Vitamin C benefits for your skin
It’s no secret that Vitamin C is an essential part of your diet to help maintain healthy skin, bones, cartilage, and cells, but why exactly is it so good for your skin?
Vitamin C is essential for keeping your skin looking youthful, supple, and strong as it is needed by the body in order to produce collagen. Collagen one of the most abundant proteins in the body, found in all the connective tissues, making it one of the major building blocks of the skin, muscles and tendons. Vitamin C helps with to produce Hydroxyproline and Hydroxylysine, both of which are needed by the body to produce collagen.
Collagen is naturally produced by the body, however, exposure to UV rays can decrease collagen production and the body stops producing collagen all together when you reach your mid-twenties, resulting in the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and sagging skin if the skin’s levels of collagen in the are not maintained.
Vitamin C also increases the skin’s formation of elastin which works to heal and protect the skin cells, to maintain the moisture levels, increase the skin’s circulation and plum the skin to make it look younger, tighter and more radiant.
Vitamin C is extremely high in antioxidants, which help to protect the skin from damage from UV rays. Whether you’re ingesting Vitamin C or applying it topically, such as with the SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic Serum, both help to protect against free radicals, which develop after exposure to the sun, as well as helping to reduce sun burns and sun damage, especially when applied topically. It can also help to protect the skin from discoloration including dark spots, sunspots and pigmentation.
For more on the benefits of vitamin C for skincare, check out our full blog here.
How to get the most out of your vitamin C serum
Now that you’ve purchased an antioxidant serum, you want it to be effective until the very last drop. Follow these tips to keep your vitamin C in tip-top shape so you can get the protection and results you’re looking for.
Store it properly: It goes without saying that you need to close your serum bottle tightly after each use, and you should also find a cool, dry place to store it. This is especially important if you have a small bathroom that gets hot and steamy when you shower, so you may want to keep it in your kitchen refrigerator (as crazy as it may sound). If you have the room, consider getting a dedicated skincare micro-fridge for your vitamin C and other unstable products.
Use it every day: No product can help your skin if it stays in the bottle. SkinCeuticals recommends using a vitamin C serum within three months after it’s opened—and if you apply the suggested four-to-five drops to the face, neck and chest every morning you should be right on schedule. After this point, it’s likely that the serum won’t be as effective—and you may notice a chance in its smell as well.
Don’t judge based on color: Your serum may be clear or slightly yellow when you begin using it—and it’s normal for the product to darken after opening due to air and light exposure when you apply it each morning. Regardless of color, your serum should maintain its potency as long as you use it within three months.
SkinStore's top vitamin C picks
At SkinStore we've combed through reviews, tested many products, and have came up with an exhaustive list of our all-time favorite vitamin C skin care products. For our full range of vitamin C skin care, go to our vitamin C page here.
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