Why Vitamin C?

Around the the world, skincare experts acknowledge that Vitamin C is an anti-ageing superstar.  At CameLife, we follow the latest research and check out the many highly innovative  ways to incorporate Vitamin C into a skincare regime.  We take a different angle to the majority on how to make Vitamin C available to your skin though.  In this blog,  we share how you can incorporate this powerhouse antioxidant ingredient into your skincare routine using all natural products.

No matter your skin type or anti-ageing concern, getting Vitamin C into your skin should be a priority.   For a more in depth but approachable scientific examination, try this article from Oregon State University.

Lily Greene over at Balance Me Beautiful has recently blogged reviewing a range of moisturisers containing Vitamin C, explaining in easy to understand terms what to look for in a moisturiser with added Vitamin C.  Read more here to understand how CameLife’s products take a different approach to getting Vitamin C into your skin.

Anti-Ageing

Vitamin C comes in various forms, many of which are of great benefit for your skin.  They all have potent antioxidant and anti-ageing benefits that help mitigate skin problems both before and after they occur.  As part of your daily skincare routine, quality skincare products that contain Vitamin C can help to even out your skin tone, whilst protecting your  skin from the impact of pollution and photo-ageing.  Good Vitamin C products should significantly improve skin hydration, keeping your skin looking younger for longer. 

Vitamin C has a critical role in supporting the production of collagen, especially as production degrades as we age.  Vitamin C products can actually help to restore damage, making skin that is visibly ageing look and feel younger.

But I Eat Plenty of Citrus Fruit?

We humans don’t make Vitamin C on our own; we get it from our diet or absorb it through our skin.  Eating plenty of fruit is obviously a healthy course of action, but little of the Vitamin C that you eat can reach your skin because of skin’s limited vascular system.   For your skin to get it anti-oxidant, anti-ageing benefits,  Vitamin C needs to be targeted directly in a form that your skin can absorb.  Keep eating the fruit though!

When Vitamin C is formulated in a product that sits on your skin’s surface, it cannot penetrate deep enough to deal with the oxidising free-radicals that are ageing your skin.  If your expensive Vitamin C cream isn’t being absorbed, its no good!

Ascorbic Acid is Vitamin C Royalty

Most of the skin-related research on Vitamin C focuses on ascorbic acid, which is the most common form of the vitamin used in skincare products.  Products that contain ascorbic acid need to be carefully formulated; it isn’t an easy ingredient to work with.   But quality skincare products that contain ascorbic acid will help to create younger-looking, firmer-feeling skin while signs of uneven skin tone and spots seem to disappear.

Ascorbic acid helps the skin to defend itself from external stressors, particularly  oxidising free-radicals, lessening the effects of exposure to the elements including Australia’s relentless sun.  It is this anti-oxidant activity that encourages the production of both collagen and elastin.

Camel Milk and Ascorbic Acid

The girls who make CameLife’s raw ingredient are very adept at formulating ascorbic acid into an available and easy to use cosmetic ingredient!  That’s right; the ascorbic acid in CameLife products is naturally available in our core ingredient, camel milk.  Camel milk contains more than three times the Vitamin C of other common milks, so we don’t need to add synthetic acids or use complex formulations; the girls do it for us!

There’s more though: the anti-oxidant benefits of ascorbic acid are enhanced when it is mixed with other anti-oxidants.  That approach is the fundamental philosophy behind your CameLife Restorative skincare products.  We blend premium natural anti-oxidant ingredients with camel milk, looking for an ensemble effect.  One ingredient, no matter how amazing, is never going to be enough to take the best care of your skin, particularly in a high stress environment like Australia.

Do Concentrations of Vitamin C Matter?

Most skincare experts will tell you that high-concentration Vitamin C products provide the best targeted solutions for stubborn skincare concerns, no matter your skin type.   Research suggests that in concentrations over 20%, Vitamin C isn’t absorbed, yet you can buy products that claim to contain 30% or more Vitamin C.   Other research tells us that skincare products with concentrations of Vitamin C as low as 0.6% will provide antioxidant and anti-ageing benefits to skin.

Look in the shops and you will find plenty of high-concentration Vitamin C products that are targeted at specific skincare issues.  But look at the labels of general skincare products for this powerhouse ingredient too;  you will find lower concentrations of Vitamin C in moisturisers, toners, and serums that will help replenish skin in and work beautifully with their other beneficial ingredients.

CameLife Products

We have a slightly different take on this; the ability of the product to penetrate into your skin is crucial.  So, whatever the concentration of ascorbic acid in CameLife skincare products, you can be sure that it will be absorbed.  The girls at the “factory” ensure this, by making milk with highly homogenised fat particles that just disappear into your skin!

If you need higher concentrations of Vitamin C from the CameLife skincare  choose one of our high camel-milk content such as The Original Camel Balm or our Nourishing Body Mousse, both of which contain 63% camel milk.  Because the ascorbic acid comes naturally  in the camel milk, the higher the camel milk content, the higher the camel milk concentration.  Use the Balm on smaller, stubborn blemishes and use the Mousse on larger areas.

Other Forms of Vitamin C

Ascorbic acid is the outstanding form of Vitamin C, but there are other forms that have been researched.  These include sodium ascorbyl phosphate, ascorbyl palmitate, retinyl ascorbate, tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, magnesium ascorbyl phosphate, and ascorbyl glucoside.  They all sound a bit “chemical” don’t they?

That’s they are all synthesised products.   Sure, they may be worthy of your attention when included in a superior moisturizer, or serum, but they aren’t natural!

Also, bear in mind that all antioxidants get oxidised.  That’s how they work!  All versions of Vitamin C will break down if they are routinely exposed to air and light, so if you want to get the best possible results from your expensive antioxidant-enriched skincare products, only buy those that are packaged properly.  Look for predicts that are boxed, packaged in opaque tubes, airless or air-restrictive containers, so that the ingredients remain stable after you start using the product.

CameLife packages our Restorative range in protective containers.  We use air-restrictive tubes for our Camel Balm  and airless containers for all of our Restorative range.   Nourishing Body Mousse is packaged in an open container, but it is made fresh in small batches and sized to be consumed within a month of opening.

Vitamin C – A True Anti-Oxidant Skincare Hero