In our skincare, we use the most powerful and nourishing ingredients from nature: vegetables, fruits, plants, and seeds. Why? Vitamins! Many people know that it's good for your body, but also for your largest organ: your skin.
There's almost a whole alphabet of vitamins 😉, but how do you know which ones are good for your skin? In this blog, we'll discuss the vitamins that are beneficial in skincare, meaning for topical application. It's even more important to also consume these vitamins and minerals through food, which we wrote about in an earlier blog.
Vitamins for the skin
The vitamins we will cover for topical application are:
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin B
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin E
- Vitamin K
Vitamins are natural organic compounds vital for the maintenance and health of the skin, our body's largest organ. In adults, loss of skin elasticity is usually related to the unavoidable aging process, but it can also be due to a deficiency in vitamins A, B, C, E, and K.
We discuss five beneficial vitamins and how they are used in skincare products to support skin elasticity and therefore reduce the signs of aging.
What does vitamin A do for the skin?
Let's start with vitamin A. Vitamin A is a group of fat-soluble, unsaturated organic compounds, and its derivatives are known as retinoids or carotenoids.
Retinoids are found in animal sources (e.g., fish, eggs, milk, cheese, etc.) and include retinol, retinyl acetate, and retinyl palmitate, while carotenoids are found in plant foods (e.g., carrots). A well-known example of a carotenoid is beta-carotene.
How vitamin A works
When retinol is applied to the skin, enzymes in the skin convert retinol into retinaldehyde and then into retinoic acid. This conversion can take a few weeks, which is why products containing vitamin A are advised to be used for a few months before effects become visible.
Studies also show that both retinol and its derivatives can thicken the epidermis and synthesize collagen in aging skin.
Vitamin A against wrinkles
Vitamin A and its derivatives are also powerful antioxidants. As a result, vitamin A can help build collagen fibers in the dermis, strengthening skin tissues, restoring skin elasticity, and thus repairing or more efficiently improving wrinkles and fine lines caused by frequent sun exposure.
Vitamin A skincare with Food for Skin
Which Food for Skin products are vitamin A creams and serums? Food for Skin is vegan and 100% natural and therefore does not use animal or synthetic retinol, but carotenoids from plants can be found in the following products:
- Carrot Cleanser – (beta-carotene from carrot, carrot extract, cardamom)
- Tomato Base Cream – (konjac, broccoli, lemongrass, avocado, shea)
- Cucumber Serum – (broccoli)
- Pumpkin Serum – (borage)
- Avocado Serum – (avocado, broccoli)
Vitamin B for the skin
Vitamin B is a general name used for a group of vitamins consisting of eight different forms. Each of these forms is water-soluble and has its own importance in bodily functions. The eight forms of this vitamin are listed below:
- Vitamin B1 – Thiamine
- Vitamin B2 – Riboflavin
- Vitamin B3 – Niacinamide / Niacin / Nicotinic Acid
- Vitamin B5 – Pantothenic Acid
- Vitamin B6 – Pyridoxine
- Vitamin B7 – Biotin
- Vitamin B8 – Inositol
- Vitamin B9 – Folic Acid
- Vitamin B12 – Cobalamin
Vitamin B3 skin
Vitamin B3 is the most commonly used form of vitamin B in skincare. It stimulates and regenerates the protein collagen.
Niacinamide also has antioxidant properties, protecting against skin damage that can arise from UV radiation from the sun and environmental pollutants. These free radicals can break down collagen and elastin in the skin, leading to the formation of wrinkles often characteristic of aging skin. Niacinamide neutralizes free radicals and breaks the free radical chain, so damage can be reduced or prevented.
Which Food for Skin facial products contain vitamin B?
- Tomato Base Cream (konjac)
- Cucumber Serum (broccoli)
- Pumpkin Serum (chia)
- Avocado Serum (oats, borage)
What is vitamin C good for?
Vitamin C is a naturally occurring, water-soluble vitamin (also available in ester forms that are oil-soluble), commonly known as L-ascorbic acid. There are multiple forms of vitamin C:
- Ascorbyl palmitate
- Sodium ascorbate
- Sodium ascorbyl phosphate
- Magnesium ascorbyl phosphate (MAP)
- Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate (THDA) (also known as Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate)
- Ascorbyl Glucoside
- Ascorbyl Glucosamine
- Ascorbylmethylsilanol Pectinate
What does vitamin C do for your skin?
L-ascorbic acid and more stable forms such as ascorbyl palmitate, ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate, and magnesium ascorbyl phosphate are often used in carrier substances to achieve one of vitamin C's main functions: stimulating the production of collagen, an essential structural protein that helps keep the skin firm. Vitamin C not only repairs but also protects skin elasticity.
Vitamin C is also a powerful antioxidant that protects against free radicals produced by the sun's ultraviolet radiation and other environmental stressors. It does this by neutralizing free radicals and disrupting the chain, thereby preventing damage that can lead to wrinkle formation and skin aging.
Vitamin C is a powerhouse for the following skin conditions:
- Acne-prone skin
- Skin with hyperpigmentation spots
- Hyperpigmentation
- Wrinkles
Vitamin C for your skin with Food for Skin
All Food for Skin skincare products are packed with vitamin C. Effective skincare with the goodness of vegetables!
- Carrot Cleanser (carrot, cardamom, ascorbyl palmitate)
- Tomato Base Cream (broccoli, konjac)
- Cucumber Serum (broccoli, rosemary)
- Pumpkin Serum (sea buckthorn, rosemary)
- Avocado Serum (hemp, broccoli, elderberry, borage, rosemary)
- SPF30 (kakadu plum).
Fun fact: the Kakadu plum has the highest vitamin C content in the world!
What contains vitamin E?
Vitamin E is a fat-soluble compound that exists in various forms; alpha-tocopherol, beta-tocopherol, gamma-tocopherol, delta-tocopherol, and a family of compounds called tocotrienols.
What does vitamin E do for your skin?
Vitamin E is truly a jack-of-all-trades and offers many benefits for use in facial cosmetics. The main benefit is that it's an antioxidant. You hear that term often, but what exactly is it? An antioxidant fights free radicals; it's truly a 'fighter' that combats things in our environment that can potentially damage the skin: certain parts of UV light, polluted air (which unfortunately we have everywhere in the Netherlands), weather influences such as acid rain, etc. Vitamin E also helps support skin elasticity.
All Food for Skin skincare products contain vitamin E:
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Tomato Base Cream (konjac, tomato, avocado, shea, broccoli, sunflower)
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Carrot Cleanser (sunflower, plum, castor, plum, carrot)
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Cucumber Serum (cucumber, rice, broccoli, sunflower)
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Pumpkin Serum (pumpkin, sunflower)
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Avocado Serum (avocado, elderberry, sunflower)
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SPF30 (bilberry, raspberry, karanja)
Vitamin K for the skin
Vitamin K is a fat-soluble compound that exists in two structurally similar forms as listed below;
- Vitamin K1 – phylloquinone (natural form) / phytonadione (synthetic form)
- Vitamin K2 – menaquinone
Vitamin K1 is now banned in Europe.
Vitamin K2 is important in maintaining healthy skin and helps prevent fine lines. It can prevent calcification (the accumulation of salts in the skin), thereby helping to maintain elasticity.
Which Food for Skin products contain Vitamin K?
- Avocado Serum (oats)
As you've read, all Food for Skin skincare products are packed with vitamins! Don't forget to nourish your skin, in addition to your body.
Are you not getting enough vitamins through your daily diet? Then choose pure, clean supplements like Goldea. It's sustainable, made in the Netherlands with only the best from nature. Without artificial plastics!
