Vitamin C is often reported to be good as an anti-aging agent and good for fighting wrinkles. So how does that work and should you use Vitamin C on your skin?
Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid as it is also known, is an important part of our diets. You can find it in many fruits and vegetables, most noticeably citrus fruits. You may know that a total lack of Vitamin C causes scurvy. But it has many important functions in our bodies including improving immunity and healing wounds.
The very best thing you can do for your skin is to eat a healthy diet including vitamins, to drink plenty of water and to stay out of the sun unless you are wearing sun screen.
Assuming you already have a healthy diet and lifestyle you may be wondering if you should use Vitamin C on your skin. You can now find Vitamin C in day creams, night creams and suncare products. So are Vitamin C products worth the money or is it just a marketing ploy?
Antioxidant properties of Vitamin C skincare
The scientific basis of vitamin C as an anti aging agent is down to it’s antioxidant properties. This removes the free radicals that can damage your skin. It can also increase the synthesis of collagen which is the protein in your skin that gives it structure and elasticity.
There is a problem with Vitamin C skincare in that it has a tendency to oxidize when exposed to the air. As soon as you open a pot of skincare and it comes in to contact with the air, the Vitamin C begins to oxidize and the beneficial properties are lost. In fact applying it when it has oxidized can actually be counter-productive.
Once oxidized the Vitamin C skincare product develops a yellowish-brown color. When you buy a Vitamin C skincare product, you need to store it well. Put the lid back on as soon as possible and keep an eye on the color to make sure it hasn’t changed color. You may also notice that the product begins to smell differently. Keeping your skincare creams in the fridge can help prolong their life.
The manufacturers of Vitamin C skincare products know that oxidation is an issue and are constantly looking for ways to counteract the problem. One way of retaining the effectiveness of Vitamin C skincare products for the long term is to raise the concentration of Vitamin C. Top of the range products may have 10% vitamin C. The downside is that the higher the concentration of Vitamin C the more expensive the product will be.
Use Vitamin C derivatives instead
Vitamin C skincare products can be pretty costly anyway and making them even more expensive would render them non-viable as a profit making business. The other way is to replace the Vitamin C with Vitamin C derivatives. Using Vitamin C derivatives which include ascorbyl palmitate and magnesium ascorbyl phosphate make the products more stable and also cheaper.
These derivative based products are not as effective as the pure Vitamin C skincare products but they are more resistant to oxidation. Also some people who find Vitamin C products irritating find this is not the case with the derivative based products.
Bear in mind that not everybody notices a difference when using Vitamin C products. You should definitely give them a try but you may not notice a difference in your skin. Some skins may not respond to Vitamin C treatment. So don’t think that if you use Vitamin C on your skin today you will wake up wrinkle free tomorrow.
The manufacturers are constantly researching ways to improve skincare products. They are looking to solve the problems in Vitamin C products while looking for other replacements to advance the effectiveness of skincare. Skincare and beauty products are responsible for a huge industry so there will always be new products coming on to the market for us to try.
