Dr Loretta Vitamin C
In skin care, packaging is often largely ornamental. Bright colors play on TikTok, a muted brown color scheme and maybe a monstera leaf might hit with the wellness crowd. But sometimes the packaging matters in a practical sense. Nowhere is that more true than with vitamin C, a staple of skin care routines the world over and about as close to a cure-all as there is. It's used, particularly in the form of L-ascorbic acid, to target signs of aging and hyperpigmentation via serums, moisturizers, and other topical creams. Because vitamin C acts as a coenzyme in the production of collagen, it helps to firm up skin and reduce the appearance of lines and wrinkles. (It can also inhibit the formation of melanin to fade dark spots caused by breakouts.)
But for all its benefits, vitamin C is incredibly fragile. (L-ascorbic acid: It's just like us!) Dr. Loretta Ciraldo, the legendary dermatologist behind an eponymous and widely beloved skin care line, explains that when vitamin C is exposed to oxygen it is converted to dehydroascorbic acid (or DHAA). That means that any product that contains it doesn't work as well.
Like any leafy green you'd find in the produce aisles, items with vitamin C need to be packaged a careful way to ensure optimal freshness. (You wouldn't settle for wilted lettuce...right?) In Dr. Loretta's experience, the best way to keep vitamin C stable is to limit or eliminate the amount of oxygen in the formulation. "If you're buying products with more than 5% vitamin C in them, be sure they're sold in airless packaging," she said via email. (Her own Intense Brightening Cream is a prime example.) Besides airless packaging, it's important to keep products with high amounts of vitamin C in a cool place—leaving them near a sunny window or even overnight in a car can accelerate the oxidation process.
Dr. Loretta Intense Brightening Cream
That's largely due to what Tiffany Masterson, the founder of the buzzy skin care brand Drunk Elephant, calls "free radicals". Despite sounding like a particularly rad ska band, free radicals are a drag: they're unstable molecules that promote inflammation and a breakdown of healthy collagen production in skin. (Oxygen is a major source of free radical damage, as is sunlight.) Antioxidants, like the ones found in vitamin C serums, help protect skin by stabilizing those free-radical molecules. If vitamin C accidentally encounters a free radical while it's sitting in an open-face jar or dropper, it will still do its job—to a fault. The result? "Your vitamin C is depleted before it even hits your skin," Masterson says. She echoes Dr. Loretta's sentiment regarding airless packaging, but also recommends avoiding silicone bases (which can slow the penetration of ingredients like vitamin C) and steering clear of formulas that contain fragrances or essential oils.
Drunk Elephant C-Firma™ Vitamin C Day Serum
If all this oxidation talk is starting to feel a little too wonky for you, there's also a highly tangible sign it might be time to toss your product. If your serum was a pale gold when you bought it, then a shift to a dark brown is a bad sign. Masterson is quick to clarify that a color change doesn't mean the product is unsafe per se, but it's an indication that the formula is likely near or beyond its shelf life and will be less potent. So if your serum, moisturizer, or anti-aging cream arrives looking less like a fresh powdering of snow and more like a week's-old blizzard, you might want to demand a refund.
Judging a book by it's cover? Still iffy. But judging a serum by its bottle? As it turns out: totally valid. And when that serum contains a high amount of vitamin C, that bottle better be as airtight as an innocent man's alibi.
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Source: https://www.gq.com/story/vitamin-c-freshness
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