For your skin
A hydrator often pitched as "stronger than hyaluronic acid." It sits on the surface, locks water in, and helps your skin make more of its own moisturizers over time.
Want the science? Keep reading ↓Mechanism of action
Fermentation-derived poly-amino-acid that forms a water-binding film on the skin surface, upregulating natural moisturizing factor components and filaggrin in keratinocytes.
Why we tier this moderate
3 cited papers across 2 countries. The mechanism is well-described and there's at least one controlled trial in the literature, but we tier this Moderate rather than Strong to stay honest about how many specific papers we cite directly.
Cited research
Ko HJ et al., Poly-gamma-Glutamic Acid from a Novel Bacillus subtilis Strain: Strengthening the Skin Barrier and Improving Moisture Retention in Keratinocytes and a Reconstructed Skin Model, International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2025
Li C, Ma H, Li P, Zhang S et al., Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) with heterologous poly-gamma-glutamic acid has skin moisturizing, whitening and anti-wrinkle effects, International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 2024;263(Pt 1):130229 — transgenic gamma-PGA-producing cucumber outperformed standard gamma-PGA and hyaluronic acid on hydration, wrinkles (-19 to -25%), and melanin reduction in human skin testing
Yang R et al., Injectable adaptive self-healing hyaluronic acid/poly(gamma-glutamic acid) hydrogel for cutaneous wound healing, Acta Biomaterialia 2021;127:102-115 — HA/gamma-PGA self-healing hydrogel significantly accelerated full-thickness wound closure with enhanced angiogenesis and collagen deposition vs Tegaderm
Sources: PubMed · KCI · J-Stage · CNKI · Wanfang · SFD · MFDS · Cochrane · SCCS · CIR. Every entry points to a specific document. See methodology for what each outcome label means.