostridium Botulinum, and it's through biotechnology that it is mass-produced," explains Dr Kiran Sethi, the Delhi-based dermatologist at Isyaderm. "It not only helps cosmetically, but it's also used to help with laryngeal dystonia, migraines, urinary issues, and eye problems like strabismus."

Biotechnology has also been used to develop certain kinds of hyaluronic acids, peptides, kojic acid and resveratrol. In 2014, Biossance created a mini-revolution in the beauty-science community when it came out with its squalene alternative. Originally squalene is derived from shark liver oil, disastrously affecting marine life. Amyris, Biossance's parent company, derived squalane, a 100 per cent plant-based active from renewable Brazilian sugarcane that was bio-fermented in its own yeast. Amyris is now looking to develop sandalwood using yeast fermentation. Swiss scent manufacturer Givaudan has developed ambroxide to mimic the woodsy scent derived from ambergris, usually derived from the digestive system of sperm whales.

Natural demand

One Ocean Beauty is known for its marine ingredient-led range of products. Using Blue Technology, they use molecules derived from living marine microorganisms reproduced in a lab environment through bio-fermentation. Their ingredient—wait for it—bio-fermented pseudoalteromonas microorganism—is a marine active "that stimulates collagen production to reduce roughness, fine lines and wrinkles.” Along with bio-fermented exopolysaccharide, it's used in their Revitalising Sea Serum to boost collagen and hyaluronic acid production.

AO Biome, the parent company of Mother Dirt, is encouraging us to spray bacteria on our face, developing probiotics in a facial spray to improve the microbiome health of our skin. L'Oréal Paris has partnered with Micreos and LanzaTech to develop products and packaging (from captured carbon), while Estée Lauder is working with Atropos Therapeutics to look into lab-grown ingredients.

South Korean brand Innisfree has been using biotechnology (in the extraction process) to fine-tune lessons learned from history. Records from Tang dynasty books called Chohakki refer to people watching a whale eat sea mustard to heal postpartum wounds after giving birth. It led the people of Goryeo (present-day Korea) to feed sea mustard to their mothers after childbirth. It's mineral-rich, making it a powerful regenerative. In addition to this, sea polyphenol is extracted from gulfweed, which is supposed to be four times stronger than green tea extract (a potent antioxidant). All resulting in their Wrinkle Science line also referred to as 'retinol from the sea'.

Innisfree also uses sheets made from naturally fermented Jeju soybean to create their Second Skin bio-cellulose masks. "There is no skin irritation, and it has the effect of strengthening the skin barrier, improving texture, moisture and elasticity. It's made by pouring the fermented product into a mask-shaped mould, into a gel. So it is expected that the environmental impact will be less in terms of the production process compared to the nonwoven sheet," explains the brand's HQ skincare brand manager.Is biotech ‘future proof’?

Biotechnology can be applied in different ways, like Augustinus Bader's line based on the theory that we can trigger our stem cells to heal the skin. California-based Heraux uses stem cell research to grow and re-engineer their patented ingredient HX-1, created initially to regrow cartilage in joints, now used in their anti-ageing cream. And then there's Dr Barbara Sturm's MC1 cream, a blood-infused treatment that costs $1,400. The German orthopaedic surgeon-turned-aesthetics doctor created the cream infusing it with plasma from your own blood (stimulated by centrifuging it to produce anti-inflammatory proteins) to heal and plump skin.

"Biotechnology is actually about sustainability," says Dr Aneesh Sheth, behind the active ingredient-led line of skincare Dr Sheth's, "It shortens the process of creating a product, makes it more efficient with less effort. It might require considerable funding to create the ingredient, but the long term expenses even out.” In many cases, lab-controlled ingredients are more efficacious too. Shiseido created a hyaluronic acid in the 1980s using bacteria that dissolves in water and oil, said to penetrate oily skins better. "I got the wonderful opportunity to interact with Barbara Paldus (Codex Beauty)," says Rosemin Madhavji, a TV presenter and former host of Bazaar Beauty for Harper's Bazaar Arabia and skincare enthusiast. "She taught me how biotechnology is creating products to increase potency and achieve targeted treatment. I think, particularly because of the pandemic, people are more conscious about the ingredients they use. They question their source, their efficacy. Biotechnology addresses a lot of those questions."

And that is the most significant gift biotechnology gives us—transparency. While the FDA regulates cosmetics, labels like 'sustainable', 'organic', 'clean' and 'natural' have no official definition or criteria. What is natural can be harmful to you and the environment. Biotechnology reduces the environmental impact and gives consumers more access to the process by which the product reaches them. It turns out biomimicry is going to be the superhero that just might save the planet. And our skin.

Is biotech ‘future proof’?

Biotechnology can be applied in different ways, like Augustinus Bader's line based on the theory that we can trigger our stem cells to heal the skin. California-based Heraux uses stem cell research to grow and re-engineer their patented ingredient HX-1, created initially to regrow cartilage in joints, now used in their anti-ageing cream. And then there's Dr Barbara Sturm's MC1 cream, a blood-infused treatment that costs $1,400. The German orthopaedic surgeon-turned-aesthetics doctor created the cream infusing it with plasma from your own blood (stimulated by centrifuging it to produce anti-inflammatory proteins) to heal and plump skin.

"Biotechnology is actually about sustainability," says Dr Aneesh Sheth, behind the active ingredient-led line of skincare Dr Sheth's, "It shortens the process of creating a product, makes it more efficient with less effort. It might require considerable funding to create the ingredient, but the long term expenses even out.” In many cases, lab-controlled ingredients are more efficacious too. Shiseido created a hyaluronic acid in the 1980s using bacteria that dissolves in water and oil, said to penetrate oily skins better. "I got the wonderful opportunity to interact with Barbara Paldus (Codex Beauty)," says Rosemin Madhavji, a TV presenter and former host of Bazaar Beauty for Harper's Bazaar Arabia and skincare enthusiast. "She taught me how biotechnology is creating products to increase potency and achieve targeted treatment. I think, particularly because of the pandemic, people are more conscious about the ingredients they use. They question their source, their efficacy. Biotechnology addresses a lot of those questions."

And that is the most significant gift biotechnology gives us—transparency. While the FDA regulates cosmetics, labels like 'sustainable', 'organic', 'clean' and 'natural' have no official definition or criteria. What is natural can be harmful to you and the environment. Biotechnology reduces the environmental impact and gives consumers more access to the process by which the product reaches them. It turns out biomimicry is going to be the superhero that just might save the planet. And our skin.

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