Between brightening dark spots and helping to protect against UV damage, there’s a lot Vitamin C can do for your skin:
1. Fights lines and wrinkles
When it comes to fine lines, wrinkles, and other signs of your skin’s wear and tear, vitamin C is a handy tool to have in your arsenal. Research shows this nutrient helps protect against damage and aids in skin regeneration, by neutralizing free radicals.
2. Revitalizes sun-damaged skin
Prolonged sun exposure does a number on the skin — flakiness, discolored patches (sunspots), rough areas, rosacea, etc. But topically applying a daily vitamin C dose may guard your skin against taking too much damage. One study found people with mild to moderately photodamaged skin experienced a significant improvement in skin appearance, including fine lines, roughness, and skin tone, after using a topical vitamin C treatment for 3 months.
3. Evens out tone and minimize redness
Blotchy, uneven skin can result from a number of factors, from sun exposure to hormones to medical conditions. The good news is, vitamin C has proven itself a hearty warrior in the fight against redness, as it helps mend the damaged capillaries that cause this discoloration and strengthen them for the future.
4. Hydrates thirsty skin
With the average adult carrying 2 square meters of skin on their body, this organ is certainly thirsty — and we’re not talking about looking for attention. Comprising 64 percent water, your skin needs to be kept hydrated, and your new chum vitamin C is here to bring the juice (or water, we should say). It also helps your skin retain water, preventing it from becoming too dry or oily.
5. Improves elasticity
Topical vitamin C has been shown to encourage collagen production, a naturally occurring protein in our body that helps give skin that tight, plump look. Since the body naturally makes less and less collagen as it ages, using an ingredient like vitamin C can help slow down skin aging.
6. Helps reduce inflammation
If your skin is red, irritated, and showing signs of a rash, there’s a good chance that an underlying immune response, infection, or allergic reaction is behind it. While many cases require medication to ease their effects, studies show topical vitamin C to be effective in relieving signs associated with inflammatory skin conditions such as dermatitis, acne, and psoriasis.
7. Eases hyperpigmentation
Hyperpigmentation refers to dark patches of skin, caused when the body produces too much melanin (the pigment that gives your skin it's color). While generally not harmful, hyperpigmentation can prove distracting — but topically applying vitamin C has been shown to decrease its signs, as it inhibits the production of tyrosinase, an enzyme that contributes to melanin production.
8. Calms down sunburn
While we’re certainly not suggesting vitamin C as an alternative to ditching the SPF, if you do have a sunburn mishap, it can help steer you away from Rudolph territory. This clever nutrient helps speed up cell turnover meaning sunburned skin is rejuvenated and heals faster.
9. Aids healing
As if it didn’t already boast enough superpowers, vitamin C has been proven beneficialin helping repair wounds. This is thought to be a result of its ability to increase the movement and number of fibroblasts in our skin — the connective tissue cells that are key to the healing process.
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