What Once Was Is Now Again

Age, sunshine, tobacco, pollution and illness deplete collagen levels. You can’t get away from aging. You can take time in the morning to apply sunscreen to stop the sun from letting those rays onto your face. You can stop smoking. You can get away from pollution by moving to the country, but if your job doesn’t allow you the freedom to simply pick up and move to another part of the country, then you’re probably stuck where you are. The final thing, illness, can hardly be avoided. It can be put at bay by several methods, but when that little bug comes around, and you hope that that late night last night followed by the stressful morning this morning didn’t break down your immune system, you have hope and a prayer to avoid getting sick.

And yet, there are other, more potent factors that are affecting your skin, such as those free radicals that keep creeping up in the scientific community. Free radicals are caused by ozone, oxygen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, exhaust fumes, and inorganic particles. You see, the oxygen that we breathe is actually O2, and the ozone that is disintegrating is causing O3 to fall. Well, with that extra oxygen molecule, it causes an unstable element, and that last molecule must get away, in order to become O2. The extra molecule is called a free radical, and free radicals cause a myriad of problems for your skin. They diminish your skin’s structural support, decrease the elasticity, resilience, and suppleness. After time, with more free radicals bombarding your skin, wrinkles, and liver spots appear. Finally, with the increase in particles, and lack of filtration system, UV rays come down and cause even more problems.

But, for all the problems that are out there, there is help, and the most natural, most effective treatment, is Vitamin C. Vitamin C synthesized collagen, helping the skin to maintain its supple appearance, reduces fine lines, and restores the firm texture. It is also a potent anti-oxidant, stopping those free radicals from bombarding your face. Other common skin problems such as acne, hyperpigmentation and general irritation are eradicated with Vitamin C. Cosmetic companies have taken l-ascorbic acid, and put it in different bases, such as water for oily skin, and oil based, for drier skin. They have also mixed it with different bonding agents, such as ascorbyl palmitate, magnesium ascorbyl phosphate, and tetra substituted lipophilic acerbates.

While unmodified vitamin C remains an important skin care ingredient, the derivative does a better job in some situations. They are more stable, more affordable, and less irritating. They are also as effective in boosting skin collagen synthesis. However, they do not stimulate the collagen synthesis and exfoliate at the same time, as high potency vitamin C products are highly acidic and have a natural exfoliating agent.

So, take care, but don’t worry too much about the effects of the world on your skin. As long as there’s vitamin C, we will always be able to have beautiful skin.

The Positive Effects of Vitamin C on Skin

With the well documented effects of climate change, many scientists and physicists believe that the depletion of the Earth’s ozone layer will have many far reaching and varying effects. One of the predicted effects will be an increase in UV radiation and many areas, especially in the southern latitudes. The exposure to the UV radiation leads to free radical damage on the skin, which in turn leads to sun damage, premature aging and even skin cancer. Free radicals occur naturally as we age, but are aggravated by the constant exposure to chemicals and particulates into the atmosphere, such as smoke and UV radiation. It is important that we do what we can to protect our skin from these harmful free radicals that ravage our skin and deplete our natural collagen levels.

No matter where you are in your life, in your youth or aging gracefully, Vitamin C provides a host of benefits, from protecting your skin against UV damage all the way to healing past damage. Scientists found that the best way to combat free radical damage is with the use of antioxidants, which contain photochemical, vitamins, and other nutrients that remove potentially damaging oxidizing agents from our skin. Yet, few antioxidants have as much scientific evidence to support their efficacy as vitamin C, which both heals the sun damage and discoloration from past exposure, but also inhibits the damaging effects of UV rays when applied topically. Students at Duke University found that Vitamin E and Ferulic acid, when combined with Vitamin C, are shown to have a compounding effect, boosting the UV protectant effects of Vitamin C eight times. Why? Because the collagen in your skin becomes tired with time, and the vitamin C becomes an essential nutrient for the formation of the collagen. But the fibroblasts within the skin cannot be stimulated by the oral form, research found that you need to apply it topically, but by adding the vitamin C to a compound, rather than a pill, the formula becomes unstable.

When you choose a topical vitamin C serum from the store, you must consider that in order for the product to be effective, it must not be oxidized. Vitamin C serum that has been oxidized will have the opposite effect and contribute to free radical damage. For this reason, Vitamin C serum must be stored in an airtight, dark container that the sun cannot get into. Additionally, some forms of Vitamin C are more stable than others and have a longer shelf life. Sodium ascorbyl phosphate, although very stable, has a shorter shelf life than the more popular (and less stable) L-ascorbic acid.

         Vitamin C is also useful for other common skin problems such as acne, hyperpigmentation and general irritation.  By normalizing the amount of oils that the subcutaneous glands produce on the skin, it can reduce blackheads and pimples and other skin problems generally associated with oily skin.  Vitamin C also has skin lightening effects which can reduce discoloration caused by sun exposure and hyperpigmentation.

How Vitamin C Protects Against Skin Aging

Lately, people have been talking a lot about the different types of problems out there that are happening because of our depleted ozone layers. People are changing their lifestyles to cope with the problems. However, I feel the need to point out that it isn’t the ozone’s fault. When the particles break down as they fall closer to the earth, they need to go from the O3 status down to O2, the oxygen that we breathe, and with that breakdown, they loose a particle, an electron, and that electron becomes a free radical. Free radicals are caused by carbon monoxide, hydrogen, exhaust fumes, and inorganic particles, such as asbestos, quartz, and silica.

But, for the layman, that really doesn’t mean anything. Sure, the lack of ozone is causing climate change, but for a more personal look at the depletion of ozone, it allows more free radicals to attack the earth, and more importantly, your body. Free radicals contribute too many different skin problems. They diminish your skin’s structural support, causing more wrinkles. It decreases the skins elasticity, resilience, and suppleness. Further down the line, it causes such problems as wrinkles, liver spots, and finally cancer, which is broken down into three other groups, such as Melanoma, Basal Cell Carcinoma, and Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Yikes!

So, I would like to take a moment to request that you take time and wear sunscreen.

But, to reverse the damage done by the sun, pollution, and free radicals, Vitamin C is quickly becoming a wonderful alternative for the daily skin care routine. The chemicals of yester-year are going by the side, and being replaced by one of nature’s best supplements. Vitamin C synthesizes collagen, a potent anti-oxidant, and blocks environmental damage. There’s a protein within the cellular structure of Vitamin C, and it attaches to the collagen, strengthening it, and causing it to plump up and stretch out making the surface of your body smoother and eliminating fine lines. Once it does that, all the bad things that might get in through the cracks will go away, blocking environmental damage.

There are several different types; depending on how sensitive your skin is, if it is naturally oily or dry. The secret is in the l-ascorbic acid. It is a very natural acid that is used from flavoring natural candy to being put into skin care agents, to breaking down compounds in a laboratory. The l-ascorbic acid is more stable, more affordable, and less irritating. It is also as effective in boosting your natural skin collagen synthesis.

The downfalls of the synthetic vitamin C are they don’t have the same stimulating effects to collagen that the original acids do, nor do they have the same exfoliating effects. But, they do store easier and are much more inexpensive than the original. As always, nature has found a way to sustain us. It nourishes us, and makes us healthier and more beautiful than before. So, go out today and get some Vitamin C facial cream and block out those free radicals.