Most of us know vitamin C as a flu fighter – which is why the colds and flu shelf in Clicks is a sea of orange boxes and pictures of lemons. (As we all know, citrus is shorthand for vitamin C!) But it does more than that; vitamin C plays a huge part in the healthy functioning of your skin. Which is why it’s such a coveted and much-used ingredient in the skincare industry.
‘Vitamin C is one of the best ingredients that we have on the market,’ says NY dermatologist Dr Shereene Idriss. So who can benefit from it? ‘Everyone and anyone – as long as you have skin!’ she says. ‘Unless you’re living in a dark cave, unless you have not seen the sun in a bajillion years, unless you are living in the mountains of Bhutan, chances are you’re living somewhere where there is pollution, somewhere where there is sun exposure, somewhere where there is stress, and your skin can benefit from it.’
HOW DOES VITAMIN C BENEFIT YOUR SKIN?
1 It is a potent antioxidant That means it helps to provide protection against what’s known as free radical damage, which you get from basically just being alive in the world. It comes from oxygen (over time), from the sun, from pollution and from stress – both your body’s own and environmental stressors. Vitamin C helps to break it all up and protects your skin in the process, ‘so that your collagen doesn’t break up prematurely, your elastin doesn’t get weaker, you don’t develop discoloration at an earlier age,’ Dr
