Anti-aging is a hot topic and a key feature in the latest skincare products. After all, who doesn’t want to keep their skin firm, smooth, and bright for as long as possible? However, many anti-aging solutions feature harsh ingredients and drastic measures, making it easy to overlook the far more gentle and sustainable measures – like antioxidants.
Incorporating antioxidants into your skincare routine is the true key to preventing age-related skin conditions, such as fine lines, wrinkles, and ages spots. You can also take supplements that include antioxidants, such as ginseng nootropic supplements, to ensure your whole body is receiving the benefits, not just your skin. By taking such supplements, as they are fast-acting, they improve your energy levels while also allowing the skin to naturally repair previous damage. Continue reading to learn how!
Why are antioxidants important?
Every day, our skin is bombarded with free radicals. These highly reactive molecules steal electrons from the cells they encounter, causing damage to the skin’s lipids, proteins, and even DNA while speeding up age-related changes to the skin. Protein degrades, collagen breaks down, and cellular regeneration slows, leading to thinner, dryer, and less elastic skin. Unfortunately, there’s no way to eliminate free radicals. They occur naturally in response to just about every environmental stimulus, including UV exposure and almost every biochemical reaction in the body.
You can, however, prevent these changes in your skin! Free radicals can be counteracted by antioxidants, which are compounds that “donate” their electrons to the free radicals before the free radicals can damage cells. While our bodies naturally produce antioxidants, our natural antioxidant production slows as we age and the antioxidants we produce become insufficient to neutralize the free radicals we are exposed to. This allows free radicals to cause increasing amounts of damage to our cells, the damage that shows up on our skin in the form of accelerated thinning, wrinkling and sagging.
To combat this process, our skin needs extra antioxidants. Just as we take supplements to compensate for nutritional deficiencies in our bodies, we must supplement our skin’s antioxidant capacity with skincare that provides an extra dose of these protective compounds. Topical antioxidants help to delay visible signs of aging and allow our skin to use its energy on repair and regeneration of past damage.
Which antioxidants are best for your skin?
Antioxidants are a popular ingredient in cosmetics, thanks to the wealth of research demonstrating their importance against the visible aging process. Some common and well-received antioxidant ingredients are:
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin E
- Aspalathin
- Polyphenol Antioxidants
- Flavanols
- Flavones
- Flavanones
- Dihydrochalcones
- Astaxanthin
- Nothofagin
One antioxidant that shows tremendous potential is astaxanthin. Derived from microalgae, this vibrant red carotenoid (which gives flamingoes their beautiful pink color) has an unusual molecular structure that makes it especially effective at scavenging free radicals.
Even better, astaxanthin is a potent scavenger of singlet oxygen, the type of free radical caused by UV exposure. UV irradiation is the single greatest cause of visible aging by far. In fact, sun damage can be responsible for up to 80% of visible skin aging! An antioxidant that works particularly well against the specific free radicals generated in response to sun exposure?! Sign us up!
Astaxanthin has other benefits beyond neutralizing singlet oxygen free radicals, too. Studies have shown that astaxanthin can reduce wrinkles, fade age spots, and increase skin moisture content, leading to smoother skin. Applied topically, astaxanthin can also help prevent melanin production due to UV exposure, minimizing the appearance of age spots.
But, astaxanthin is a finicky ingredient to formulate. Due to its light and heat sensitivity and the challenges of dispersing and delivering it evenly in a product, not many astaxanthin products make good on their claims.
The best astaxanthin products use liposomal astaxanthin. When encapsulated in liposomes, microscopic packets of lipids, astaxanthin penetrates skin much more effectively. Astaxanthin products should also come in opaque bottles to protect the product from light exposure and should come boosted with as many other antioxidant-rich ingredients as possible to maximize the protective and reparative effects of the ingredient.
Antioxidants are essential to preserving youthful, beautiful skin, and astaxanthin is set to be the next standout antioxidant in the skincare world. Aroma developed their Rooibos collection which contains all of the antioxidants. The Rooibos products deliver ubiquinone (CoQ10), vitamin C, and vitamin E; peptides to further firm and refine skin texture, and arbutin to brighten skin tone.
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1 thought on “The Antioxidant Your Skin Needs to Stay Young”
Skin care products are so important after 50. Every woman wants to preserve a youthful, beautiful skin.