When To Apply Vitamin C Serum
Maintaining your overall health requires taking care of your body and providing it with the support it needs to work at its very best. Exercising increases your cardiovascular endurance and muscular strength, but many other systems in your body require the same amount of tender love and care (TLC). Enter the largest organ of your body: your skin!
Nutrients like vitamins and minerals can benefit your body; vitamin C, in particular, can help support your overall skin health. Vitamin C products come in all sorts of shapes and sizes — recently, topical vitamin C, like Vitamin C serums, have seen a significant increase in popularity for their ability to support healthy skin.
Let’s look at what makes skin health important, how vitamin C can be good for your skin, what exactly a Vitamin C serum consists of and how you can incorporate it into a well-rounded skin care regimen.
Anatomy of Skin
The skin barrier is highly complex and does a great job at keeping things out of the body but also allowing things like water to escape to cool the body through sweating. The skin is composed of the subcutaneous layer, the dermis and the epidermis, with the subcutaneous being the deepest layer and the epidermis being the most superficial.
The epidermis is home to layers upon layers of skin cells that are constantly replaced by new skin cells. Cells are gradually pushed to the surface, where they eventually flake off as dead skin.
The dermis is the layer of skin between the epidermis and the subcutaneous. This layer provides elasticity and structure to the skin and is also where glands, hair follicles and capillaries reside.
The subcutaneous is the deepest layer of skin and is sandwiched between your dermis and the underlying muscle. The layer is largely composed of fat and houses arteries and veins.
Why Is Skin Health Important?
The skin makes up a large majority of the body, yet is often forgotten when people start working on improving their overall health. The skin is the first thing people see when they notice you, and having healthy skin can make you look healthy and radiant and benefit your overall health.
Below is a deeper dive into some of the reasons why the skin is worth supporting and why you should consider supporting it to the best of your abilities.
Protects your Body
When people think about their body's innate protective body system, they most likely think of the immune system. While this certainly helps to defend your body against foreign invaders, the skin acts as the frontline in bodily defence.
Skin cells cover nearly all external coverings of the body and act as a sacrificial barrier to the body. In addition to shielding the body from the outside world, the skin is also home to beneficial bacteria that make up the skin microbiome.
Microbes tend to get a bad rep, but the reality is that they are all over our bodies. When healthy microbes inhabit your body in harmony, it actually helps the body and even aid immunity.
Supporting your skin's health can help ensure that your skin can continue protecting the body to the best of its abilities.
Supports Skin Appearance
As a sacrificial barrier, your skin really takes a beating. Abrasions, ultraviolet radiation (UV rays) from the sun, and extremes in the environment can really take their toll over time. If your skin is not well supported, it could lead to signs of premature skin ageing like fine lines, dryness, thin skin, sagging skin and dark spots.
Healthy skin almost always looks better than neglected skin, and if you want to support ageing skin, you need to support your skin through a regular skincare routine and nutritional support.
Feel Settled in Your Own Skin
Skin also serves another important function: it contains nerve receptors that allow you to feel things physically. These sensory nerves play an important role in perceiving the world around you, but at the same time, if the health of your skin is less than ideal, it could trigger these sensory nerves, resulting in itchiness, burning, or pain.
If you have ever had a burn, rash or eczema, you are likely well aware of how disruptive feeling unsettled in your own skin can be. Promoting your skin's health may help soothe this feeling of superficial discomfort.
What Makes Vitamin C Good for Your Skin?
Vitamin C is most commonly associated with supporting your immune health, but it also has beneficial qualities that can help to support the health of your skin.
Below is a closer look at some of the beneficial qualities of vitamin C and how exactly this can support the health and appearance of your skin.
Antioxidant
One of the lesser-known qualities of vitamin C is that it actually acts as an antioxidant within the body. Antioxidants are molecules that help support the body’s natural fight against oxidative stress, which occurs when there is an imbalance of free radicals.
Excessive sun exposure and sunburns can increase the number of free radicals, so using vitamin C may help to support oxidative balance and sun protection at a cellular level.
Pro-Collagen
Collagen is a common structural protein in the body, and it is largely used in the dermal layer of the skin to aid in the structure and elasticity of the skin. Collagen production tends to remain fairly steady when you are younger, but as people age, this production can start to decline.
This can lead to a decline of collagen in the dermis. With less structure and elasticity, it can contribute to things like the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and sagging skin. Vitamin C has been shown to support your natural collagen production to keep your skin looking healthier for longer.
Why JSHealth Vitamin Skincare?
Our 4-Step Vitamin Skincare System contains four unique formulations that, when used together, provide your skin with unparalleled, research-backed support.
Below are a few of the superstar ingredients in our skincare products…
Vitamin C
Vitamin C has undeniable impacts on the skin — this is why our Pro-Collagen Vitamin Serum contains two different forms of Vitamin C (Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate and 3-Glyceryl Ascorbate), while the competition tends to only include l-ascorbic acid.
In addition to providing your skin with vitamin C, our serum also contains hyaluronic acid and niacinamide. This unique blend supports the look of skin brightening, skin hydration and helps to support a more even-looking skin tone.
Bakuchiol
Retinol is a derivative of vitamin A, and it is widely known to help aid collagen production. However, it can cause side effects like redness, itchiness and irritated skin in some individuals with sensitive skin.
Bakuchiol is a natural ingredient that has been shown to have a very similar effect on the skin to retinol, but it is more suitable for skin types that are more sensitive. This wonderful ingredient is included in our Luminous Vitamin Oil.
How To Implement Vitamin C Serum Into Your Skincare Routine
Having the right skincare products is great, but it is also important to understand when to use each product.
A comprehensive skincare regimen should consist of four main components: cleansing the skin, hydrating the skin, locking in moisture and protecting the skin barrier. Here’s what a JSHealth skincare routine looks like:
Cleanse the Skin
During this stage, you remove dirt, debris, excess oil and dead skin cells. The Balancing Vitamin Cleanser provides a gentle cleanse that can be paired with exfoliation if you need to remove excess skin buildup.
Apply Vitamin C Serum
Once the skin is cleansed, it is the perfect time to apply your Vitamin C Serum. Serums tend to be formulated to be deeply penetrating skin care products and are best applied to freshly cleansed skin to allow for deep penetration of the serum.
Use a Moisturiser and Sunscreen
After cleansing and hydrating your skin, you need to lock in that moisture with a lightweight moisturiser like our Probiotic Vitamin Moisturiser that helps support your skin’s natural barrier and microbiome.
To top it all off, you should apply a dermatologist-recommended sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher to help prevent sun damage to the skin, which can accelerate skin ageing.
Conclusion
Vitamin C is a fantastic addition to any skincare routine as it has antioxidant and pro-collagen qualities. Our Pro-Collagen Vitamin Serum with Vitamin C is best used after cleansing but before applying a moisturiser to allow it to penetrate deep into the skin and provide it with the support it deserves.
Sources:
The Roles of Vitamin C in Skin Health | NCBI
Sunscreen FAQs | American Academy of Dermatology Association