Vitamin C in Skincare

In last weeks blog I breifly mentioned how vitamin C can be great in your skin routine in helping to lighten dark spots, and is also key to prevention as well. So now I would say this master antioxidant would be one of the top things you can use to help protect and strengthen the skin. Vitamin C has literal decades of clinical testing to prove that it is in fact an effective antioxidant that fights free radicals, promotes collagen synthesis, and skin brightener. There are tons of vitamin C's out there, so hopefully this blog post can create a clearer understanding of all the options out there!

Photo by Skyler Ewing

Antioxidant and free radicals, huh what's that?

Antioxidants are ingredients that prevent oxidative damage in cells caused by free radicals. Free radicals steal healthy cells electrons, which is what causes the oxidative stress, which causes chaos in the cell and can even cause DNA damage. External free radicals are from UV damage, pollutants, chemicals, stress etc. Free radicals are also made through normal internal cell processes as well. But today, I am just talking about topically using antioxidants to fight those free radicals. So how antioxidants help is by donating an electron to the free radical so the healthy cells are left alone.

Vitamin C

Okay so there are tons of Vitamin C's out there, so what are they? What do they do?

• L-Ascorbic Acid - this is the "gold standard" vitamin C, cheapest to make and formulate with. It brightens dark spots, and boosts collagen. It is unstable and can oxidize quickly (once it turns brown, throw it out), and so that is why it is very important to bottle and store properly. Effective formulations need to have a pH of under 3.5 and that is why this form of vitamin C can be irritating to some people's skin. I would also stick to vitamin c formulas between 5-20%.

• Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate (THD or BV-OSC) - This is a lipid soluble vitamin C, and personally my favorite. It is less irritating to the skin, and easily absorbed into our skin. It also protects cells from free radicals, promotes collagen synthesis, and is really great at improving hyperpigmentation (especially melasma). Only downside is it can be a bit more expensive to make and formulate with, and formulation really does matter with this form of vitamin c. (My fav is Lira Clinicals C15 Booster which contains 15% of this form of vitamin C.)

• Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate (MAP) - It converts to vitamin C in the skin, good for pigment and antioxidant support.

• Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate (SAP) - Some data shows that this can be acne fighting as well as it's antioxidant properties. PS I love this Pro Lite serum from Lira Clinical, it has tons of pigment fighting ingredients, SAP, Azelaic Acid, and anti inflammatory ingredients. It is formulated so well and I haven't seen much out there like it!

• Ascorbyl Palmitate - lipid soluble vitamin C ester. I wouldn't use a serum that only contains this form, but its fine combined with other vitamin c's and antioxidants!

• Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate - another lipid soluble vitamin C, that is great for brightening the skin and for supporting collagen synthesis.

Other vitamin C's or derivatives you may see out there, are Ascorbyl Glucoside, 3-o Ethyl Ascorbic Acid, Calcium Ascorbate. I much prefer the top 4 I mentioned in this list though.

If you are going to spend money on vitamin C serums then you might as well spend money on ones that have been shown over and over in a clinical setting that they work!

BONUS!

Recently I have been reading and learning more and more about dermal needling (microneedling) because I want to know everything I can to help get my clients the absolute best results possible. One thing that can boost your healing and results from microneedling is using a vitamin C pre and post procedure. Because vitamin C helps support fibroblast function, collagen synthesis, and protects from oxidative stress, and is a tyrosinase inhibitor. Specifically, ascorbic acid, MAP, SAP, and Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate.