CEO Talk: DIJO, the well-being through the belly

Hello Anouk and Lisa, thank you for being with us on Standards. First, can you tell us how DIJO was born?

Anouk : So the genesis of DIJO came from a personal story. Indeed, I got sick in 2018 with major thyroid problems. Lisa, who is my childhood friend and to whom I told my problems, advised me to take probiotics that she herself takes as part of her running practice. At that time, I was undergoing hormone treatments, I was having a hard time feeling good even with the prescribed medication, I was always so tired, even if it helped my thyroid; my daily life was really not easy. Then with the probiotics that helped me take better care of my stomach, I saw a real improvement in my daily life and I was able to live better with my symptoms and my pathology. This is how we decided to launch DIJO.

We started from the fact that we do not necessarily know how to take care of our belly, it is a taboo subject where there are not really dedicated products even though it is a hyper technical machine connected to many interdependent organs where lives in particular this famous microbiota: these billions of bacteria which colonize our intestines and which have full of magic powers!

Today, unfortunately, we have a way of life that damages this bacterial eco-system, notably because of our processed food, repeated medication, pollution… Our microbiota compared to that of our grandparents or great-grandparents, for example, is largely depleted. This is why we have designed our first product DIJO: a probiotic cure that has been thought with much higher quality standards than those present on the French market. Our goal was simple: to design the best probiotic cure possible!

Who would you recommend DIJO to?

Lisa : We will necessarily advise DIJO to everyone because today we all have a lifestyle that has a direct impact on our belly and therefore, which will have repercussions on our health. The first symptoms are of course the digestion, but it can go beyond that like a state of fatigue, a state of stress etc. And it is true that taking probiotics will help strengthen the microbiota and it is particularly interesting to do so in prevention. That’s why we worked on the brand as a beauty and well-being product and we didn’t want it to be perceived as a medicine.

In fact, probiotics were already available in pharmacies, but they were of lesser quality and were really taken like medicine. And we really wanted to transform this intake of probiotics into a gesture of well-being; and in passing to recommend it to everyone, even to people who do not have symptoms at the time, but rather to consider it every three months, at each change of season. This will allow you to rebalance and strengthen your microbiota and not wait until you have symptoms and discomfort on a daily basis. So we are really going to address people who are interested in wellness, who are often already interested in nutrition and in a sport routine, as well as people who have pathological profiles because there are many inflammatory diseases in the stomach, diseases that are very difficult to diagnose and for which there is not necessarily a proven treatment such as irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease and also people suffering from endometriosis. So we really have these two types of clients: people who are looking to take care of themselves and people who have symptoms that are part of their daily lives.

What is your first morning beauty gesture?

Lisa : So my first beauty/wellness gesture in the morning is obviously my probiotic intake! Then, as far as beauty products are concerned, I really like to use floral water. But the gesture that is really essential and that I recommend is to drink a large glass of water in the morning. Indeed, it is during the night that the liver works to eliminate the various toxins and it is therefore super important to hydrate well in the morning – it is the number 1 gesture!

Do you have a beauty product that stays with you year after year?

Anouk : I’ve been using Oh My Cream Skincare for years and it’s true that we are both very attracted to Oh My Cream’s approach in terms of customer experience and advice; I’m therefore very attached to their cream that I use in the morning and at night – it’s my “comfortable skin” essential.

Lisa : It’s true that when we launched DIJO, Anouk lived in Abbesses and so we worked a lot in that area and we spent our lives at Oh My Cream! We were passionate about their stores and the whole customer experience which is really incredible. It’s really the Oh My Cream consultants who educated us on many beauty gestures, especially on double cleansing. And it’s true that like Anouk, for the last 3 and a half / 4 years, it’s the Oh My Cream Skincare day cream that never leaves me. So we are really happy that DIJO is sold since January in all Oh My Cream stores!

As our February issue is called “Face Focus”, can you explain how probiotics directly affect the quality of our skin?

Lisa : The role of the microbiota in digestion has been discovered, but as we explained, these bacteria act on many levels and we have discovered an intestine-skin axis. So effectively the balance of this microbiota will play on the balance of the microbiota of our skin because there is also a whole ecosystem at the level of the skin; this first axis which is this intestinal balance and this good health of the belly will have directly an impact on the skin and it is also for that that we speak about “good food for the skin”, because these last ones will bring the good nutriments which in fine will be able to have an action on the skin because they pass by the intestines. Then, the second thing that is very important to know is that the skin is an emunctory organ, and that it is by definition in charge of eliminating toxins. When you have a microbiota that is in poor health, it will not manage pathogens and bad bacteria well, and consequently, will not take care of the elimination of toxins. This has an impact on many things, but the overall result is that we find ourselves with an organism that is overloaded with waste and toxins because we are no longer able to process them properly, the body finds another way to eliminate them. As a consequence, it goes through the skin and that is why generally when we have periods of excess, we will have imperfections, a skin that is less beautiful, less radiant. So it is really by these two means that the health of the belly will act on the skin.

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