🍋 Vitamin C as a Cosmetic Ingredient - a Silver Bullet or Pain in the Neck Part I

The Benefits of Topical Vitamin C for Skin Health 

#cosmeticingredient #skincareingredient #cosmeticchemistry

For many years of my scientific career I have worked with a lot of air-sensitive compounds. 

And the one that made my lab days soooo difficult was Ascorbic Acid aka Vitamin C.

Yesss, without any doubts - Vitamin C is pure gold when it comes to skincare.

But regardless of its activity, Vitamin C can really mess up your formulation.

For now, let’s discuss why this ingredient is so beneficial for skin health. 

The most important fact - Ascorbic Acid is the one and only form of Vitamin C. Thus, other ingredients like Sodium Ascorbate or Ascorbyl Palmitate should be considered Vitamin C derivatives.

🍋 Vitamin C improves skin firmness and elasticity

Ascorbic Acid works as a cofactor of two enzymes, lysyl hydroxylase and proline hydroxylase. Both of them are involved in the synthesis of collagen fibers, and without Ascorbic Acid their activity is blocked.

🍋 Vitamin C protects collagen from degradation 

Ascorbic Acid blocks the activity of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), a group of enzymes that initiates cleavage of collagen fibrils.

🍋 Vitamin C helps in the reduction of hyperpigmentation

Hyperpigmentation results from uneven distribution of skin pigment- melanin. The production of melanin is catalysed by a copper-containing enzyme - tyrosinase. As an effective metal ion chelator, Ascorbic Acid is able to “steal” copper ions from tyrosinase, thus blocking the action of enzyme and inhibiting the progression of hyperpigmentation. 

🍋 Vitamin C protects skin cells by serving as an antioxidant 

Antioxidant, radical scavenger, and skin cells “lifesaver” - Ascorbic Acid protects cells from aging and death, which can be caused by uncontrolled production of radicals.

Stay tuned for Part II where I will discuss the difficulties when working with Ascorbic Acid.

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