Choosing the right form of Vitamin C for visible results
Vitamin C is one of the best antioxidants for overall health and skin. I have personally experienced its visible benefits in skin care products.
In my mind - wherever you come from, whatever age you are, whatever season it is and whatever skin challenge you have; a skin care product rich in good quality Vitamin C shows great results. For skin, Vitamin C provides improvements in brightness and smoothness - on top of the antioxidative aspect.
Supplementing your body with Vitamin C is essential as your body does not produce it naturally. There are now a lot of research that shows how fundamental Vitamin C is to our overall health.
Vitamin C has also been proven to help shield skin from free radicals that come with sun exposure.*
In skincare, ascorbic acid is the form of Vitamin C that really works, but it is unstable. It means that it oxidizes quickly and easily. Once oxidized it does not do anything anymore – it becomes inactive.
Some skin care companies sell products where Vitamin C is no longer active. Many products will see their Vitamin C oxidized after 2 weeks of opening. It means that many people are using products that have lost their potency.
Some skin care companies choose Vitamin C derivatives, which are more stable but less effective. The theory wants that these derivatives become active forms of Vitamin C when in contact to skin.
The derivatives have a compound added (like phosphate or palmitate) to help to prevent the oxidation and therefore degradation of vitamin C. This makes Vitamin C less sensitive to light and air, and it can be included in water based formulas (like serums) or oil based formulas (like moisturizers).
The problem is that no research shows that they really work*. I have also tried many products with Vitamin C derivatives, and I have to say that they do not seem to work as well as the ones that contain the “true” form of Vitamin C: ascorbic acid.
Many skin care companies use preservatives in their Vitamin C products. Whether the preservatives are synthetic (e.g. phenoxyethanol, a form of paraben) or natural (e.g. Phenethyl Alcohol, an alcohol with little research on its safety), they are usually not good to your skin and health.
The Tingly Powder Serum has a maximum amount of pure ascorbic acid. If you have used products with Vitamin C before, you will see that it is most likely to be the one that has the most visible and immediate results.
Now if you shop Vitamin C skincare products, here is a list of the most popular Vitamin C derivatives that you want to stay away from. Trust me, they are not worth your money:
- magnesium ascorbyl phosphate (MAP)
- tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate
- ascorbyl palmitate
- ascorbyl glucosamine
- ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate
Shop Tingly Powder Serum - Pure Vitamin C
*The Roles of Vitamin C in Skin Health: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5579659/