Can yogurt rebalance your skin’s pH?

A while back we reported on the trend of using yogurt in your skin products to create better products. Well, the good folks at Givaudan (a large fragrance supplier to the beauty industry) is introducing their own yogurt-based product.

This new product called Yogurtene Balance Powder is a spray dried version of yogurt and is supposed to “rebalance the body’s natural pH balance.” Givaudan says that their yogurt will be good for the anti-wrinkle market because it will help retain skin moisture and protect the collagen lattice in skin. Oh yeah, and it’s a great hair conditioner.

For some reason I find this stuff cute. It’s homey, it’s natural, it’s yogurt. How can it not be great?

Of course, there is no proof that yogurt will provide any benefit to your skin. No, it’s not going to protect the collagen lattice. It might help with skin moisture but not nearly as good as things like mineral oil, fatty alcohols or petrolatum. And no, it won’t re-balance your skin’s pH. Actually, I have no idea what that means. Can anyone enlighten me? I just couldn’t figure out how to get the pH meter to give me a reading on my skin.

When will cosmetic companies learn? Food is for eating, not wearing. Yogurt is great (this Beauty Brain particularly likes the Yoplait Whips flavors) but there’s no reason to put it on your skin.