My last blog I wrote focused on skin food and feeding your skin from within, so it only makes sense for me to now cover the many benefits and the importance of how these vitamins A, C and E will benefit your skin when you apply them topically.
When it comes to treating the skin, I like to think of it as a house!
The foundation of your house is where a good structure begins. When you think of your skin, this is like your Dermis, which is in the deeper layers. You need a good structure to build on! The way that you can do this is to feed the skin internally to make a good-strong foundation. To maximise this you can ensure you nourish and support your skin everyday with supplements such as Omegas, Antioxidants, Skin Probiotics and Vitamins A, C, and E. This will feed the inside of your skin to make nice healthy skin cells to create a strong foundation to transform your skin.
When it comes to food most natural whole-foods such as whole-grains, fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants to benefit the skin, whereas processed or refined foods contain little to none.
Did you know …… Modern day farming methods mean that the plants we consume aren’t as packed with antioxidants as they were just a few decades ago, so you may need to gain extra nutrients and support from some of the supplements I mentioned above.
The middle section is where you have your bedroom, your kitchen, living room etc. If you neglect your structure (the foundation) of your house, then it’s not going to be the best it can be. Think of this middle section like you’re repairing the skin. You’re working on the lines and wrinkles (a bit like the leaks and cracks you find in the walls!) You need to treat them to improve them and it’s never too late! This is where you treat the living layers of the skin with the right skincare products for YOUR skin by using active Vitamins such as A ,C and E, Antioxidants, Peptides, AHA’S and BHA’S to rehabilitate and repair the skin.
The roof of your house (your shield) – imagine this is like the top layer of your skin! This is the only line of defence between you and the environment. Even though this layer is dead it needs protecting – if we don’t have a roof there is nothing protecting us from the elements such as sunlight, free radical damage, pollution, UV, blue light and much more. You need lots of Antioxidants on the skin to protect and need to wear SPF daily even in the winter months. WARNING….. The UVA rays are around every day, even when it’s raining, and these are the rays that penetrate deep within the skin and are the ageing rays!
The environment will age us so much more than our genetics will. If you look at this percentage wise, 10% of ageing will be intrinsic versus a massive 90% extrinsic ageing! One of the positives of this is that it means that you can do something about it!
So you have all heard of anti-oxidants in your food and how good they are for you, but this is the reason why we need them on our skin!
This image above is of a truck driver in America who has been exposed daily to the sun whilst driving. This is why we still need protection even in cars etc!
All of the damaging environmental factors that we face daily such as stress, a lack of sleep, our diet, medication, smoking, pollution, sunlight UVA UVB, weather conditions etc. ALL these things make us age. All these factors mean that we face Free radical damage.
You may have heard of Free Radicals but what exactly is a Free Radical?
Simply put free radicals will contribute to the below:
· Destroy vitamins and minerals in the skin.
· Degrade collagen.
· Damage our cell’s DNA.
Therefore, we don’t want to expose our skin unnecessarily to Free Radicals.
We need antioxidants in our skin care they are like peace makers and we need an army of them to mop up the damage that Free Radicals we are exposed to cause!
Vitamin A
If you are to use only one product then ensure it has Vitamin A
Vitamin A belongs to a family of organic chemicals called “retinoids”
Generally this is in the form of Retinyl Ralmitate, Retinyl Acetate, but also as Retinol and Betacarotene which help to prevent further premature ageing (the primary cause of this being from the sun) as well as hydrate the skin.
It is known as the “normalizer” of skin.
When you combine Vitamin A with other essential nutrients like Antioxidants and Peptides, the long-term enhancement of skin becomes clearly visible.
The Benefits are:
· Helps to normalize the skin – repairing cell damage (DNA)
· Strengthens the top layer of the skin giving protection (your roof!)
· Normalize pigmentation.
· Stimulates collagen.
· Balances and regulates oil production.
· Plumps and adds volume to the skin.
· Natural exfoliation through stimulating cell turnover
· Protects the skins immunity.
· Locks in moisture to the lower layers of the skin
· Feeds and detoxifies, bringing a fresh glow.
Vitamin C – (Below is a great analogy to why this vitamin will help to protect the skin.)
In life, we are exposed daily to oxygen and this will age us.
Think of an apple for example, when you cut it up, if you don’t eat it quickly then it goes all brown! This is because of the oxygen in the air and this process is called oxidization. This process that happens to an apple will also happen to our skin when it’s exposed it’s just that we don’t realize it as much.
So what would you put on the apple if you were to stop it from going so brown?
Lemon juice! The reason it is acidic and high in Vitamin C!
Here are the other great benefits to using vitamin C on the skin besides it being a great anti-oxidant. to provide protection from the environment.
· Vitamin C has an important role to play in the formation of stimulating and strengthening Collagen, meaning it's anti-ageing!
In turn the formation of new collagen is a must have for scarring!
· Strengthens capillary walls – meaning it will help to reduce redness!
· Anti – inflammatory
· Lightens and brightens - great for smokers and a dull skin, pigmentation and anyone needing that glow back in to their skin!
· Provides a natural SPF.
· Reduces pigmentation.
· Enhances vitamins A and E – vitamins work in synergy together.
· Increases hydration.
· Accelerates healing – so good for acne/scarring.
In general, you will not see Vitamin C on your product labels as vitamin C but as either of the following.
· Ascorbic acid – You need to look for a minimum of 10% or more to get the real benefits.
· Ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate is much more easily absorbed and penetrates into the cells. This is unique to ENVIRON products only in this form, it is oil soluble and passes through the cell wall with great ease allowing you to get up to 10 times more active vitamin C into the cell itself.
Vitamin E
Increases skin tone, hydration and elasticity, an amazing skincare all rounder!
Vitamin E is found naturally within the skin, but the amounts fall when we are exposed to the sun and free radicals. We need vitamin E in our skin to help us protect the cells from the damaging effects of free radicals, particularly those induced by UVA rays.
The benefits
· Antioxidant to offer protection against environmental pollution.
· Natural SPF
· Anti inflammatory properties
· Acts as a wound healer
· Great for reducing redness ( great for sensitive skins)
· Helps to retain moisture
You will find vitamin E listed as tocopherol on ingredient labels
There are many other antioxidants and here are some more of my favourites!
Green tea, and lycopene, superoxide dismutase are all great antioxidants .