Vitamin C: eat up or slap on?

Shouldn’t eating vitamin C be enough for good skin? 

In Brightening

Vitamin C — it’s one vitamin you probably know quite well. While you may have started with orange-flavored chewable tablets as a child, as an adult now you might’ve noticed that a lot of skincare includes vitamin C as an important ingredient.

While we know vitamin C is good for our overall health and wellbeing, what does it do to strengthen our skin?

Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, is a strong antioxidant. It can fight against free radicals — troublemaking molecules that disrupt proper skin growth and repair, brightening skin where hyperpigmentation has occurred and reversing sun damage.

Is there a difference between dietary vitamin C and vitamin C in skincare?

Yes, there is. While the dietary version of vitamin C is great for overall wellbeing, it doesn’t have a direct effect on our skin. Why? Because the body lacks the cellular transport system to bring vitamin C from the bloodstream up to the skin. For a direct and immediate effect on the skin, it must be applied onto the skin.

Then why harp on about a proper diet with vitamins and minerals when I can just buy a tube to fix my skin problems?

Because there isn’t one miracle cream to fix everything. Good skin health is a combination of a balanced diet, a healthy, active lifestyle and a good skincare regimen. Skin strength starts from within. You are what you eat they say, and when you feed your body all things good, it reflects in your skin. A good skincare regimen complements a proper diet to ensure external aggressors like harsh climates, pollutants and UV rays don’t attack the skin.

So, eat up or slap on?

We say do both and you won’t go wrong in maintaining a soft, glowing complexion.