Antimicrobial Deep Dive

Believe it or not, your skin is teaming with billions of bacteria, fungi, and even microscopic living mites. You could sit in a bathtub full of pure bleach, and still the bacteria would live on. They are survivors!

It only makes you shudder if you believe it shouldn't be so. But fear not. These bacteria, fungi, and mite populations are a fundamental component to being human, and they work hard to keep you safe and healthy. Some microscopic mites, for example, are so unique that they can be traced back to specific family lineages as predictably as genetics. Which means they are a direct link to your ancestors! Pretty cool (albeit in an unexpectedly weird way)! 

That being said! Athletes are above-averagely exposed to unwanted pathogenic microbes. "Pathogenic microbes" is a fancy way of saying unwanted infections. It's important that any athletic skincare regimen contain a significant antimicrobial component to bring things back into balance. 

Close-contact martial arts

Close-contact martial arts like jiu jitsu, wrestling, grappling, and judo are incredibly strenuous athletic pursuits. Which means they make people sweat a lot. When you bear hug a training partner to take them down, that sweat gets all over you. When you get pinned down on the mats, your partner's sweat gets all over you. It doesn't take much to cover a gym's mats in puddles of everyone's collective sweat. It's gross, yes. But who said being badass wouldn't be gross?

If these martial arts only required you to train with one single partner, that might be manageable. But when it's a class of thirty people and you are constantly rotating partners, you are not only exposed to dozens of peoples' individual sweat (and ancestral mites!), but also to the microbiomes of their cohabitants. Ringworm (fungal), staph (bacteria), and MRSA (bacteria) infections ABOUND. If you train these sports and you haven't yet suffered from an infection yourself, you definitely know people who have. The horror stories are truly disgusting. Staph infections in the eye! Multiple ringworm infections on peoples' scalps! Too many antibiotics causing major health problems! Being a beast has its cost.

Active infections often live on the school's mats. If the school doesn't take special care to clean their mats every day, you will be re-exposed to these infections every time you train.

Athlete's foot

Athlete's foot is a fungal infection caused by the fungi Trichophyton rubrum, T. mentagrophytes, T. interdigitale, and Epidermophyton floccosum. They incubate on the feet because of the unique environment of closed shoes. The feet (like the hands, armpits, and backs of the knees) are a major sweat center. In fact, the feet have more sweat glands than any other part of the body. Each foot contains about 250,000 sweat glands. 250,000!!!!

When you run, bike, walk, or train for extended periods of time, these sweat glands get to work. But when you sweat into your shoes, your feet can't air out properly. All the sweat creates a warm, insulated environment, which is the perfect breeding ground for fungal infection. Since training without shoes is not an option for runners, athlete's foot is inevitable.

Studies show that family members share the most skin microbiome populations on their feet. This is because everyone is walking around barefoot on the same floors. You might not see, hug, or touch a family member for a whole day, but you'll still be sharing the same floors. Athletes do the same thing at the gym. Gym shower floors are one of the main places where athletes pass on their fungal foot infections to other athletes. The result? Unbearably itchy or burning skin that never seems to go away.

"Sweat Acne"

We put sweat acne in quotes because it's not an actual medical condition. But it is a common experience that many athletes share, nonetheless. Sweat acne is also known as acne mechanica, and it's a skin reaction caused by repeated rubbing, stretching, or squeezing of the skin. When athletes move, their skin moves with them. This movement, especially when it is combined with sweat and clothing, creates friction. This friction causes a physical disruption of the skin. And sometimes this disruption results in pimples, redness, and inflammation.

Safe antimicrobial solutions!

Antimicrobial ingredients are an enormous help for athletes suffering from any of the skin problems described above. Having said that, there are a lot of substances out there that are antimicrobial - like essential oils - but they are also too harsh for the skin.

Tea tree oil is a common ingredient used to fight topical skin infections. Tea tree oil is also associated with contact dermatitis. Contact dermatitis is an adverse skin reaction to an irritating topical ingredient. Menthol, peppermint, and eucalyptus are also known to cause adverse skin reactions. Yes, these ingredients are antimicrobial. And no, we do not recommend using them due to the high risk of irritation.

Activated Charcoal

There is more than one way to approach antimicrobial protection for athletes. In the world of safe and proven actives, activated charcoal is unique. The charcoal itself is antimicrobial, yes, but its main mechanism of action is to latch onto microbes so they can be washed off the skin. This ingredient is so powerful at absorbing harmful substances, that it is administered to treat alcohol poisoning in hospitals. This ingredient is also taken internally to cleanse the bowels. It latches on to harmful toxins so they can be eliminated from the body. We use activated charcoal in our Char Goals Everything Bar Cleanser, which is why it is a deep grey color. Since we know athletes shower multiple times per day, our Char Goals Everything Bar Cleanser is a much safer alternative than essential oil soaps, which are insanely irritating to the skin. 

Mulberry Silk

Silk has a unique texture, and it has been used to deep clean the skin for centuries. Different parts of Asia and North Africa - specifically Turkey, Morrocco, Korea, and China - have a long history of using exfoliating cloths to buff away the top layer of dead skin cells. You can visit a Korean spa and receive an intense head-to-toe exfoliating treatment using scrubbing rags. At Korean spas, typically you first spend some time soaking in warm water. Then, you lay on a table, and you are scrubbed down with thick exfoliating rags. You can see all of the grey-colored dead skin cells being washed away in real time.

The result? Baby soft skin. Clear pores. No more flakes. No more bumps. Fewer ingrown hairs. These spas use rags and mitts made out of plastic fibers. But instead of using plastic fibers like those used at a Korean spa, however, we chose to use pure mulberry silk for our Scuff Love Exfoliating Glove. Silk is produced by a silkworm; it is a natural fiber found in nature. As a result, it is a fully biodegradable fabric. Silk is also antimicrobial! This unique method of deep cleaning the skin is a true skincare panacea for athletes.  

Green Tea

Lucky for athletes, there are many safe options that have dozens of studies proving their effectiveness at healing and protecting the skin. Green tea is one of these ingredients. Green tea has been widely studied for its internal health benefits when drunken as a beverage. It also offers many benefits for the skin when applied topically. It would seem that green tea and the human body get along famously well.

Green tea is full of specific antioxidants called catechins. These catechins are responsible for its antimicrobial activity. Green tea has been shown to be effective against bacteria, fungus, and viruses. Green tea also provides heavy antioxidant protection for the skin, and it reduces redness and irritation. This ingredient offers nothing but benefits and is considered safe for the skin.

Glyceryl Laurate

Commercially, glyceryl laurate is known as monolaurate. It produced by combining lauric acid and glycerin. Lauric acid exhibits broad-spectrum activity against bacteria, fungi, and viruses. It does this by attacking the external biofilms that pathogenic microbes excrete to protect themselves. Once this film has been dissolved, the infection becomes exposed, and it dies. Lauric acid also helps balance the skin's natural bacteria populations.

For a more comprehensive approach to antimicrobial protection, it's helpful to combine a biofilm-dissolving ingredient like glyceryl laurate with other antimicrobial ingredients. Glyceryl laurate will break apart the biofilms, and the other antimicrobial ingredients can then get to work. This one-two punch provides far more comprehensive protection than any one of these ingredients alone.

Lauric acid is a short-chain fatty acid. Since glyceryl laurate is made by combining this fatty acid with glycerin, glyceryl laurate is considered safe and moisturizing for the skin.

Licorice

Licorice is another extract with broad spectrum antimicrobial activity. Like green tea, it's licorice's main antioxidant components that fight invading bacteria, fungi, and viruses. 

In addition to its antimicrobial activity, licorice also benefits the skin in other unique ways. It helps to decrease redness, even skin tone, and brighten the skin. It has also been shown to decrease inflammation in pimples and to help heal break outs.

Bakuchiol

Bakuchiol is a high-end extract found in boutique and designer skincare products. Bakuchiol extract comes to us from ayurveda - the holistic health practices of India. Bakuchiol is a truly remarkable extract. It has been found to be just as effective as prescription retinol, but with none of the heavy side effects.

In addition to evening skin tone, soothing skin, and reducing hyperpigmentation, bakuchiol also helps to control the bacteria responsible for acne flare ups. This ingredient alone can help make a dramatic difference for acne-prone skin. But we went several steps further by combining it with green tea, glyceryl laurate, and licorice in our Total Cranarchy Multi-Use Balm. The end result is one single antimicrobial balm that makes a BIG difference for athletes' skin.

One comprehensive formula

We combined green tea, glyceryl laurate, licorice, and bakuchiol into our do-it-all moisturizing balm, Total Cranarchy Multi-Use Balm. The balm is water-free and made from a base of vitamin-rich plant oils. The plant oils sink in deep to restore the skin barrier while the antimicrobial extracts work hard to balance the skin. It's a single step balm that offers athletes the protection they need without using any irritating essential oils. We packaged the balm in aluminum because of how lightweight and easy it is to toss in your gym bag and fly out the door. Unlike plastic, aluminum is also endlessly recyclable! Total Cranarchy Multi-Use Balm can replace an entire medicine cabinet's worth of products and leave athletes' skin more resilient than ever before!

Author: Rebecca Williams, Founder