If you're in the skincare scene, you're probably familiar with topical vitamin C. From vitamin C serums, brightening masks, lotions, and cleansers, this ingredient has permeated the skincare space, and for a good reason. This powerful ingredient is an excellent way to supplement your skin care regimen and promote that glowing, healthy skin look.

Today, we'll be discussing the benefits that topical vitamin C products have for the skin and how this powerful antioxidant can help to improve your skin's appearance. As an added bonus, we'll go over a few easy ways you can incorporate this ingredient into your skincare routine. 

Table of contents:

• What Is Vitamin C?
• 1. Helps Reduce Signs of Aging
• 2. Helps Minimize the Appearance of Dark Spots
• 3. Helps Moisturize Skin
• 4. Helps Support the Skin Against Free Radicals
• How Can I Start Using Vitamin C?
• Will Eating Foods Rich in Vitamin C Help My Skin?

What Is Vitamin C?

Vitamin C is a vitamin with a range of benefits. You might associate vitamin C with foods and supplements (orange juice, anyone?), which are great ways to make sure you get enough of this antioxidant. However, topical vitamin C is the form that is most helpful in the world of dermatology. 

Topical vitamin C, commonly known in the skincare world as l-ascorbic acid, is essential to the skin's defense system. However, there are other common synthetic derivatives of vitamin C that can often be more stable than ascorbic acid. These include:

• Ascorbate phosphate
• Magnesium ascorbyl phosphate
• Ascorbyl glucoside

Traditional ascorbic acid can oxidize easily, which means it's hard to keep products that feature this ingredient from going bad. However, our WOW Skin Science products use derivatives like magnesium ascorbyl phosphate or ascorbyl glucoside, which last much longer and are easier on your skin.

In addition to containing antioxidants to help strengthen the skin's barrier and maintain its health, topical vitamin C can provide your skin with several benefits. Let's explore some of these benefits below:

1. Helps Reduce Signs of Aging

Topical vitamin C can be a helpful tool for combatting the physical signs of premature aging. 

Collagen is important for maintaining your skin's youthful appearance and elasticity, which is what keeps your skin looking fresh and firm. However, collagen production slows with age, which can lead to the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and dark circles. 

How can you support your skin even as you age? This is where topical vitamin C proves useful. 

Vitamin C can help support younger-looking skin and minimize the appearance of fine lines and dark spots, making it a great addition to your skincare routine. 

We suggest using WOW Skin Science Vitamin C Face Cream to help reduce the visible signs of aging. Our moisturizer is carefully formulated to restore your skin's glow by using healthy, natural ingredients that include shea butter, cocoa butter, and Moroccan argan oil.

Together, these ingredients hydrate and moisturize your skin, support elasticity, and form a protective barrier over your skin. And, of course, the central ingredient of this face cream is active vitamin C. 

After cleansing and drying your face, pump to release the product. Apply a dime-sized amount to your skin. Massage the cream upwards using your fingertips. Repeat this process every day to begin to see visible progress. 

Because this cream combines the brightening benefits of vitamin C with the moisturizing and soothing benefits of shea and cocoa butter, this product is especially useful when used alongside other products for aging skin, such as retinol.

2. Helps Minimize the Appearance of Dark Spots

Vitamin C is useful for helping reduce the appearance of dark spots, which are small spots of discoloration of your skin. 

Dark spots can occur as a result of sun damage from bad sunburns or extensive sun exposure or due to trauma in the skin that causes your skin cells to overproduce melanin. These discolorations can appear as brown, pink, or red spots on the face or body. If you've ever gotten freckles after a long day in the sun, then you're familiar with dark spots.

While dark spots are a normal side effect of skin aging, there are ways to correct this uneven skin tone. Vitamin C is an excellent way to help minimize the appearance of these spots of excess pigmentation.

We suggest using WOW Skin Science's Vitamin C Skin Mist Toner to help minimize the appearance of dark spots. Our toner is designed to help energize, firm, and hydrate the skin, as well as even out your skin tone. 

How does it work? The formula is powered by vegan ingredients like Kakadu plum, jojoba oil, and lemon and orange essential oils, which are rich in vitamin C. 

These ingredients help to cleanse the skin, balance the appearance of sebum, moisturize and nourish, even out the complexion, and reduce the appearance of dark spots. 

Use your toner immediately after cleansing your skin by spraying the product onto a cotton ball or pad. Swipe it all over your face and neck, then seal in the hydration with a moisturizer. You are also welcome to spray the toner directly onto your face instead.

3. Helps Moisturize Skin

Vitamin C can also help moisturize skin. If you have dry skin, you can experience irritation, redness, and flakiness. Dryness can be caused by extreme weather conditions, low production of sebum, and the inability of the skin to retain moisture.

This is where vitamin C comes in handy. It can help moisturize the skin and support the skin barrier to help your skin retain moisture more effectively. The structure of your skin is designed to retain moisture and keep the skin hydrated and healthy, but sometimes it needs a little extra support to get the job done.

Vitamin C can support the body's ability to produce barrier lipids, which help the skin to retain moisture. Overall, this antioxidant can help support this barrier and positively affect the skin's ability to retain moisture. 

If you experience dryness in your skin, here are a few tips. Consider using a heavy moisturizer with active vitamin C. Be sure to apply this moisturizer immediately after cleansing your face so as to retain as much water as possible. This helps trap moisture in your skin barrier and promote hydrated skin. 

4. Helps Support the Skin Against Free Radicals

Vitamin C can also help support your skin cells in the battle against free radicals. 

Simply put, a free radical is an unstable molecule that is missing an electron. When looking to replace this electron, it can often damage other cells in the body, including skin cells. Free radicals can arise from pollutants, heavy metals, tobacco, and a range of other materials – and they're also naturally found in UV rays, which is part of what causes visible wrinkles and dark spots. 

Fortunately, your body produces antioxidants, which are molecules that give away their electrons to keep free radicals from causing damage.

Vitamin C has antioxidant properties that can help support the skin's natural ability to defend against free radicals. For an easy way to reap these protective benefits of vitamin C, we suggest using WOW Skin Science Vitamin C Clay Face Mask.

Our clay face mask is made to tackle pore-clogging impurities and help with uneven dullness in just 15 minutes. Our formula's natural ingredients include lemon and orange essential oils, bentonite clay, and sweet almond oil. These ingredients work together to balance the appearance of sebum, nourish skin, draw out impurities, improve complexion and skin tone, restore moisture, and help your body fight off free radicals.

To use this mask, we suggest scooping out a dollop of the product and applying a thin layer over your cleansed face, making sure to avoid the eye area. For application, you are welcome to use your fingertips or a mask brush. Allow the mask to dry for 10 to 15 minutes, and then rinse off with lukewarm water, being sure to moisturize your skin afterward. 

Although vitamin C can help strengthen your body's defenses against free radical damage, it's no replacement for sunscreen. You should still use a sunscreen of SPF 30 or above every day, or follow your dermatologist's instructions.

How Can I Start Using Vitamin C?

Some plants and animals are able to synthesize vitamin C on their own, but humans are not. Since your body doesn't naturally make its own vitamin C, you need to get it from outside sources by eating foods rich in vitamins or applying skincare products. Because of the way your body processes food, you're more likely to see the skin benefits of vitamin C if you apply it topically.

There are many types of topical vitamin C products, such as serums, face washes, lotions, mists, and more. Let's take a closer look at some of the other ways to use vitamin C.

Serums

Serums are an excellent way to incorporate topical vitamin C into your skincare routine. Serums can be oil or water-based, and they tend to be highly concentrated – just a few drops of skincare serum is all you need to reap the benefits.

The WOW Vitamin C Face Serum is an oil-free formula rich in vitamin C, witch hazel, ferulic acid, and hyaluronic acid. To apply, start with a pea-sized amount of serum and spread it evenly onto your face and neck. 

Usingu pward motions, massage the serum into your skin for around a minute or until fully absorbed. Repeat up to twice daily.

It's usually best to apply your skincare in order of lightest to heaviest products. So, be sure to apply your vitamin C serum before you apply your moisturizer for the best result.

Face Wash

The face wash is a staple for any skincare routine, and a great way to take your cleanser to the next level is with vitamin C. We suggest adding the WOW Vitamin C Foaming Face Wash to your skincare collection. 

This cleanser comes with an exfoliating brush to help remove dead skin cells and cleanse the skin. Massage a few pumps of cleanser on your skin, and then use the brush to massage the cleanser in circular motions for one to two minutes. Finally, rinse with cool water. 

Will Eating Foods Rich in Vitamin C Help My Skin?

You're likely familiar with the benefits of vitamin C for the body. Foods rich in vitamin C, such as chili peppers, parsley, kale, and mustard spinach, can help support the immune system and other areas of general wellness. 

You might be wondering, can eating vitamin C-rich foods benefit the skin, too? The short answer is no. 

When vitamin C is consumed orally, its bioavailability for the skin is inadequate. In other words, the effects of vitamin C that's been digested aren't able to benefit the skin as successfully as topical vitamin C. 

Consuming a diet rich in vitamin C is an excellent way to support physical health. However, topical forms of vitamin C, such as face mists, masks, creams, serums, and cleansers are the best ways to reap the skin care benefits of this ingredient. To see the skin benefits of vitamin C, you'll have to work from the outside in.

Although the skin benefits of vitamin C might sound nice, it's important to keep in mind that not all skin types will react to vitamin C the same way. Vitamin C serums can contain up to 20% l-ascorbic acid, which might irritate sensitive skin.

If you have sensitive skin, it's generally best to eat a diet high in vitamin C and use diluted vitamin C skincare products. We recommend starting off with a formula of 10% or lower and slowly working your way up to full-strength vitamin C. 

You can also combine your vitamin C products with soothing ingredients like vitamin E to help combat any redness or irritation, or use a product like our Vitamin C Face Cream that uses gentle-yet-effective derivatives of vitamin C and contains other soothing ingredients like hyaluronic acid.

Vitamin C is extremely helpful to include in your skincare routine, and there are plenty of skincare products out there to help you reap the benefits. If you're interested in minimizing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, supporting your skin's hydration, or reducing the appearance of dark spots, Vitamin C is a no-brainer. 

We highly suggest making sure that you are receiving enough vitamin C on a daily basis by improving your diet or using vitamin C-based skin care products. Here at WOW Skin Science, we've simplified skincare so you can focus on what matters most – rocking your skin with style.