By Hilary Metcalfe
Your Skin Is Hungry Too
As a chef and nutritionist, I learned early that order changes everything. Add lemon juice at the start of a sauce and it curdles. Add it at the end and it brightens. Skincare is no different. The order in which you apply products determines whether ingredients do their job, or whether you’ve just wasted a beautiful formula.
Your skin isn’t just a surface. It’s alive with billions of microbes, your microbiome. These microbes are constantly talking to your immune system, protecting against pathogens, and helping your barrier stay intact. But like any community, they’re picky eaters. They thrive on specific nutrients, prebiotics like inulin and beta-glucan. If you bury those prebiotics under thick oils or sunscreens, your microbes never get the meal.
So, layering is not about being fancy. Done right, it’s like building a meal that feeds your cells and your microbes in the right order.
Step 1: Gentle Cleanser - Don’t Torch the Garden
Cleansing sets the stage. Think of it as rinsing your vegetables before cooking, you want them clean, not bleached. A harsh, foaming cleanser might feel “fresh,” but really it’s stripping your barrier lipids and flattening microbial diversity.
That squeaky-clean feeling? That’s your microbiome waving a white flag.
Instead, choose cleansers that respect the microbiome:
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pH-balanced (around 5–5.5, the skin’s natural acidity).
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Sulfate-free (no harsh foaming agents).
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Barrier-supporting (with glycerin, ceramides, or mild plant oils).
Some microbiome-friendly cleansers worth trying:
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CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser: a gentle, ceramide-based staple.
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Gallinée Foaming Cleanser: infused with prebiotics and lactic acid.
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Pai Middlemist Seven: creamy, calming, and non-stripping.
This way, you’re preparing a clean, healthy “soil” for your next steps.
Step 2: Active Nutrient Serum - The Superfood Shot
Once the skin is clean, it’s thirsty. Serums are lightweight, concentrated, and designed to absorb quickly. They deliver vitamins, humectants, and antioxidants straight into the epidermis before you seal it all in with cream.
The SABI Active Nutrient Serum acts like a green smoothie for your face:
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Fermented postbiotics: peptides, enzymes, and antioxidants that calm inflammation and support barrier repair.
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Hyaluronic acid: multiple weights for layered hydration.
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Niacinamide and arnica: reduce redness, even tone, and reinforce resilience.
Think of serums as the base nutrients your cells need to function optimally. Without this “primer layer,” your skin won’t get the full benefit of what comes next.
Step 3: Prebiotic Cream - The Main Meal
Here’s where the magic happens. A prebiotic cream belongs close to the surface, where your microbiome lives. Applied after serums but before sunscreens or occlusives, it creates the right environment for microbes to thrive.
Our SABI Prebiotic Face & Body Cream was formulated with this ecological principle in mind:
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Collagen and prebiotics: selective food for beneficial microbes.
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Natural hyaluronic acid: deep hydration, barrier repair, and microbial resilience.
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Fermented marine extracts (postbiotics): antioxidants and peptides to fight oxidative stress.
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Squalane + rose extract: lipids and botanicals to reinforce and soothe the barrier.
Step 4: Mineral Sunblock - The Protective Lid
If prebiotic cream is the meal, sunscreen is the lid that keeps it safe. Without it, UV and oxidative stress undo all your careful layering in a matter of minutes.
Mineral sunscreens (zinc oxide, titanium dioxide) are microbiome-friendly and form a physical barrier against UVA/UVB rays. They don’t disrupt your microbes like some chemical filters can.
Always apply sunscreen last in the morning. Otherwise, you’re locking prebiotics and actives under an impenetrable shield.
Bonus: A Reviving Face Mist - The Midday Reset
City life, blue light, long hours at a desk, your skin feels it all. That’s why I always keep our Reviving Face Mist nearby. With rose water, sage, and antioxidants, it’s like a hydration reset button that refreshes the skin without disturbing the microbiome.
Think of it as a healthy snack between meals: it doesn’t replace your main course, but it keeps your energy steady throughout the day.
The Bigger Picture
Layering isn’t a gimmick. It’s about creating the right sequence so that your skin, and the microbes that live on it, can actually do their job.
If you strip your microbiome with harsh cleansers, it doesn’t matter how good your prebiotic cream is. If you bury prebiotics under sunscreen, you’re starving the very flora you’re trying to feed. But if you respect the order (cleanse, serum, prebiotic cream, sunscreen) you’re creating a living ecosystem on your skin that can fight pollution, oxidative stress, UV damage, and hormonal changes.
For me, experiencing daily hormonal shifts as a mum, this isn’t cosmetic. It’s survival. My routine isn’t just about looking fresh; it’s about resilience, building skin that can weather stress, sleep deprivation, UV, and pollution without collapsing.
So don’t just moisturise. Layer wisely. Feed your microbes. Protect their home. That’s how you turn skincare from a routine into a living shield.
ABOUT HILARY
Hilary is the Co-Founder of the SABI, a Holistic Nutritionist, natural, whole foods Chef, product developer and advocate for women getting to know their bodies, cycles and selves better. Born in Los Angeles, California and raised in Baja California, Mexico, she now lives in Los Cabos with her partner Kees, a curly-tailed rescue dog from Curacao, Flint and her rainbow babies Paloma and Bea.
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HORMONAL & PROUD
Created as a brand to help women navigate the toughest moments in pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum — and practically every stage of life, the SABI aims to change the narrative around our hormones from one of taboo, embarrassment and loneliness, to awareness and even pride. Much more than a wellness brand, SABI offers a carefully crafted line of products to carry you through your hormonal journey; a set of rituals, supportive tools, and ancient herbal remedies that have been tested time and again by women and now, backed by medicine. SABI is a blend of science and nature conceived by women who have experienced the joys and deep implications of bringing a child into the world, the pains of a heavy and difficult period, miscarriage and difficulty conceiving
Here is an invitation to get to know your body and its cycles better and to really understand what is going on inside. Learn to use your hormonal cycle to your advantage no matter your stage of life, and know that you can always support and balance your hormone levels. Look for the right sources of information, know that there is help, and know that you’re supported.
DISCLAIMER
The SABI blog and articles are not meant to instruct or advise on medical or health conditions, but to inform. The information and opinions presented here do not substitute professional medical advice or consultations with healthcare professionals for your unique situation.
