Retinol and Vitamin C are two of the most popular skin care ingredients available today, as well as being two of the most researched ingredients on Google. With so many options available, it can be difficult to distinguish which products are going to deliver the results you need most.
dr.dermal® is an award winning South African skin care brand that offers products formulated to deliver noticeable results after the first use, using industry leading active ingredient concentrations and unique ingredient combinations that overdeliver.
dr.dermal® gets down on the details of Retinol and Vitamin C to help you elevate your skin care.
Retinol has been a buzzword in the skin care and health industry for decades and is one of the most well researched anti-ageing ingredients. Retinol has been proven to stimulate faster cellular renewal and increase collagen, thereby thickening the skin. These benefits address two of the common symptoms of premature ageing, that of slower cellular turnover and thinning of the skin due to collagen loss. We lose between 1 – 2.5% of our skin’s collagen per year after the age of 20 and the subcutaneous fat also starts to thin with age, the combination of which results in thinner and more brittle skin.
But there are also other ageing factors to consider. With age, we also start to lose hyaluronic acid in our skin which holds onto moisture and maintains adequate hydration. Our skin’s lipid barrier deteriorates with age, and this increases the risk of trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL). Other factors such as long-term damage from sun exposure and environmental assaults such as pollution, dirt and oxidative stress can stress our DNA and hinder normal cellular renewal.
dr.dermal®’s MicroRetinol 5 Rich Repair is the most advanced and complete Retinol cream available on the market that addresses all the symptoms of ageing in one convenient treatment. It contains an industry leading 5% micro-encapsulated retinol that delivers unprecedented skin renewal power without triggering irritation due to the time release of the retinol.
It is the only retinol cream that also contains skin identical lipids (ceramides, cholesterol and fatty acids) to restore the skin’s lipid barrier and prevent TEWL. It also contains a blend of peptides to aid DNA repair and protein synthesis. This unique treatment product also contains hyaluronic acid that ensures moisture retention and hydrates effectively. A blend of antioxidants scavenges free radicals and reduces oxidative stress.
Now let’s get into the nitty gritty on Vitamin C. Our skins are very particular about what form certain ingredients need to be in, to be utilised. Skin can only utilise certain vitamins in their bio-available form. Vitamin C has many different forms, and your skin can only utilise it directly in one form – L-ascorbic acid. Any other form of Vitamin C (such as Magnesium ascorbyl phosphate, Sodium ascorbyl phosphate etc) will first have to be metabolised by your skin into L-ascorbic acid and with each metabolic conversion, there is a geometric loss in potency. Some other forms of vitamin C require 3 to 4 metabolic conversions to become L-ascorbic acid, so this is a potentially enormous loss in activity.
There are massive benefits to using L-ascorbic acid in skin care preparations, but why is it so uncommon? Well, L-ascorbic acid is notoriously difficult to formulate with since it rapidly oxidises in an aqueous solution and will turn brown. This is ironic for an antioxidant right? dr.dermal® has managed to circumvent this common challenge by incorporating pure L-ascorbic acid into an elastomer suspension that resists oxidation. In dr.dermal®’s IntenCE Antioxidant Plasma you get an industry leading 20% pure L-ascorbic acid in a rapidly absorbed treatment.
What are the benefits of L-ascorbic acid? First, it is essential in the synthesis of collagen – ensuring that your skin has adequate L-ascorbic acid to support collagen synthesis which is vital since collagen loss is the keystone of premature ageing.
L-ascorbic acid is also a potent antioxidant that improves the performance of your sun protection products. Sun protection creams only block up to 55% of free radicals caused by sun exposure. A significant amount of the surplus free radicals can be absorbed by L-ascorbic acid which negates the potential of oxidative stress due to sun exposure.
The use of L-ascorbic acid can reduce UV induced erythema by 52% and sunburn cell formation by up to 60%. Studies have shown that the effectiveness of L-ascorbic acid is proportional to the concentration but only up to 20%, which is why the IntenCE Antioxidant Plasma contains exactly 20%. It is the most potent Vitamin C product on the market. The L-ascorbic acid can remain active in the skin for several days and a persistent reservoir of Vitamin C can be achieved with regular applications ensuring ongoing protection.
L-ascorbic acid is also an excellent skin brightener since it directly inhibits tyrosinase which is a precursor to melanin formation – consequently, this is also an excellent product for treating pigmentation and uneven skin tone!
To dramatically transform your skin and protect against premature ageing, environmental damage, pollutants, and to trigger optimal health conditions in your skin, use the IntenCE Antioxidant Plasma every morning and follow with your daily moisturiser and sun protection. The MicroRetinol 5 Rich Repair can be used every evening – no other night cream is required. Pro tip: the MicroRetinol 5 Rich Repair can even be used as an eye cream! Just remember to dab around the orbital bone and not up to the lash line!
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This post was sponsored by dr.dermal®.
