Fermented lactobacilli

Fermented ingredients are among the most talked about and least explained things in skincare. The principle is old and plain enough: lactic acid bacteria — lactobacilli — break a raw material down into simpler substances. The same thing happens when sauerkraut or yoghurt is made, only towards a different end.

For skin, the result matters rather than the process. Fermentation yields smaller molecules, amino acids and organic acids, while some of what might irritate disappears along the way. A ferment is therefore often better tolerated than the raw material it came from, and usually easier to work into a light water texture.

Two things are easily confused here. Fermented ingredients are not probiotics in the dietary sense — skincare is not about live cultures but about what fermentation leaves behind. A label gives it away with the words ferment or ferment lysate: both mean the product of fermentation, not living bacteria.

The connection to the skin microbiome is real, but more cautious than the marketing suggests. Skin has its own community of microorganisms, and care that does not disturb it needlessly makes sense. Claiming that a particular cream repairs the microbiome is another matter, and we do not claim it.

In the No2. Bioactive Toner, fermented lactobacilli round out the hydrating, conditioning character alongside NMN, plant collagen and botanical extracts. A fermented radish root filtrate sits beside them in the same formula. The toner is the second step of the ritual: after cleansing it leaves skin soft and ready for the water layer that follows.