The present invention is directed to biosurfactants that can self-assemble or auto- aggregate into polymeric micellar structures and their use in topically-applied dermatologic products. The invention relates in particular to polymeric acylated biosurfactants (PABs) conforming to the formula Acyl-AA-Term where Acyl is an 8- to 22-membered carbon chain, branched or unbranched, saturated or unsaturated, AA is a consecutive sequence of four to nine amino acid residues, where at least one, preferably at least two of the amino acid residues is charged, and Term is an acid C-terminus or an amide C-terminus. PABs of the present invention have low critical micelle concentrations (predominantly less than about 100 ppm) in an aqueous environment of Minimal Essential Media (MEM) and can lower the surface tension in the aqueous MEM environment to less about 50 dynes/cm2. They also have the ability to increase metabolic soluble proteins.
