Vitamin C slows the ageing process and protects the skin and a simple experiment with an apple helps illustrate just how much of an important role it can play.
Vitamin C and the apple
To illustrate why Vitamin C is important, and why I love Image Skincare Vital C Serum, I enlisted the expert photographic skills of my friend Linda at Now 4 Ever Photography. The time-lapse video we have made demonstrates how an apple oxidises when exposed to the environment compared to how less it oxidises when Vital C Serum is applied.
You can visibly see the tissues of the apple oxidising and the brown pigment (melanin) production. The free radical attack is clear to see on the right, but look at the left. There is still a small amount of damage but it has been dramatically reduced. Why? Vitamin C! We have long known that Vitamin C will reduce oxidation of tissues, reduce inflammation and regulate pigment production.
The importance of Vitamin C
This is why I encourage all my clients to incorporate Vitamin C within their daily skincare regime. We know that our bodies do not store Vitamin C and that it is water soluble so even if we eat a good amount of fruit and vegetables high in Vitamin C we don’t utilise all that our cells need and our skins are visually starved of it. This is because vitamins are transported around our bodies in our blood and our skins blood supply is in the dermis. A very tiny network of capillaries supply or skins with blood deeper beneath the surface. This is why our skin actually can benefit hugely form applying Vitamin C topically.
But it is vital to consider the type of Vitamin C we use on our skin. Once the bottle is open the product is oxidising, thats why your vitamin based products should come in an opaque or brown glass bottle or tube. Once it is applied its oxidising, so the delivery needs to be quick. This can also be a problem as some of the most potent vitamins can also be the most irritating as they deliver too fast. there’s so much to consider and unless you’re really into your Skin Science then its a minefield!
If anyone were to ask me “what is the best way to slow down the ageing of my skin” I would say if you can use a time released or slow delivery Vitamin C product, combined with a broad spectrum SPF, with UVA and HEV filters then you really are giving your skin the best chance of slowing down the effects of environmental ageing. Incidentally 90% of the ageing you see over your lifetime is a direct result of environmental exposure.
The formation of collagen
We know Vitamin C protects the skin but its presence is also vital for the formation of collagen. So if you are concerned with lines, wrinkles and laxity of the skin then Vitamin C is your go to ingredient. Vitamin C is also important to slow down uneven pigment production within the skin which you can see from the video, the apple on the right clearly becomes more brown as melanin is produced. In human skin we often see this as age spots or freckles that become more obvious as we age.
More radiant skin
When using a product like the Image Vital C serum the most common response I hear form clients is that their skin looks more radiant, they see a restored brightness and hydration. This is because in this product we have a 15% blend of Vitamin C. Tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, a form of vitamin C which has been modified to be more lipid soluble. This modification allows it to better penetrate into the skin. Ascorbic acid, magnesium ascorbic phosphate a water-soluble, non-irritating, stable derivative of Vitamin C and Ascorbyl Palmitate, an ester formed from ascorbic acid and palmitic acid creating a fat-soluble form of vitamin C. So we really have got you covered in terms of getting all the active forms of vitamin c into the skin safely without irritation. As well as that theres also Bio Peptides to aid collagen formation, Hyaluronic Acid for hydration, and Alage Extract to aid firming of the tissues.
Perhaps now you can see why the apple experiment is so useful to explain just why we should be using Vitamin C in our skin routine daily, in my experience is undoubtedly one of the best ways to treat ageing concerns and preserve skin health.
