A Guide to Using Vitamin C Serums

What You Need to Know

Want to add something to your skin care regimen that won’t cause adverse reactions, is super hydrating, helps to even out tones, and is all natural? Then get yourself some vitamin C serums to test out. This stuff has all kinds of benefits for your skin without anything synthetic added that can cause side effects.

At this point, you might be wondering what vitamin C serums are. That’s perfect! We’re about to get right into that. We’ll also look at other important information about them, like what benefits they bring, how to use them, and things you should and shouldn’t do with them.

What are Vitamin C Serums?

Serums with vitamin C in them are being recommended by dermatologists to combat and help repair things like sun damage, age progression, and any skin damage caused by free radicals. Vitamin C behaves as a “wonder drug” for your skin—but it’s not a drug at all, it’s a natural substance.

For decades, vitamin C has been taken to help boost immunity in the body because of its strong antioxidant properties. Now, that same antioxidant capability is being used to promote the production of collagen in the skin. Collagen works against the aging process, helping skin to appear brighter, smoother, and more elastic.

Vitamin C can reduce the appearance of wrinkles and lines. It can also reduce redness and make skin tones look more even over your whole face.

While taking vitamin C internally, like in an oral supplement, will give you some of the benefits to your skin, you get more of them if you use it topically. Enter, vitamin C serums. Most of us are familiar with serums because we use them in our daily skin care routines. By the end of this discussion, you might just want to switch to a vitamin C serum.

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Let’s Talk Benefits

We mentioned a couple of the benefits above, but now we’re going to look further into what the benefits are of using vitamin C serums.

• Hydration – Dry skin, especially as you age, leads to lines, wrinkles, and discoloration. Essentially, the drier your skin is, the older it will look. Vitamin C doesn’t just moisturize your skin; it gives it the ability to retain more moisture. That means your skin stay better hydrated every time you moisturize.
• Lessens hyperpigmentation – Vitamin C can reduce all those visual signs of damage on your face. If you have age spots, sunspots, or discolored patches (called melasma), vitamin C serums will help you to make those less noticeable. Those dark spots are made worse by over-active melanin production. Vitamin C slows that down, or, in some cases, blocks it completely.
• Skin tone evening – Sometimes skin appears red. This often happens when something is causing inflammation in that area. Vitamin C works as an anti-inflammatory that reduces the redness in your skin. Your entire face will appear more evenly toned.
• Brightens – When you put vitamin C serum on your skin, it immediately causes a reaction that induces the skin to heal itself. Protein fibers—collagen and elastin—are triggered to be produced. Those fibers help to smooth out your skin and make it appear more bouncy and youthful. Skin will appear to glow even.
• Reduces aging – Collagen production is stimulated by vitamin C. Collagen can help to slow down a whole slew of physical aging symptoms. Fine lines and wrinkles will be reduced or prevented, skin will appear brighter and more vibrant, under-eye circles will be lessened, and the sagging of skin will be prevented or decreased.
• Protection from the sun – Vitamin C is full of antioxidants that can shut the free radicals that cause damage to your skin down completely. Damage to your skin that is caused by the sun is due to these free radicals. Applying a vitamin C serum every day will help protect your skin from sun damage. Note that it also helps to repair damage that the sun has already done to your skin.

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Who Should Use Vitamin C Serums?

If you have skin, you can benefit from the use of vitamin C serums. So, the answer here is pretty much everyone should use vitamin C serums.

There is vitamin C in your skin. It gets there through your blood. The blood receives it from the foods you eat or supplements you take. Your body does not produce vitamin C on its own. If there is a deficiency of it within your body, that’s when your skin can take some real blows from the sun, the aging cycle, or other pollutants.

By using a vitamin C serum, you’ll be providing your skin with the protection it needs, as well as boosting the production of other important substances, to look, feel, and be as healthy as it can.

On rare occasions, someone with very sensitive skin may find that the vitamin C causes a bit of irritation. The vitamin C in the serums is pretty potent stuff. If you experience this, try using less first. If that doesn’t fix the issue, you may need to stop using it altogether.

How to Use Vitamin C Serums

For this section, let’s just do a step-by-step process to make it as easy to follow as possible. There is some debate over whether you should use your serum in the morning or at night. If you want to, do both, but if you’re going to pick one, apply it in the morning. The reason for this is because it protects your skin from UV rays, free radicals, and other pollutants. Those are things you’ll be coming in contact with during the day, not at night in bed typically.

1. Cleanse your face and pat dry.
2. Apply your vitamin C serum and allow to dry.
3. Apply your all-over facial moisturizer with SPF.
4. Apply your eye cream.
5. Put makeup on, if applicable.

The vitamin C serum should be applied before anything else, unless you use toner in the morning. A good guiding rule to remember is to apply the thinnest products first and work your way through to the thickest.

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What to Look for in a Vitamin C Serum

First off, your vitamin C serum should be colorless. If you see color, yellow, brown, or something else, then the product could actually darken your skin. Vitamin C becomes unstable when it’s exposed to light, which causes it to darken. That being said, you also want to purchase a serum that is in a darkened bottle. Also, one with a pump, rather than one that you have to take the lid off, is a better option too.

Different serums will have different concentrations of vitamin C. Usually, it will be between 1 and 20%. Here’s something to remember, anything over 20% isn’t going to be any more beneficial than the one with 20% vitamin C concentration. There is a difference in effectiveness below 20% though. A 5% concentration level is pretty standard. If your skin is hypersensitive, you should stick to a lower concentration.

There are different forms of vitamin C. They will all be effective for what you want them to do. However, if you want the most stable forms in your serum, then look for magnesium ascorbyl phosphate and ascorbic acid sulfate. L-ascorbic acid is very common in the serums. It’s not quite the same as what we just mentioned but it is similar. The biggest thing to remember is to store yours in a dark place.

How Often Should I Use My Vitamin C Serum?

Vitamin C serums are made of all-natural products. You can, and should, use them every day. Our only caution would be if you notice that your skin is getting irritated by it. In most cases where this has been reported, the irritation was only mild, and it’s usually because the skin is sensitive anyway. You can try using less of the serum, one that has a lower concentration of vitamin C, or maybe just apply it every other day at first and work up to everyday use once your skin becomes more accustomed to it.

Are There Any Side Effects?

Let’s start by saying that there are no side effects of using vitamin C that are severe or detrimental to your health. What you could experience is a mild reaction. Here are a few things that have been reported:

• Redness
• General skin irritation
• Itchiness
• A tingly feeling
• Slight burning

If you try a vitamin C serum and you have any of these things happen, the sensation should fade quickly. You also shouldn’t continue to experience these after several applications as your skin should get used to the serum. If you do continue to have them, or you find that your skin has more of an allergic-like reaction, wash the serum off and discontinue using it.

Using Vitamin C Serums with Other Skin Products

People often want to know if they can use these serums along with other products they’re already using. It’s a good thing to wonder about. There are certainly some skin care products that should not be used in combination with certain others.

However, vitamin C serums can be combined with just about any other product you’re using to care for your skin. Layering of products is something that most dermatologists recommend, in fact. The one ingredient we would caution against using at the same time is niacinamide. It still won’t hurt you, but when you combine this with vitamin C, you come out with niacin. That can actually cause your skin to look red and you might have a tingling sensation for a short time.

We’re going to add a note here also. There are some who say you shouldn’t use a vitamin C serum when you’re using a retinol product. The argument has to do with the pH levels, and it’s thought that one makes the other not work as well. The jury is still out on this one, but there is some research that is showing that vitamin C may actually make retinol work better. Just something to think about or maybe ask your dermatologist about.

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Some General Tips About What NOT to do with Vitamin C Serums

• Don’t waste your money on a serum that has more than 20% concentration of vitamin C. This is about the highest potency you can get that will make any difference. The effectiveness just kind of levels off at 20%.
• Don’t buy vitamin C serum that’s in a clear bottle. Exposure to light damages the vitamin C, causing it to lose its effectiveness. You want to buy it in a dark bottle and store it in a dark place.
• Do not purchase a vitamin C serum without taking a good look at the ingredients. You want to look at the form of vitamin C. You also want to look at the concentration percentage. But don’t stop there. As is the case with any other type of natural product, there are companies that will fill the serum with fillers that are cheap and can cause issues with your skin. Look for things like propylene glycol, alcohol, or phenoxyethanol. If you see these ingredients, move on.
• Don’t be afraid to go synthetic. In the case of vitamin C serums, synthetic can actually be better. There have been many tests that show the synthetic forms of vitamin C are easier for the skin to absorb and are more stable.

Wrap Up Time

Our goal is to give you the information you want about vitamin C serums so that you can make an informed decision about adding one to your daily skin care routine. These serums have many wonderful benefits that are solutions to problems that tons of people are looking for. They’re easy to use. They don’t have unwanted side effects. And work well with the other products you’re already using. Whether you’re a first-time serum user, or you’ve been using something else, now is the time to start using a vitamin C serum.

More Great Vitamin C Serums Resources:

What Do I Need to Look for in a Vitamin C Serum?

The Best Vitamin C Serums for Younger, Brighter Skin

20 Best Vitamin-C Serums for Skin That Freaking Glows