Vitamin C has always had its place in an esthetician’s tool belt. Why?
It’s essential for our health on multiple levels. Many know it as a helpful ally in fighting off the ravages of cold and flu season. You may also remember that vitamin C is essential for fighting free radicals, which can cause cellular and physical damage throughout the body including teeth, bones, and blood vessels.
What does this have to do with skin care?
Collagen! That other lovely word that starts with a ‘C’! The component of smooth and strong skin that’s at the top of everyone’s wish list. Here are a few quick things you should know about collagen, to better aid you in it’s importance to skin health:
- Collagen is a primary building block of bones, connective tissue, and skin
- Collagen is a hard, insoluble protein that cannot be absorbed through the skin. It must be administered orally or through tissue/muscular injection (as in Botox)
- Humans are born with a surplus of collagen, more than what we need, and continues to regenerate naturally AND through food and supplement intake
- Collagen production slows down dramatically after age 25
- At this point, the collagen that was abundant in our body starts to break down slowly
Now that you’ve conquered Collagen 101, we can begin to make the connection with Vitamin C being the key player in stimulating natural collagen production, and why it’s important to your skin!
Without the presence of collagen, skin begins to take on a dry, thin, wrinkly, less-cushioned appearance. “Smile lines” become deeper. Forehead creases become more prominent. Your jawline starts to sag a bit. The tiny indent by your left upper lip, from using straws all those years? It starts to stick around and never go away.
Again: Collagen is necessary for strong, healthy skin
Now, you’re probably asking yourself, “What about collagen supplements? Collagen protein powders? Collagen injections?” Supplements and powders are a wonderful addition to your diet. In particular, I really enjoy a brand called Vital Proteins – here’s a link. But those supplements are just that–a supplemental, one time fix for the body. They don’t stimulate production; they just make a one-time deposit to the collagen source.
With Vitamin C, on the other hand, you can get the assembly line of collagen moving within the body, and it’ll continue to work for a long period of time.
Here are a few fun ways to get some more Vitamin C into your life:
- Vitamin C-infused skin care products! Cleansers, masques, serums, oh my! When present in skin care, it will deliver powerful antioxidants to bring renewal and plumpness to the skin.
- Foods rich in Vitamin C: rosehips, broccoli, bell peppers, tomatoes, citrus fruits, parsley, seaweed.
- Supplements: powder packets that can easily be dissolved into warm or cool water and ingested as part of a morning routine.
Interested in treatment that will incorporate these principles? I am running a winter facial special that is 15 minutes longer than my normal treatment, and specifically packed with Vitamin-C to give your skin the holiday boost it needs.
A trip out to the Oregon wilderness afforded me a massive harvest of fresh rosehips, which i’ll be using as a cleansing tincture through the facial. Pink grapefruit and broccoli sprout-infused products play a big role in sloughing off dead skin cells, and provides a vitamin-rich masque treatment to illuminate the skin on deeper level.
Polish it all off with wrinkle-release facial massage and stress reduction, and you’re guaranteed to be whistling a healthier tune once you walk out of the clinic.