VITAMIN C AND THE SUN: A DANGEROUS CONNECTION?

🕑 2 minutes

THE ARTICLE IN BRIEF FOR READERS IN A HURRY:

✔️ Vitamin C is THE skin vitamin: it defies all competition due to its very high concentration in the epidermis and dermis

✔️ SOS! Today, man is no longer able to make it and it is not so easy to find in our environment.

✔️ Vitamin C is NOT sensitive to the sun. However, conventional products containing it can be, due to their acidic pH...!

✔️ Novexpert to the rescue! We have developed a vitamin C complex to formulate a Booster Serum with a less acidic pH that can be used in all seasons, and on all skin types!

ASCORBIC ACID, BETTER KNOWN BY ITS STAGE NAME: VITAMIN C! 

Everyone talks about vitamin C, but do you know why it is so important? First of all, because it is THE essential vitamin for your skin, and to convince you, here's a number: 2000. Your epidermis contains 2000 times more vitamin C than vitamin A for example (1)!

This champion is on all fronts to protect us, but it is particularly known for its antioxidant power (2). It will defend our cells against unstable molecules called free radicals that want to attack our cells and make them age prematurely. We can be grateful for it!

ALL THAT IS PRECIOUS IS RARE!

We also talk a lot about vitamin C because we are constantly in search of it to avoid becoming deficient… Yes, humans are one of the few mammals that don't know how to produce their own vitamin C! We were capable of it millions of years ago, but evolution has not been favorable to us⁽³⁾. So today, we need to find it through diet (especially fruits and vegetables) or skincare.

By the way, do you know which fruit is the richest in vitamin C? No, it's not the orange or the acerola, but the kakadu plum, an Australian exotic fruit. 3g of this tangy delight and your vitamin C needs are covered for the day! In second place on the podium are the well-known Goji berries (4), which are also a great source of vitamin C.

As for cosmetics, vitamin C isn't easily trapped in a bottle. It's a fragile vitamin that is destroyed by light, water, or even heat⁽⁴⁾! It's not easy to preserve it in skincare products, which are often composed of around 70% water and stored in the warm and humid environment of our bathrooms.

SUN & VITAMIN: GUARANTEED IRRITATIONS?

Now that Vitamin C has no more secrets for you, let's get back to our issue and to a phrase I often hear in my surroundings: "I can't use products with vitamin C in the summer, otherwise my skin will be irritated!"

Let's debunk the myth right away… vitamin C is not sensitive to sunlight!

But if many of you think otherwise, it's not a simple coincidence because often products containing vitamin C are indeed incompatible with sun exposure. This is due to their pH, a physical parameter that quantifies the acidity of a solution or product.

Let's delve into the bottle to understand everything… For classic vitamin C to effectively penetrate the skin, it needs to be incorporated into a product with a very acidic pH, close to 3. To visualize how acidic this is, know that the pH of lemon is around 2.5! The application of such products is not recommended in case of sun exposure because it would cause irritation reactions and damage the most superficial layers of your skin.

And it's really a problem because the more your skin is exposed to the sun, the more it needs vitamin C, as sunlight degrades it.

To summarize: our skin needs vitamin C when exposed to the sun, but conventional cosmetic products are incompatible with sun exposure… It sounds like an impossible mission!

A SKIN SHOT OF VITAMIN C THANKS TO NOVEXPERT!

At Novexpert, challenges stimulate us. So formulating a vitamin C product for everyone, usable in all seasons, even in case of sun exposure, became our priority.

Our scientific team accompanied by our Doctors embarked on this quest and developed a new generation vitamin C complex! A kind of super vitamin C, with unparalleled achievements.

In order to be able to be stored in the bottle, this Vitamin C complex has been formulated to resist light, heat, and water. But the innovation lies above all in the fact that the vitamin C formulated in this way is capable of penetrating the different skin layers at a less acidic pH, close to that of the skin, which is about 4.5 (the pH of facial skin (5) is not 5.5 but 4.7). This allows us to offer you products, such as the Vitamin C Booster Serum, whose pH is similar to that of the skin. It can therefore be used all day long, even in summer. Goal achieved for Novexpert scientists!

Our Booster Serum is also unique in more ways than one because it contains 25% of this stabilized Vitamin C complex. It's one of the highest concentrations in the world for a skincare product. Yes, in the world, I didn't make a typo. With it, you can provide your skin with the vitamin C it deserves without any worries. It is certified non-photosensitizing, non-photoallergic, and non-phototoxic. It can therefore be used daily on all skin types, even the most sensitive, all day long. Enough to create a good level of vitamin C for yourself!

I still want to remind you here that in case of prolonged sun exposure (beyond 20 minutes), it is recommended to apply a cream with sun protection factor.

Now you know everything, so this summer you can slip our Vitamin C Booster Serum into your pretty canvas bag without any fear. It's a formidable ally to help your skin maintain its vitamin C level.

📑 REFERENCES

(1) Pullar, J. M., Carr, A. C., & Vissers, M. (2017). The Roles of Vitamin C in Skin Health. Nutrients, 9(8),

(2) Pehlivan, F.E. (2017) Vitamin C: An Antioxidant Agent. In Vitamin C; InTech: London, UK.

(3) Dr. Corson P. (2014) La vitamine C. Ed Médicis

(4) Machlin L. (1984) Handbook of vitamins. Nutritional Biochemical and clinical aspects. New York & Basel. Marcel Dekker Inc.

(5) Lambers H, Piessens S, Bloem A, Pronk H, Finkel P. (2006) Natural skin surface pH is on average below 5, which is beneficial for its resident flora. Int J Cosmet Sci. 28(5):359-70.