When vitamin C is a no go

It takes a lot to wind me up but one thing can make me immensely annoyed: cosmetics manufacturers who put a high concentration of top selling ingredients (because they are also proven to be effective) in a cream, but in such a way that they are no longer effective and even harmful to skin.

A good example is vitamin C products. It drives me crazy when I see yet another high-dose vitamin C cream where pure vitamin C has been added! And often coming from ‘doctor’s brands’. Pure vitamin C or ascorbic acid is so highly volatile that even if this vitamin is packed properly in an airtight container, it will oxidize in no time.

Brown dye

The vitamin C not only loses part of its effectiveness, but also high concentrations of the substance is certainly not good for your skin. In fact, you can see the oxidation in the product: it makes the cream turn brown. That’s why I see brands often adding a brown dye to this type of product, so that the customer won’t notice the discoloration.

Precise

There are, of course, forms of vitamin C that are more stable. But these are likewise a good deal more expensive. And even with these variants a good vitamin C should still be produced in small batches, in airtight packaging and preferably kept refrigerated until use. And that is not so simple in a shop setting.

Better together

Also important to know: vitamins work best when there are with others. Just like in nature, one needs the other in order to be able work. In particular, a combination of fat-soluble and non-fat-soluble vitamins is important. But such products are more challenging to make and a lot more expensive.

But brands don’t allow for this either. They just add loads of pure vitamin C. Do those cosmetics manufacturers really value cosmetics? I doubt it …

What now?

How do you know if you have a good product in your hands? That’s still not so simple… Firstly look at the packaging and the cream: what type of vitamin C is on the ingredients list? What kind of packaging is used? What does the cream or serum look like?

But unfortunately that doesn’t tell you everything: you don’t know what goes on in someone else’s ‘kitchen’. And what I mean by that is: I don’t know how fresh that brands product is. I also want to know whether the manufacturer keeps the product chilled before it is sold. And we haven’t finished yet… What is the exact concentration of active vitamin C (sometimes liquid solutions are also used)?

This makes it difficult, and sometimes even impossible, to draw a proper conclusion on how good a product is. So it is well worth doing further research into the brand. Or just contact them with your questions!