Wild Resilience™ Active Phage Serum is a groundbreaking skincare innovation that was borne from a pretty simple concept: to precisely target and kill blemish-causing bacteria by harnessing the power of natural phages that are found on healthy skin. These phages have a key advantage over other antimicrobial compounds in that they only kill one type of bacteria and therefore leave the other members of the skin microbiome unharmed. Taking the phrase “skin-similar ingredient” to another level, phages are naturally found on healthy skin already. Hence, phages are a safe, gentle, and effective way to improve the overall health of your skin.
However, because phages are natural, they are also fragile. Ellis Day scientists worked for years to develop a formulation that would allow their specially developed phages, called Cutiphage™, to be stable at room temperature, which I can assure you, is no small feat. Despite this exciting breakthrough, we still caution our customers to be careful about mixing Wild Resilience™ with a few specific products. In particular, anything that contains benzoyl peroxide or high concentrations of simple alcohols (sometimes referred to as ‘drying alcohols’), such as denatured alcohol or SD alcohol, is a big ‘no no’, since these compounds will pretty rapidly wipe out the Cutiphage™ activity.
While we do not recommend using Wild Resilience™ with the ingredients above, we do endorse using the serum with other products. A number of exciting scientific findings indeed suggest that knocking out the bad bacteria on your skin can help other skincare actives work more effectively. This means that Wild Resilience™, when used in conjunction with other products, may have a synergistic effect, helping to enhance the benefits of other active ingredients in your other skincare products. Pretty cool, right?
One of the biggest challenges our skin faces is chronic inflammation, resulting from things like UV exposure, smoking, and pollution, which can induce the expression of reactive oxygen species (ROS), free radicals, and proteins known ast matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), leading to collagen breakdown, decreased epidermal integrity, and premature aging. Notably, another major trigger of inflammation in the skin is C. acnes, the pesky bacterium that causes acne. In fact, skin with acne overexpresses a ton of proinflammatory factors, including those MPPs that break down your collagen, all of which can damage skin over time. Inflammation causes a whole host of problems, but it can also undermine the activity of your favorite skincare actives, diminishing their efficacy over time. That’s where Wild Resilience™ comes in.
In the last few years, you might have seen that active ingredients like Vitamin C, Hyaluronic Acid, and Retinol (as a combination) have become quite popular. Taking this particular regimen as an example, I’ll share how Wild Resilience™ can work synergistically, helping to optimize these ingredients.
Vitamin C is an antioxidant compound that neutralizes inflammation-causing free radicals and ROS. If left unchecked, these free radicals and ROS will damage proteins and DNA in your skin cells, leading to loss of skin smoothness, photoaging, and hyperpigmentation. Vitamin C not only functions to stabilize and disarm these harmful molecules, it can also directly promote collagen synthesis and other proteins that promote skin integrity. By knocking out the bad bacteria first, Wild Resilience™ can enable Vitamin C to work more effectively.
Hyaluronic Acid (HA) is an active that is classically thought of as a humectant (i.e., it draws moisture into the skin), and even this type of ingredient can have additional skin health-promoting functions that can be boosted by Cutiphage™ activity. In the case of HA, this compound has also been shown to promote wound healing and to modulate inflammation in the skin, two activities that would directly benefit from a reduction in inflammation and damage-inducing bacteria, such as C. acnes!
Lastly, retinols and related compounds are some of the most potent anti-aging factors around. They have been scientifically proven to stimulate skin cell division, strengthen the integrity of the skin, prevent water loss, and prevent collagen degradation, while simultaneously blocking the activity of those MMP proteins that promote the breakdown of collagen and other skin proteins. An overgrowth of C. acnes on skin leads to tissue damage and inflammation, creating a cycle whereby retinols are continually fixing the damage induced by an unbalanced microbiome. And so using Wild Resilience™ with retinol would help to eliminate one of the underlying causes of problem skin and help these anti-aging rockstars function at peak capacity.
Reducing C. acnes bacteria and inflammation is a key way in which Ellis Day’s proprietary Cutiphage™ in Wild Resilience™ works together with other active ingredients to improve your skin. That is, by targeting and killing these inflammation-causing bacteria and restoring balance to the skin microbiome, Wild Resilience™ can help to create a more optimal skin environment for those ingredients to function.
It is also pretty amazing that no matter which skincare ingredients you look at — niacinamide, zinc, AHAs/BHAs — this same trend emerges, whereby Cutiphage™ activity can potentially boost and support their function. This is just one of the many reasons we’re so excited about Wild Resilience™ and the future of phage-based skincare.
References:
- Abatangelo G, Vindigni V, Avruscio G, Pandis L, Brun P. Hyaluronic Acid: Redefining Its Role. Cells. 2020;9(7):E1743. Published 2020 Jul 21. doi:10.3390/cells9071743
- Al-Niaimi F, Chiang NYZ. Topical Vitamin C and the Skin: Mechanisms of Action and Clinical Applications. J Clin Aesthet Dermatol. 2017;10(7):14-17.
- Dréno B. What is new in the pathophysiology of acne, an overview. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2017;31 Suppl 5:8-12.
- Marinelli LJ, Fitz-Gibbon S, Hayes C, et al. Propionibacterium acnes bacteriophages display limited genetic diversity and broad killing activity against bacterial skin isolates. mBio. 2012;3(5):e00279-12. Published 2012 Sep 25.
- Pillai S, Oresajo C, Hayward J. Ultraviolet radiation and skin aging: roles of reactive oxygen species, inflammation and protease activation, and strategies for prevention of inflammation-induced matrix degradation - a review. Int J Cosmet Sci. 2005;27(1):17-34.
- Trivedi NR, Gilliland KL, Zhao W, Liu W, Thiboutot DM. Gene array expression profiling in acne lesions reveals marked upregulation of genes involved in inflammation and matrix remodeling [published correction appears in J Invest Dermatol. 2007 Jul;127(7):1825]. J Invest Dermatol. 2006;126(5):1071-1079.
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Zasada M, Budzisz E. Retinoids: active molecules influencing skin structure formation in cosmetic and dermatological treatments. Postepy Dermatol Alergol. 2019;36(4):392-397.
About Ellis Day Skin Science
We believe that modern skincare must be grounded in true microbiome science. We believe the answers are in the wild, natural world, which includes the surface of your skin.
At Ellis Day Skin Science, we pioneer natural phage-based products that target and kill bad bacteria associated with inflammation, damage, and aging, and enable good bacteria to flourish. By doing so, we aim to reset your microbiome for optimal skin health.
We use cutting-edge science to leverage nature, creating products that are just as kind and conscientious as they are effective, so that all can feel empowered with balanced, clear, radiant, and resilient skin.