All the ways in which Vitamin C can help (or hurt) your skin

Which types of vitamin C products will help your skin

Any good product (serum or cream) should give the vitamin C an environment that preserves its structure. Otherwise, an oxidized vitamin C will work against your skin! How? Oxidized ascorbic acid is a pro-oxidant.  Just as ascorbic acid can donate electrons to your skin, oxidized ascorbic acid will be hungry for its missing electrons.

Copper or iron will promote ascorbic acid oxidation.  Unfortunately, this basic fact of life is unknown to some people in the skin care business so you will find this unfortunate combination is some skin “care” products.

How does vitamin C work FOR your skin? As a vitamin and as an antioxidant. For a vitamin  you don’t need that much.   Vitamin C will help your skin make collagen, as long as your skin also has the other resources required to make collagen (amino acids, epidermal growth factor for example). An excellent product for this purpose if Skin Actives collagen serum.

For an antioxidant, it is best to have Vitamin C as part of a mix of antioxidants, like in Skin Actives antioxidant serum or antioxidant cream.  As an antioxidant, ascorbic acid and some vitamin C derivatives (like magnesium ascorbyl phosphate)  will disarm ROS* (reactive oxygen species) produced by pollutants and by our own mitochondria as they produce energy by respiration.

Some people use ascorbic acid  as an acid, more precisely, as a alpha hydroxy acid (AHA)  because an acid will work as an exfoliant. In this case, you need a concentrated and acidic ascorbic acid solution. And this exfoliant should not be neutralized. So if you are looking for an exfoliant, make sure there is no base (alkali) like (potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide, because you would be cheated and instead of using a AHA (alpha hydroxy acid) you are using a salt solution! For this, you can use Vitamin C serum 15% from Skin Actives. This is not the type of product that you should use if you have sensitive skin or if you are using retinoids, because retinoids promote skin renewal by themselves. And remember: exfoliation removes the skin barrier and makes it easier for the skin to be damaged by oxidants or by UV. If you exfoliate, don’t forget your sunscreen!

All of these products are very effective, but make sure that the formulation is a good one. There are plenty of bad, unstable formulations in the market and they will work against your skin health. Yes, it is possible to hurt your skin with “skin care” products!

How Vitamin C works

Every human needs Vitamin C. Our body needs it and we can’t make it ourselves, that’s why it is a vitamin!  We need to ingest it as food. Why does the skin, in particular, need vitamin C? Because ascorbic acid is essential for the “finishing touches” on collagen. If collagen does not get those biochemical finishing touches, it can’t work.  Many organs in the body need vitamin C, this is why we make sure we get it in our food in oranges or any food that contains it.

Why use vitamin C topically? As we age, our skin may not get enough vitamin C even if we ingest it. I like to have some vitamin C in my skin care. However, please note that vitamins are required in very small amounts, and this is true for the role that ascorbic acid plays in collagen synthesis.

Vitamin C has another function, as antioxidant, so it does not hurt to use higher concentrations because, especially in a polluted city, we need more antioxidants on our skin.

Warning! Oxidized (brownish) vitamin C will not work as an antioxidant BUT as a PRO-oxidant! Don’t put oxidized ascorbic acid on your skin.

How does a vitamin C serum work?

There are two sides to this question. Some people use Vitamin C serum as a vitamin and antioxidant. In this case, everybody can (and should!) use it. But some people use it as an exfoliant. In this case, you need a concentrated and acidic ascorbic acid solution. And this exfoliant should not be neutralized. So if you are looking for an exfoliant, make sure there is no base (potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, etc.) because you would be cheated and instead of using a AHA (alpha hydroxy acid) you are using a salt solution!

In what ways can vitamin C help your skin?

As a vitamin, it will help your skin make collagen, as long as your skin also has the other resources required to make collagen (amino acids, for example).

As an antioxidant, it will disarm ROS* (reactive oxygen species) produced by pollutants and by our own mitochondria as they produce energy by respiration.

How often should you apply one and what time of day?

It does not matter, vitamin C is not light sensitive and our skin works all the time (does not sleep like us).

What to look for in a vitamin C skin care product?

Rather than talking about brands I would like to comment on which ingredients to look for.

For vitamin C as a vitamin, look for a serum or cream that contains a stable form of the vitamin, like magnesium ascorbyl phosphate. This way you don’t have to worry about stability. This vitamin C derivative is stable as has vitamin C (it will form ascorbic acid once it is in your skin). It will also work as antioxidant and you don’t have to worry about it working against you as an antioxidant. A cream or serum with ascorbic acid will start oxidizing as soon as it is mixed, unless you find a good chemist to make it.

Not all ascorbic acid derivatives have vitamin C activity.  Does the derivative produce ascorbic acid when it is on the skin? Does it actually promote collagen synthesis?

For ascorbic acid as a AHA, make sure you don’t buy one that has been completely or partially neutralized, because the more neutral the pH the faster it will oxidize.

Additions like vitamin E, ferulic acid or phloretin will help very little at slowing down the oxidation process. Especially in a very concentrated ascorbic acid solution, a hint of ferulic acid is just “symbolic”. Looks good on the label, though.

Skin Actives products that contain Vitamin C:

https://skinactives.com/ascorbic-acid-powder/  Massage some crystals on wet skin

https://skinactives.com/vitamin-c-serum-15-/     Concentrated ascorbic acid serum, un-buffered. Not suitable for “sensitive” skin

https://skinactives.com/vitamin-c-serum-20-/   A hint more of ascorbic acid. Not suitable for “sensitive” skin

https://skinactives.com/collagen-serum/ My favorite: vitamin C as magnesium ascorbyl phosphate plus a treasure trove of nutrition PLUS epidermal growth factor! Suitable for everybody.

https://skinactives.com/collagen-serum-vegan/  Vegan version of our collagen serum

https://skinactives.com/lip-collagen-treatment/   For the lips, contains magnesium ascorbyl phosphate.