Posts Tagged ‘Vitamin C’
Vitamin C skin care – The challenge
Vitamin C is often regarded as a wrinkle fighter or an anti-aging agent. The main objective of ‘Vitamin C skin care’, in scientific terms, is to increase the synthesis of collagen (a structural protein that is found in skin). The additional benefit of ‘Vitamin C skin care’ is related to its capability of countering free radicals which cause damage to the skin.
Vitamin C skin care, however, faces a major challenge today. This is related to the oxidation tendency of Vitamin C skin care products. On coming in contact with any oxidising agent (e.g. air), the Vitamin C in the Vitamin C skin care products, gets oxidised; thus making the Vitamin C skin care product useless (in fact counter-effective). The oxidised Vitamin C imparts a yellowish-brown colour to the Vitamin C skin care product. This is something that you need to check before buying a Vitamin C skin care product. Even after you buy a Vitamin C skin care product, you need to store it properly and keep checking that it’s still good to use (i.e. it hasn’t attained a yellowish-brown texture).
The manufacturers of Vitamin C skin care products have tried to deal with this (oxidation) problem in multiple ways (and research on Vitamin C skin care products is on the top of their list). One such method of retaining effectiveness of Vitamin C skin care products for a long term is to keep a high concentration (say 10%) of Vitamin C. However, this makes the Vitamin C skin care products even more expensive. The Vitamin C skin care products are already pretty inexpensive and making them even more expensive will throw the product manufacturers out of business. The other way is to use Vitamin C derivatives (like ascorbyl palmitate and magnesium ascorbyl phosphate). These are not only more stable but also inexpensive. Even though the derivatives based products are not as effective as the Vitamin C skin care products, their stability against oxidation is a very desirable feature that makes them very attractive. Moreover, these are known to be less irritating too.
Talking of effectiveness of Vitamin C skin care products, it’s important to mention that not everyone responds to Vitamin C treatments. So it’s not a magic potion in any way. If you don’t see a noticeable difference in your skin, it might be because of your skin not responding to Vitamin C treatment (and the Vitamin C skin care products might not be at fault, at all).
As more research goes on, one can only keep our fingers crossed and wait for a complete solution to the challenges faced by ‘Vitamin C skin care’ today.
How To Lighten Your Skin Tone Without Using Chemical Peelers
Don’t you wish you can have a lighter skin tone without using painful chemical peelers? I have tried using chemical peelers and the results are not very pleasant. My skin tone got became uneven. There are parts of my skin that did not peel and there are parts that turned red.
If chemical peeling is not used circumspectly, the results can be disastrous. If you have sensitive skin, you should also consider using whitening treatments that do not involve peeling. Here are some of the treatments you would want to try:
1. Mix papaya juice and honey. You should purchase ripe papaya. If the papaya has not ripened yet, you can place it in a brown paper bag and store it in a humid place. Papaya actually contains whitening enzymes that can slowly inhibit the production of melanin. Melanin is the pigment that gives the skin a darker shade. This whitening treatment works deep into the skin but it does not facilitate a peeling action. In fact, it can make your skin softer and smoother.
2. Take glutathione and vitamin C food supplements daily. Glutathione are antioxidants that help fight harmful free radicals. Glutathione supplements became quite popular because of their skin whitening side effects. They can actually inhibit melanin production and get rid of the spots on your skin.
You should take this vitamin together with Vitamin C so your body can better absorb this antioxidant. Moreover, vitamin C is capable of improving skin tone and complexion.
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Tags: Chemical Peelers, food supplements, Lighten skin, Skin Tone, Vitamin C, whitening product