The present invention relates to modified variant Bowman Birk Protease Inhibitor proteins (BBPIs) that comprise peptides that bind target proteins, and that are further modified to have greater protease inhibitory activity and/or be produced at greater yields than the unmodified BBPIs. The invention encompasses polynucleotide constructs and expression vectors containing polynucleotide sequences that encode the modified variant BBPIs, the transformed host cells that express and produce the modified variant BBPIs, the modified variant BBPI proteins, the compositions comprising the modified variant BBPIs, and the methods for making and using the modified variant BBPIs in personal care.