Decode your skin's
microbiome.
Advanced molecular analysis of the microbes and chemistry on your skin — the drivers behind breakouts, sensitivity, and barrier health. Private, secure, and delivered to your door.
By the time you can see it, your skin's been off-balance for weeks.
The skin issues people fight hardest — acne, redness, dryness, sensitivity, dullness — are driven by an imbalance in the microbes living on your skin and the barrier they help maintain. That shift builds invisibly. You don't see the dysbiosis that becomes a breakout, or the barrier damage that becomes chronic sensitivity, until it's already on your face.
A mirror shows you what has already happened. RAW looks one step upstream — at the microbial chemistry that drives it — so you can change course while it's still easy and cheap to fix.
Everyone else lists your bacteria. We read what they're doing to your skin.
Most skin tests sequence a swab and hand you a census — a list of which microbes live on you. That's a start, but a name on a list doesn't tell you whether those microbes are helping your skin or harming it today. RAW reads the chemistry they produce — the acids that set your skin's pH, the barrier lipids that keep it resilient, the inflammatory byproducts behind breakouts and redness. Chemistry is the part that actually changes how your skin looks and feels, and it's the part almost no other test measures.
A list of who's there
Sequencing tells you which microbes are present and in what proportion. Useful — but presence isn't activity. Two people with the same bacteria can have very different skin depending on what those bacteria are producing.
What they're actually making
We pair the microbial profile — down to the C. acnes strains that matter — with a readout of 150 metabolic markers, the live chemical signals of breakouts, sensitivity, and barrier health. That's the difference between knowing a risk exists and watching it happen.
The microbes that shape your skin — and the chemistry that proves what they're doing.
Your report covers the organisms dermatology has spent decades tying to breakouts, sensitivity, and barrier health, alongside the metabolic markers that show whether those organisms are helping or hurting right now.
Breakout & pore risk
Sebum-loving microbes behind acne and congestion
Redness & barrier risk
The imbalance behind reactive, inflamed, compromised skin
150 metabolic markers
The active chemical signals of skin health
RAW analyzes over 100,000 microbial and molecular data points from a single skin swab to build your skin picture. The result is a clear, plain-language report — not a data dump — with the specific markers that are elevated and what to do about them.
Built by a molecular lab, not a marketing team.
RAW Molecular Systems is founded and run by a working molecular scientist and academic research group. We transform complex molecular data into personalized action plans — the same class of computational and molecular tooling used in published microbiome and metabolomics research, brought out of the lab and priced for everyday people.
Skin swab
You swab a spot of skin at home. No needles, no clinic visit, no appointment.
Microbes + metabolites
We profile the microbial community — including strain-level detail — and read 150 metabolic markers from the same swab.
Skin analysis
Over 100,000 data points become breakout, sensitivity, and barrier signals.
Your routine, decoded
Plain-language results with the markers that matter and clear next steps.
From your mailbox to your routine in four steps.
Order online
Your $50 kit ships to your door. One flat price — no subscription required.
Swab at home
Swab a small area of skin — about two minutes, no needles, no appointment.
Mail it back
Seal it in the prepaid return mailer and drop it in the post. We handle the rest.
Get your results
Your secure online report is ready in a few weeks, with clear next steps.
Lab-grade insight. Everyday price.
Comparable skin microbiome tests run $100 to $200 — a one-time splurge most people never repeat. At $50, RAW is something you can actually build a habit around: test the whole family, and retest as your skin and routine change.
Your skin reflects more than skincare.
A growing body of research links the balance of the skin microbiome to how your skin handles stress, holds moisture, and ages over time. Reading your skin is one accessible way to understand a system that responds to far more than the products you put on it. These are areas of active research and association — not diagnoses.
Good things to know before you order.
Is this a medical diagnosis? +
What makes this different from other skin microbiome tests? +
How do I collect the sample? +
How long until I get results? +
What do I actually get back? +
Can my whole family use it? +
How often should I retest? +
Is my data private? +
Decode your skin. Finally.
One skin swab. 150 metabolic markers. A clear picture of what's driving your breakouts, sensitivity, and barrier health. Advanced molecular analysis — private, secure, and delivered to your door. $50.
Order your test — $50 →Questions first? Get in touch.