By now, you’ve likely heard rumblings about antioxidants in skincare (and vitamin C, in particular) and how crucial of a role they can play when it comes to staving off common skin stressors like environmental damage; UV light, blue light, pollution…the list goes on and on. Of course, you can get your daily dose of antioxidants through a variety of vehicles in the skincare department, but we’re especially partial to serums here at Who What Wear as they’re effortless to apply, fun to shop for, and easy to layer and wear. Plus, if you select one of the best formulas, you’ll likely gain a brighter and more radiant complexion to boot.
Antioxidants are known in the industry as being particularly finicky when it comes to quality and stability, and frankly, we had some basic and not-so-basic questions about the ingredient family we wanted to put to the experts. Like, what are the most common and/or most effective types of antioxidants? Can antioxidants be safely used by everybody? And, perhaps our most burning query, which antioxidant serums are the best antioxidant serums? A leading dermatologist and esthetician sound off on all that and more just below. Keep scrolling!
So, what do vitamins A, C, and E, plus compounds or minerals like resveratrol, copper, zinc, and selenium all have in common? You guessed it, antioxidants.
“Antioxidants are the skin’s defense against all kinds of environmental and extrinsic stressors,” explains Suneel Chilukuri, MD, FAAD, FACMS. “They work by binding to and neutralizing free radicals to prevent the destruction of healthy cells, therefore inhibiting skin damage. There are intrinsic antioxidant systems that are naturally occurring in the body and also those that are supplemented from the outside, either topically or internally. Antioxidants provide skin protection from air pollution, UVA and UVB rays, ozone pollution, smoke, toxins, and even just our natural metabolic processes.” The writing on the wall? Consider antioxidants to be one of the most necessary ingredients to incorporate into your skincare routine if you’re looking to maintain a bright and youthful glow, no matter your age, skin type, or skin tone.
According to Chilukuri, the most commonly used antioxidant is vitamin C especially since the human body lacks the ability to produce vitamin C on its own. Therefore, supplementing our skin with high-quality formulas is key for reaping all of the vitamin’s youth-enhancing benefits.
“Vitamin C is hands down my favorite antioxidant,” confirms celebrity esthetician and founder of her namesake skincare collection, Angela Caglia. “There are many different forms of vitamin C used in skincare, but I’m a huge fan of the up-and-coming THD form. It’s a lipid-soluble, highly stable form of vitamin C that doesn’t oxidize and turn brown, and is great for all skin types.”
Resveratrol is another powerful antioxidant preferred by industry experts and is sourced from red grape skins and knotweed. As Chilukuri points out, the benefits of antioxidants are two-fold, by day, they gift your skin with environmental protection but by night, they can help repair and restore the complexion as you sleep—resveratrol is a great option for achieving the latter.
“Many antioxidants are inherently unstable,” Chilukuri tells me right off the bat. In fact, he says, that’s actually how they’re effective and provide their famous benefits. “You want an antioxidant product to be stable on the shelf and reactive in the skin. Some antioxidant ingredients are bound to other molecules to increase their stability, but this also reduces their reactivity in the skin when applied. For example, vitamin C is often paired with vitamin E to stabilize the vitamin C. However, even with this combination, air exposure can rapidly degrade the efficacy of the vitamin C.”
To help increase the shelf stability of your antioxidant serum, Chilukuri suggests looking for formulas that utilize strategic delivery technologies and/or have anhydrous or water-free bases to increase shelf stability without compromising the serum’s efficacy once you apply it to your skin. Another helpful tip? Take a look at the ingredient label on the product, and note where in the lineup the antioxidants are. As Caglia says, the most potent formulas will have their antioxidants listed at the top, versus the middle or end.
“Vitamin C is typically best applied in the morning, as it has shown an ability to support the efficacy of sunscreen and protect the skin from daytime aggressors,” notes Chilukuri. That said, resveratrol is a great antioxidant for nighttime and will help the skin repair and recover while you log precious shut-eye. Both Chilukuri and Caglia recommend you apply your antioxidant serum to clean, dry skin after you’ve cleansed, and before thicker serums, oils, or moisturizers. “It’s always thinnest to thickest when it comes to the order of your skincare,” says Caglia. “As a rule, water-based serums go before oil-based serums and moisturizers.”
For the most part, yes. “Antioxidants are typically beneficial for everyone, you just need to make sure that a product is stable and has a pH that is suitable for that particular antioxidant or blend,” explains Chilukuri. “That said, some patients with extremely sensitive or irritated skin may not be able to tolerate the vitamin C until their skin barrier is fully repaired.”
You’re also going to want to pay heed to the other products you’re using in conjunction with your antioxidants. For instance, retinol and vitamin C generally do not a happy couple make. “The pH levels of some vitamin C serums do not interact well with retinol,” Caglia warns. “They can cancel each other out, so if you’re someone who uses retinol, I generally suggest using antioxidants during the daytime only so they don’t interfere with your nighttime retinol protocol.”
