Anti-oxidant Ingredients - Vitamin C

Most of the beauty industry touts Vitamin C as the end all in skin care and anti-oxidants. It is one of the most widely used skin care ingredients and can be one of the most effective and most damaging ingredients at the very same time. I know of many lines that make anti-aging products with this ingredient in (Murad, Awake, the Body Shop, just to name a few). I think that the only product that I own containing this ingredient is a night moisturizer from Murad. I decided to do some research on this ingredient and turned to the website smart skincare.com. So what did I find out?

The website and I agree that Vitamin C is one of the most widely used ingredients in skin care that this ingredient does possess definite, scientifically validated merits for wrinkle reduction and skin rejuvenation but many of the products do not actually work as they state that they will. Vitamin C can benefit the skin in two major ways. The first is that is an essential compound in the synthesis of collagen (one of the key structural proteins in the skin. Adding this ingredient to a culture of cells always increases their synthesis of collagen fibers. The second is that Vitamin C is an antioxidant and can reduce the skin damage that is caused by free radicals. The key to unlocking these two major benefits - it must be properly delivered into the skin cells.

Here are the rarely discussed barriers to unlocking the benefit of this ingredient. The first is that Vitamin C is relatively unstable and in the presence of oxygen or another oxidizing substance, it is easily converted into non useful forms. The oxidized Vitamin c not only does not help the skin but it can actually be harmful by promoting free radical formation and ultimately harming the skin. The second barrier is that the effectiveness of Vitamin C only occurs when the concentration is higher than 10%.

So what this is telling me is that many companies that use this ingredient are promoting the use of an ingredient that does nothing for the skin. So how do we tell the good from the bad? My personal snobbery insists that a drugstore product will not have the needed concentration and therefore a higher end product must be sought out in order to try to reap the benefits of this ingredient. A consumer can also look at the color of the product in order to tell how the Vitamin C will work. When the Vitamin C oxidizes, it gets a yellowish tint to it and therefore a colorless or white product must be chosen. A reputable product should not be colored in order to disguise the color that the ingredient will turn. Also this ingredient has an expiration date so that must be on the packaging. If it is not, this is not a product that you want to purchase. Also, the product will oxidize faster if it is in a clear container and is not protected from the light.

All the above evidence shows that this ingredient can work wonders if used correctly. Quite frankly, that is the rule with any skin care ingredient. If its too good to be true than it most likely is! Cheap is bad, expensive is best and above all, do your homework before you buy!

photo courtesy of Wikipeida