Popping that vitamin C supplement is great for giving your immune system a boost. Staying on top of your vitamin C intake is extremely important, not only during cold and flu season but throughout the year. With that said, vitamin C can do so much more for you than just help you fight off a cold.
Vitamin C serum when applied as a topical treatment is absorbed directly into the skin. Of course, it’s not going to assist with boosting your immune system, however, it does help support other areas such as your skin and outside your body. What does vitamin C serum do for your face? Simply put, it’s the triple crown of skincare serums. Vitamin C serum helps Protect, Correct, and Repair.
What Does Vitamin C Serum Do For Your Face?
Here’s everything you need to know about – what does Vitamin C serum does for your face and why you should consider adding this powerful product to your skincare daily regimen.
The Power Of Vitamin C
Before digging deeper into the serum itself, it is important to know what all the vitamin does in general. It is an essential vitamin that is found in a number of foods and plants. It is also a key ingredient in repairing damaged tissue and the production of new cells. This is why it is so helpful in boosting your immune system. It helps give you that needed boost in immune cells and increase their ability to fight off cold and flu germs. It also helps repair muscle tissue after a workout and provides reinforcement to other areas of your body.
Because vitamin C is typically consumed, most research was initially focused on studying the vitamin within the body, not outside. So while the vitamin can help repair certain cells, including skin cells, from the inside, a topical solution will help ensure it is absorbed by the specific area. It’s similar to caffeine. Caffeine can help improve your complexion, reduce dark circles around your eyes, and tighten up the skin, but you’re not going to see this kind of result by drinking a cup of coffee. The amount of coffee you’d need to drink for the caffeine to actually improve your skin would likely kill you (your heart couldn’t handle that much caffeine). So, instead, caffeine is used as an ingredient in a number of beauty products.
And this is where a vitamin C serum comes in. To fully take advantage of vitamin C’s power and make sure your skin receives all the benefits, the vitamin is concentrated down into a topical serum for applying directly to your skin.
What is a Serum?
When you’re looking at products in the beauty section of your local store (or shopping for new products through your favorite beauty supply store online), you may not know the difference between a serum and other moisturizers or creams. In general, a serum is a skincare product that is lighter in weight, does not contain occlusives, such as mineral oils or thickening agents, and therefore is able to penetrate deeper into the skin than heavier consistencies of a moisturizer or night cream. Serums are specifically designed to be easily absorbed and work their way deep into the skin.
Serums also usually contain a higher percentage of powerful ingredients such as vitamins and peptides. For example, you’ll find retinol-type serums have a higher concentration of Vitamin-A than moisturizing creams. That is because a serum has the ability to work its way down into the layers making it much more effective and able to produce change. When trying a skincare product for the first time with an active ingredient, especially ones such as Vitamin-C and Vitamin-A, it is a good idea to slowly introduce those to the skin.
A bit of advice, begin with a lower percentage of the active ingredient, use the product once, then wait 3 days to ensure your skin doesn’t have a negative reaction to it. Your skin may need time to build up a tolerance to it. Because of their advanced formulation, some ingredients actually remain active for up to 72 hours, that’s why it’s best to go slow.
What’s the Deal With Vitamin C Serum?
When using a vitamin-C serum, you’re taking the powerful antioxidants of the vitamin and applying them directly to your skin. Vitamin C specifically is a water-soluble vitamin and when applied to your skin will force collagen and elastin to increase production.
Beyond the increase of collagen and elastin production, a vitamin-C serum is generally used to lighten pigments such as brown spots, sun damage, and sometimes acne scars that may have developed on your skin. The vitamin-C serum is not recommended for active acne due to the fact that it may aggravate it and possibly cause more acne breakouts. Vitamin C is most commonly used in brightening skin care products because of its ability to promote the differentiation of keratinocytes and decrease melanin synthesis, in other words, it targets issues in your skin’s pigmentation. Used regularly by applying it directly to your face, vitamin-C serum can target and correct problem areas, leaving your complexion lighter, brighter, and your overall skin more tone and healthier.
How To Use Vitamin C Serum
As is the case with any other new skincare product, you will want to spot-test it before going all-in with the product. As long as your skin doesn’t dramatically react to the serum, you can then begin using it daily. While everyone is different (and the best way to determine your exact skincare requirements is to seek out a consultation from a professional, like the team at The Skin Center By CPS), cleanse your face, use a toner, then apply the serum prior to adding your daily moisturizer, or as directed by your skin health specialist, brands may differ as to how/when they recommend it be applied. You can also use it in the evening time before bed, although in general, you use it once during your AM routine to help provide additional environmental protection along with your broad-spectrum SPF.
Smart start, as you would whenever introducing a new skincare product to your routine, you should begin by only applying it to your skin every other day (or so) for the first week, then you can go every day. If you are adding multiple new products, test one at a time, that way if you do have a reaction you will know which one is a no-go.
Begin Your New Skincare Routine Today
If you look in the mirror and see skin concerns you’d like to address on your face, pimple, wrinkle, pigment, or just need a little skin TLC, then we encourage you to make an appointment with one of our skin health experts at The Skin Center By CPS. Everyone’s skin is a bit different and will respond differently to varying products. We all have those drawers full of products that promised much and delivered little? It can quickly become expensive to constantly test out different products to find just the right one. Instead, let our professional skin health staff at The Skin Center By CPS help guide you.
We will work with you in determining the kind of skin you have and what products you will likely respond best to, including a vitamin C serum (we’ll help guide you to which strength and formula of vitamin C serum may be the best option). If you’re ready to begin seeing improvement, give The Skin Center By CPS a call today.
