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The skin is the body’s most significant and sensitive tissue, and it requires the utmost care. When healthy, its layers work hard to protect us, but when compromised, the skin’s capacity to work as an effective barrier is weakened. Therefore, it is important to understand the best ways to support your skin health.
Parallel Health is a next-generation skin telehealth startup powered by microbiome science and genomics. With a first-of-its-kind Skin Microbiome Discovery Kit, Parallel analyzes your skin’s microbiome and uses the results to provided personalized microbiome-based skincare products and prescriptions for effective treatment.
The company is VC-backed and founded by Natalise Kalea Robinson and Dr. Nathan Brown. The duo has vast marketing and scientific experience in skin health and wellness. “Natalise has built compelling, authentic brands and has served in leadership roles across various consumer-facing companies.” In contrast, I bring microbiome and technology know-how.” affirms Nathan. Dr. Brown was funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Gates Foundation building phage therapeutics for bacterial based illnesses; he’s now bringing that knowledge to consumer health and wellness.
The telehealth company has numerous notable accomplishments under its belt. Parallel Health was recently recognized as a World Changing Idea by Fast Company. Established with a vision to change the approach to skincare and skin health completely, Parallel is led by a double-board certified dermatologist, a world-class microbiologist PhD, and a Stanford MBA. The company possesses the world’s most extensive data set on the skin microbiome using whole genome Sequencing, enabling robust recommendations. Additionally, they have over 3,000 people on their waitlist.
Parallel Health’s achievements did not happen overnight. The team behind the company initially struggled to get investors who understood their vision. “However, over time, we were able to garner support from investors from biotech to consumer health who share our vision to enable precision skin health using cutting-edge technology and clean, sustainable, and natural ingredients,” Natalise Kalea Robinson shares.
“A microbiome is an ecosystem of bacteria, viruses, mites, fungi, and other microbes. Our microbiomes, whether in the gut, skin, or elsewhere, really affect our overall health. When these ecosystems are in balance, we are generally healthy. When any of these microbiomes are out of balance, that’s when we experience problems,” Dr. Nathan Brown responded when asked what wisdom they wished to share about skin health.
Dr. Nathan Brown perceives that when we have imbalanced microbiomes, we can get issues like acne, eczema, rosacea, melasma and even premature aging, among other issues. He advises that one of the key ways to optimize your health is to augment your microbiome. “At Parallel, we enable you to discover your true parallel—your skin microbiome, and then we provide precision formulations with our phage technology to balance your skin microbiome,” adds Dr. Nathan.
The co-founders have a grand vision for Parallel. They want to offer people a new approach to their skin health that is underpinned by real science, meaningful data, and personalized products. Natalise shares, “we hope to change the way people think about their skin health altogether, so that we are proactive about prevention and optimization rather than being reactive to issues when damage has already occurred.”
