Best Vitamins for Your Skin
From vitamin C to vitamin B3, many people take vitamins to promote their overall health. Now, specialty vitamin and supplement blends are emerging with promises to improve the health and appearance of your hair, skin, and nails.
Vitamins, nutrients, and minerals play a crucial role in promoting overall health, and the health of your hair and skin are a part of your overall health.
You probably don’t need these specialty products if you’re already getting enough of the proper vitamins and minerals in your diet and through your skincare.
Vitamins Are Important in Your Skincare and Your Diet
Topically applied vitamins and vitamins in your diet are equally important for supporting the health of your skin. Dietary vitamins work from the inside of your body to promote natural healing and the production of healthy new cells.
Topically applied vitamins can be absorbed by the skin and used at the surface level to improve skin’s appearance and protect your face from environmental stressors.
Topically Applied Vitamins
Vitamins in skin care serums can be absorbed by the top layer of the skin, penetrating beneath and working from within the skin. This allows certain vitamins to be used to target skincare concerns and produce specific results.
Although the effects are oftentimes modest, continued use and commitment to overall healthier habits can improve your outcome. Make sure you’re using topically applied vitamins in conjunction with a healthy diet.
Vitamins in Your Diet
Vitamins in your diet promote your health and wellbeing. Your body uses vitamins to feed and create new cells. When you’re getting enough of the right vitamins from the foods you eat, you’ll look and feel better.
For example, your skin may benefit from a topical retinoid, but you can easily find vitamin A in foods like:
- Sweet potatoes,
- Carrots
- Spinach
- Eggs
You can take vitamin supplements if you’re on a restricted diet, but it’s always better to get your vitamins the natural way.
Should I Take Vitamin Supplements?
Before you start taking a vitamin supplement, talk to your doctor. Multivitamins aren’t necessary for most people who eat well-balanced diets and a variety of foods.
If you’re deficient in a few vitamins and nutrients like vitamin A, zinc, or vitamin B, your doctor can recommend supplements or foods you can add to your daily menu to help you meet your target amounts.
Vitamin D
Your body uses vitamin D to create healthy new skin cells. The sun can naturally help your body produce its own vitamin D, but the sun also damages your skin. Unprotected sun exposure in the name of skin health doesn’t make much sense.
Unprotected sun exposure can increase your risk for skin cancer and cause photoaging of your skin.
It can be easy to get vitamin D from food. But that doesn’t mean you should stop wearing your sunblock. Vitamin D is often added to fortified foods like cereal, dairy milk, and soy products. It also occurs naturally in fish like tuna and salmon.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C plays a crucial role in collagen formation and assists in the process of wound healing. It may help to reduce hyperpigmentation in scars, sun damage, and dark spots, and it may help stimulate collagen production and reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
Vitamin C serums and supplements can work in conjunction with sunscreen to minimize the impact of damage from harmful UV rays. In fact, whatever damage persists through sunscreen can be combated by vitamin C’s effects within the body.
Vitamin C is abundantly found in foods like:
- Citrus fruits
- Tomatoes
- Broccoli
- Strawberries
Vitamin C deficiency is extremely rare. You’re likely meeting your daily target with ease.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is often used in skincare products to promote hydration. Vitamin E is very similar to sebum, the oily substance your skin secretes to hydrate and protect itself. This vitamin works to combat skin dryness, and its soothing effects can potentially ease skin redness and swelling.
Nuts and seeds are valuable sources of vitamin E. Vegetable oils are high in vitamin E, and small amounts exist in foods like:
- Leafy greens
- Sunflower seeds
- Almonds
Daily vitamin E requirements are very low, and it’s likely that you’ll meet them with a small portion of one of these foods.
Vitamin K
Your body uses vitamin K in the healing process. Vitamin K promotes blood clotting and wound healing, making it especially helpful to heal the bruising following a surgical procedure and to heal fresh acne scars.
Research regarding vitamin K’s role in overall skin health is somewhat limited, although this vitamin does show promises for recovery from trauma to the skin.
Vitamin K occurs naturally in green leafy vegetables like kale and spinach, but you probably won’t meet your target by drinking green smoothies. Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin, meaning that it needs to be ingested with a source of fat in order for your body to utilize it efficiently.
Try dressing your salad with an olive oil-based dressing or sauteing up your spinach to promote vitamin K absorption.
Many Vitamins Double As Antioxidants
One of the most valuable roles vitamins play in the health of your skin is their ability to serve as antioxidants. When vitamins are applied topically, they rest on the surface of the skin.
As environmental stressors like air pollution come into contact with the surface of your skin, they’ll ultimately damage the surge of antioxidants rather than your healthy skin cells.
Free radicals are searching for electrons, and antioxidants have a wealth of electrons to give. A topically applied vitamin should make that sacrifice to allow your skin cells to be damaged by environmental pollutants.
This is precisely why it’s so important to prioritize dietary vitamins and topical vitamins. Dietary vitamins protect your body from the inside, and vitamins you apply to your skin serve as a protective barrier.
Using Antioxidant Skincare
Many skincare products like moisturizers promise the benefits of antioxidants. Still, they don’t have the facts and figures regarding just how much antioxidant protection you’re getting in every bottle or jar.
That’s why Caldera + Lab conducted a first-of-its-kind antioxidant study. We found that our antioxidant skincare serum The Good contained 3.4 million antioxidant units in a single drop.
Our impressive antioxidant content is due to the fact that we only use botanical ingredients in our products. Everything in the bottle came from the wild or was grown organically. More plants mean more vitamins, and more vitamins mean more antioxidants.
The Good Is Good for You
The Good provides a wealth of antioxidant protection, but it’s capable of so much more. We arranged a clinical trial of The Good where 53 participants of varying skin types used the serum for 60 days. At the end of the study, 9 out of 10 men saw a noticeable improvement in their skin’s health and appearance. You can become one of them.
Sources:
Skin Cancer From Sun Exposure: Risk Factors, Symptoms & Prevention | Cleveland Clinic
Induction of collagen synthesis by ascorbic acid. A possible mechanism | PubMed
Wound healing effects of topical Vitamin K: A randomized controlled trial | Meta