Health is top of mind for more consumers than ever and the hair wellness category is no exception. Like the many other industries, consumers want healthy ingredients that are backed by science.
The gut-hair axis
While many consumers are more aware of the impact of gut health on overall health, hair doesn’t typically come to mind in relation to gut health. However, growing research is highlighting the gut-skin axis and the gut-hair axis.
“It’s hard to pinpoint one particular reason why the hair microbiome has gone largely under the radar. One could speculate that hair related products were earlier seen more from a cosmetics/aesthetics point of view as opposed to being used to provide a functional health benefit,” noted Krishna Rajendran, CEO of Karallief, a company that focuses on the research and development of herbal extract ingredients through rigorous science.
He added that lately, as researchers have started to focus on the health impact of microbiomes throughout the body, the hair microbiome is also coming to the forefront.
“The microbiome plays an important role in a wide variety of skin disorders. Not only is the skin microbiome altered, but also surprisingly many skin diseases are accompanied by an altered gut microbiome. The microbiome is a key regulator for the immune system, as it aims to maintain homeostasis by communicating with tissues and organs in a bidirectional manner. Hence, dysbiosis in the skin and/or gut microbiome is associated with an altered immune response, promoting the development of skin diseases, such as atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, acne vulgaris, dandruff, and even skin cancer,” noted one study in the journal Microorganisms. The review went on to describe an exhaustive list of common skin conditions with associated dysbiosis in the skin microbiome as well as the current body of evidence on gut microbiome dysbiosis, dietary links, and their interplay with skin conditions.