Vitamin in Food. Now in Skin.....Is Vitamin C for Skin a fad?

Shreya, Vanya and me (Anaisha), we are the oddest BFF. Shreya is a complete outdoor person and has a career to compliment as she is a wildlife photographer with National Geographic. She weathers all weathers. The tall and lithe Vanya, has made it to the top ranks of the fashion world as a model cum designer. And me, Anaisha, am a complete technology guru/nerd and can survive days without even stepping out of my room or seeing another soul as long as I have my gadgets with me.

We had been together since childhood and even though our careers had taken us in different directions (literally), we still made it a point to meet at least once a year and it was time for our annual meet. The destination this time around was Srilanka.

We all landed within an hour of each other and needless to say all eyes and ears were on us because of the ruckus we created. It was great to be together and what was even better was that all of us were positively “glowing”. We decided to move the reunion to the hotel and let the folks at the airport continue their work in peace.

One of the things that we love to do is decide an activity or a challenge for the coming year, to keep things interesting. We have done stuff like no tea/coffee for a year (which was actually healthy), to sporting pixie hairstyle all the year round (Vanya’s hairstylist wanted to kill us that year), to being vegan (which was extremely tough initially, but now we are not going back to dairy).

Last year we had landed up in a healthy debate about Vitamin C serum. Vitamin C is well known for its benefits when taken orally. Well we know that it is a powerful antioxidant and boosts the immune system, may help in lowering high blood pressure, improves cardiovascular health, helps prevent iron deficiency, may reduce cancer risk and common colds… yada yada… All of this is common knowledge.

But now it was available to be applied topically and the markets are swamped with vitamin C serums. Each of us knew people (I knew the least no – just one) who had started swearing by it. The benefits claimed were many and varied.

Shreya and I were of the opinion that this is just a fad, another one of the short lived beauty trends, and the high tide would slowly ebb away. We didn’t feel that topically applied Vitamin C could provide the benefits that were being talked about. However Vanya kept on insisting that she had seen the results of Vitamin C and anything as simple and effective would not just “ebb away”.

We each had our own skin issues and decided to give it a try for a year. None of us take these activities/challenges lightly as these are fun and we all have something to look forward to the next time we meet.

Shreya skin had always looked parched, had blemishes and dark spots. All of which we could easily attribute to her being outdoor most of the time.

Just because Vanya was a model, didn’t mean that she had a flawless skin. Infact she had always been dealing with acne and at times it became worse due to her hectic schedule and changing environments.

And I had the palest complexion and had started showing signs of aging much sooner than the other two. In spite of only being in my late twenties, I was already sporting fine wrinkles around my mouth and eyes. All these appeared to be due to massive screen time and exposure to blue light.

When I had said earlier that we all were positively glowing, I had meant it. It was not just from the joy of being together for a few days but our skin was healthier, softer, smoother, plumper and “glowing”

Yup! We had stuck to the promise of trying out and being regular in the application of vitamin C serum. It did take a bit of nudging with Shreya, but she ultimately stuck to it and looking at the results I don’t think she is ever going to let it go.

Shreya’s complexion had massively cleared up and no longer appeared dry.

Hydration

Vitamin C exhibits hydration properties and strengthens your skin's barrier thus preventing trans epidermal water loss. Simply put, it prevents moisture loss from the surface and locks in the moisture in the skin. Hydrated skin feels smooth, soft and plump.

Dark Spots, Sun Spots, Blemishes or hyperpigmentation

Abnormal production of Melanin (which gives the skin its color) is responsible for all of these. Vitamin C not only brightens skin but also fades the dark spots, sun spots and blemishes and lightens hyperpigmentation. Gradually, it even outs the skin tone and improves skin texture without affecting the natural skin color.

Vanya’s acne eruptions had reduced. Her old scars had started healing and clearing up. Needless to say that it was her make-up artist who was the happiest.

Acne

Cause by blocked pores, acne is an inflammatory skin condition resulting in redness, swelling and pustules. Acne leaves people with scars and skin damage. Vitamin C is anti-inflammatory in nature. A vitamin C serum both reduces the redness and clears up the acne. Vitamin C encourages the production of collagen, improving the elasticity and texture of the skin.

My (Anisha’s) fine wrinkle lines had started vanishing and I had moved from a deadly shade of pale to a healthy shade of glowing.

Antioxidant

Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant that neutralizes free radical, aiding in the skin’s natural re-generation process. This helps the skin offset the effects of daily aggressors like UV damage and air pollution. The free-radical fighting power of Vitamin C helps to keep the signs of premature aging at bay.

Research is being undertaken and the skin-beauty health market is ever evolving. New products are being launched on a regular basis. All of these come in attractive packaging, claiming many benefits. However no one single product has as many benefits as a Vitamin C serum.  It is anti-ageing, fights free radicals, reduces dark spots, sun spots and blemishes, brightens and lightens skin, fights acne and helps to heal acne scar, hydrates skin and adds a healthy glow.

And to top it all up, it is simple to use. Just wash-tone-and apply vitamin C serum (preferably twice a day) before you apply anything else.

So wouldn’t you yourself say that this one is definitely a keeper and far from a fad!

We certainly are not going to let this go and so is the sentiment of most of our friends who have tried Vitamin C serum (we had managed to convince quite a few to try it after they had started seeing the results on us).

Well we have freshened up, applied our Vitamin C serums before we moisturized and applied sunscreen. We are now ready for some fun in the sun!