Why Your Skin Needs Vitamin C
Vitamin C is the most popular active ingredient recommended by dermatologists, beauticians, cosmetic manufacturers and consumers who are happy with the results. You probably won't find a brand that doesn't have products with vitamin C in its range. Why did this happen?
In order to maintain our body's immune system and well-functioning body processes, we often receive recommendations to supplement our diet with products with vitamin C and use supplements. Our skin is an organ of complex structure with many functions, but one of the main ones is to protect the body from the effects of the external environment, mechanical and chemical hazards, pathogens, and ultraviolet radiation. Normally, the skin contains large amounts of vitamin C, but in order to improve its condition and appearance, and immune resistance, we need to replenish the supply with products applied to the skin.
It may sound unrealistic, but vitamin C is really a supervitamin that has been clinically proven to have an effect on our skin. It stimulates the production of collagen, the main structural protein of our skin, improves the condition of blood vessels and capillaries, inhibits inflammatory processes, prevents the appearance and whitens existing pigmentation elements, and most importantly, it is a strong antioxidant.
This means that it neutralizes free radicals, fights their harmful effects and slows down cell aging. The math is simple - the more cells are damaged, the faster the aging and the more likely to get sick. The main cause of free radicals, unfortunately, is the sun and harmful UVA/UVB rays, so using vitamin C and SPF products is the most direct way to beautiful, and most importantly, healthy skin.
In the past, there was an opinion that vitamin C products should not be used during the summer, due to a possible reaction with the sun. This was common because the formulas used unstable forms of vitamin C, which are very sensitive to light, or phototoxic. Now industry and science have advanced hundreds of miles, and only stable forms of vitamin C, which are completely safe, are practically used in the production of cosmetics. Also, it is scientifically proven that vitamin C products protect the skin from UV damage, so it is especially important and necessary to use vitamin C in the summer. Definitely with SPF :)
So, your skin definitely needs vitamin C! Because when using cosmetics: masks, serums, creams, tonics or cleansers with vitamin C, it acts as a preventive measure and gives the body the following properties:
- Contains an active antioxidant that inhibits the effects of free radicals
- Improves the condition of blood vessels and capillaries, reducing their fragility
- Prevents the appearance and brightens existing pigmentation elements
- Slows down skin aging processes by stimulating collagen production
- Strengthens skin immunity
- Accelerates wound healing, inhibits inflammatory processes
- Gives the skin purity.
So which product to choose? There is no skin type that does not need or benefit from vitamin C products (unless you are allergic to vitamin C). We usually recommend choosing a face serum with vitamin C due to the higher concentration of active substances. It is also interesting that vitamin C has "best friends" - ingredients that work synergistically and enhance the effect of vitamin C. Those strengthening ingredients are ferulic acid (ferulic acid) and vitamin E. One study used 15% vitamin C and looked at how long it took for the skin to develop erythema (redness) when exposed to UV rays. Adding 1% vitamin E doubled the time to redness, and adding 0.5% ferulic acid doubled the time again. Thus, this combination increased the performance of the product and the skin's UV resistance even 8 times!
Most of the studies are done with 3-25% concentration of vitamin C, higher concentrations can be very irritating to the skin, but low concentrations are really underestimated, because most of the studies are done with 3-5% concentration, which is really enough to see the results.
If you are using vitamin C products for the first time, we recommend choosing serums (due to the higher concentration of active ingredients) with a vitamin C concentration of less than 10% and if the skin tolerates it well, you can increase the concentration. Use in the morning and evening before your face cream, and during the day, be sure to use a cream with SPF protection.
We wish you beautiful and healthy skin!
