Eating healthy is essential, but feeding our skin with good ingredients is just as important. Antioxidants can be found in certain foods and applied topically to the skin.
Why are antioxidants so important?
We can’t avoid free radical damage from stress, the sun, and other factors, but antioxidants can help slow the aging process by allowing the skin to repair the damage that has been done and help to prevent new damage from forming.
Niacinamide, also known as Vitamin B3, is an antioxidant that treats ageing, sun-damaged, hormonal acne-prone skin, dry skin, and sensitive skin. Niacinimide is safe to use every day and on all skin types and does not irritate the skin the way a retinol product might.
Benefits: improve skin hydration, reduce redness, reduce blackheads, protect the skin barrier, and fade hyperpigmentation.
Niacinimide also works on the skin to help increase the production of ceramides in the skin.
Retinol or Vitamin A is the gold standard in anti-aging skincare.
I always recommend starting slowly with Retinol and easing your skin into using it by applying it a few nights a week in the beginning. Retinoids are a bonus for adult acne because they help clear your skin and work on anti-aging.
Benefits: work to bring your skin back to life by increasing cell turnover, improving firmness, brightness, dullness, and hyperpigmentation.
Vitamin CÂ or L-Ascorbic acid is a potent antioxidant with a history of well-documented research, and studies on it support its benefits to the skin.Â
Benefits: improve sun damage, brighten the skin, and build collagen. Fights free radical damage, rejuvenates, and speeds up your skin’s ability to repair itself. Vitamin C also helps to fade acne scars and hyperpigmentation brought on by aging or sun damage.
Resveratrol is an antioxidant found in the skin of certain fruits like grapes, blueberries, and cranberries.
Benefits: Resveratrol is calming and reduces inflammation in the skin. It helps to repair, brighten, and reduce redness in the skin. A bonus for oily or adult acne is its antibacterial and antifungal component to help keep skin clear.
Vitamin E, or tocopherol as it’s called on your skin care products, is probably one of the more famous antioxidants.
Benefits: It accelerates the skin’s ability to heal and mixes well with other antioxidants because it stabilizes them. Vitamin E also increases the effectiveness of other antioxidants and hydrates the skin while combatting free radical damage.
Coenzyme Q10-has has been featured in Japanese skin care for many years before becoming popular in the United States. It’s an antioxidant naturally produced in the body that gives our cells energy to repair the damage and bring vitality back to the skin. As we age, coenzyme steadily decreases, and the ability to fight off wrinkles and aging.
Always check with your doctor or aesthetician before trying anything new. CoenymeQ10 users should use caution if they have vitiligo because it stops the ability to produce pigment from forming in the skin.
Benefits: This antioxidant increases collagen production, protects against sun damage and skin tone, and improves skin elasticity.
Try adding one of these superhero antioxidants into your skin care regimen and start to see the results!
Teresa
