Now you 'c' me...

I've got to start by shouting from the roof tops 'I love Vitamin C'...

Vitamin C Ester has been an absolute saviour in evening out my skin tone and improving my acne scars.  I have a few anti ageing weapons, of which vitamin c is one (I will write posts about the others in the not so distant future).

It took me a while to get there but I have now found 2 amazing products that have worked wonders for my skin (I think that these products deserve their own limelight so I will review them in a separate post).

This post is going to be a brief rundown about the benefits and types of vitamin c.

So, we all know that we need to eat the right foods to get the required intake of vitamin c for our bodies, but what does it do when applied topically to our skin? In a nutshell...

- Vitamin C is an antioxidant that slows the rate of free radical damage.

- Prevents premature ageing.

- Decreases fine lines and wrinkles.

- Restores elasticity.

- Helps reduce oiliness and sebum levels.

- Protects against UVA and UVB rays.

-Reduces inflammation.

- Promotes collagen production.

-Strengthens the skins barrier response.

- Lessens hyperpigmentation and improves the appearance of scarring and sun damage.

- Restores luminosity, smoothness and brightness.

Pretty good, hey?

Well, what's all of this vitamin c ester business, isn't it all the same thing?  Nah, afraid not.

There are 2 main types of vitamin c:

Vitamin C is also known as L ascorbic acid.(most commonly used, standard form)

L ascorbic acid is the water soluble form of vitamin c, this is what you will see in most skin care products, it is the most powerful one but is the less stable, meaning that it doesn't stay active for as long. Given this, it usually takes a higher dose for it to remain effective which can make it much more irritating to the skin. On the upside, it's much cheaper than the, below, ester.

Vitamin C Ester is also known as Ascorbyl Palimate or Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate.

A vitamin c ester is basically vitamin c fused with a fatty acid, making it fat soluble not water soluble, this means that it can penetrate the fatty part of the cell making it more effective.  The benefits of an ester are that it's far more stable in topical solutions than the non ester (meaning that it will remain active for longer), it performs at lower doses and has a greater antioxidant activity. It is far less acidic than ascorbic acid so it should actually ease redness and inflammation not cause it (great for sensitive skin). Vitamin c ester also possesses superior ability to stimulate growth of the cells that help produce collagen and elastin. On the downside, it's more expensive.  

There's a lot of conflicting information about whether to use vitamin c in standard form or ester form, it seems to be 'six of one and half a dozen of another'.  Some people think that ascorbic acid is more effective whereas others think that an ester is more efficient.

Personally, I think that you should use whatever works better for your skin, it just so happened that the ester worked wonders for my skin and the standard vitamin c irritated it.  If you are looking to try a vitamin c product it would probably be worth starting with ascorbic acid, purely to keep costs down, and if that doesn't work for you then start looking at an ester.

You should always check the label to find out which type of vitamin c is being used, as per scientific names above! Also remember that all antioxidants are vulnerable to deterioration and should come appropriately packaged in an air tight tube or airtight dark glass.  

The subject of vitamin c is so vast that I wanted to provide a brief summary, in layman's terms, of the need to knows.  Obviously there is much more information out there if you want to look into this further, I just wanted to provide the basics.

I will let you know what my vitamin c wonder products are in next weeks post!

Do you use any products containing vitamin c? Which type of vitamin c do you use?