Here at Juice Beauty, we don’t believe in junk. Your skincare routine should include the creams and serums your skin needs — and nothing more.

Today, we’re going to dive into one popular skincare product: vitamin C serums. What can they do for your skin? How do they work? And most importantly, do they really deserve a spot in your skincare routine? In this article, we’ll answer all of your questions and share if and when to use vitamin C serums on your skin.

Do You Need Serums in Your Skincare Routine?

In order to understand what role vitamin C serums can play in your skincare routine, it’s helpful to break down what exactly a “serum” is in the first place. Especially with new products hitting shelves all the time, it can be tricky to understand their differences.

Serums refer to any type of watery liquid that contains nutrients. Biochemists use the term to describe the liquid part of your blood. In skincare, serums are lightweight skincare formulations designed to target a specific skin concern.

Because skincare serums are made to support a specific area of your skin health, you only need serums that align with your skin concerns.

For example, if you’re looking to hydrate a patch of dry skin, a niacinamide serum designed to slow oil production and minimize breakouts wouldn’t be very helpful. Instead, you’d want to opt for a glycolic acid or other AHA serum that supports water retention in the skin.

What Is a Vitamin C Serum?

Serums typically contain a high concentration of a specific active ingredient. In the case of vitamin C serums, that ingredient is (unsurprisingly) vitamin C.

Vitamin C (also known as L-ascorbic acid) is a water-soluble vitamin found in many fruits and vegetables — most notably citrus fruits like oranges. Your body uses vitamin C in a lot of different ways, from protecting against UV light damage in your eyes to helping your digestive system absorb iron. However, one of vitamin C’s most notable roles is in the skin.

This vitamin is a powerful antioxidant, which means it has the strength to support cells during exposure to damaging free radicals.

Free radicals are a type of unstable atom that build up in your body. If left unchecked, they can cause a lot of damage to your skin cells, like an uneven skin tone, a dry skin texture, and signs of aging like fine lines are all side effects of free radicals. This is why it’s so important to keep these atoms in check — and why antioxidant skincare ingredients like vitamin C are essential for your skin.

3 Benefits of Vitamin C Serums

The free radical-fighting power of vitamin C leads to a lot of key benefits that come from using vitamin C serums. Some of the best effects of vitamin C for your skin include:

1. Brightening Your Skin

The first way vitamin C works to support your skin health is by brightening your skin.

You might have noticed that your skin looks dull at the end of the day but immediately appears vibrant again after you wash your face. This is because your face wash removes the thin layer of dirt, oil, and dead skin cells that build up on your skin throughout the day.

A certain amount of this buildup is normal, and your regular skincare routine should take care of it. But sometimes, your exfoliating cleanser isn’t strong enough to remove those dulling impurities on its own.

This is where vitamin C comes in. In order for your skin to shed these dead skin cells, it needs to have a new layer of healthy ones ready to take their place. This process is called cell turnover. Vitamin C ensures these healthy skin cells are ready to go by supporting collagen production, a structural protein in the skin that helps new cells grow.

By supporting cell turnover in the skin, vitamin C helps shed this dulling layer of dead skin cells, leaving you with brighter, healthier skin.

2. Hydrating Your Skin

Vitamin C also works to support your skin health by hydrating your skin.

Your skin’s hydration often comes down to one thing: the strength of your skin barrier. The outer layer of your skin is made up of a collection of oils and fats called lipids that form a protective shield on your skin. This barrier knows how to let in the good and keep out the bad. However, it also allows some nutrients to leave your skin, including water.

This process is called transepidermal water loss, and it’s a natural part of your skin’s function. However, if your skin barrier malfunctions or grows weak, it can accidentally let out too much water, drying out your skin.

Vitamin C prevents this extra water loss by keeping your skin barrier strong. The vitamin works closely with skin cells responsible for producing lipids and ensures they’re making enough of these fats to protect your skin and keep it hydrated.

3. Evening Out Your Complexion

The color of your skin is determined by the amount of pigment in your cells. This pigment is called melanin, and it’s produced by melanocytes. Typically, your skin has a consistent amount of melanin everywhere, which explains why it’s all the same color. However, if certain melanocytes start producing more pigment than normal, you can develop dark spots on sections of your skin.

This discoloration affects light and dark skin tones alike. For both skin tones, vitamin C can help even out your complexion by interacting with the enzyme melanocytes need to function.

How To Add Vitamin C To Your Skincare Routine

If you struggle with dull, dry, or discolored skin, then vitamin C might be just the skincare ingredient you need to swap your tired skin for a brighter skin tone. And we have just the serum to do it.

Our Stem Cellular Anti-Wrinkle Booster Serum features vitamin C alongside vitamin B5, fruit stem cells, jojoba seed oil, and vitamin C to boost and enhance skin tone and texture. After four weeks of clinical trials, 95% of participants reported that their skin appeared younger and smoother-looking and 95% reported that their skin tone and texture improved.

Our Green Apple Age Defy Serum also includes vitamin C paired with aloe leaf juice, lemon juice, hyaluronic acid, and green tea leaf extract to help create a brighter-looking complexion and reduce the look of discoloration. In laboratory testing, our Age Defy Serum performed on average 2.7 times (168%) better at providing antioxidant protection than a leading conventional serum — and a top natural serum.

When To Use Vitamin C Serums

Remember that you should only be using skincare serums that directly support one of your skin goals. That means you should only use vitamin C serums if your skin would benefit from this skincare ingredient.

Make the Right Choice for Your Skin

The benefits of vitamin C serums are undeniable, but that doesn’t mean you have to use the skincare product every day, or even at all. Some skin doesn’t need it.

If you don’t struggle with dull, dry, or discolored skin, then vitamin C might not belong in your skincare routine. You get to tailor your regimen to your own skin concerns and goals, which means only using products that support that.

For many, vitamin C serums are an essential part of a good skincare regimen — but that might not be you, and that’s okay. At the end of the day, you want to feed your skin exactly what it needs, no junk included.

Sources:

Skin serum: What it can and can’t do | Harvard Health

Effects of ascorbic acid on UV light-mediated photoreceptor damage in isolated rat retina | National Library of Medicine

Interaction of vitamin C and iron | National Library of Medicine

Topical Vitamin C and the Skin: Mechanisms of Action and Clinical Applications | National Library of Medicine

Collagen: What It Is, Types, Function & Benefits | Cleveland Clinic

Skin barrier function | National Library of Medicine

Transepidermal Water Loss – an overview | ScienceDirect

Vitamin C Stimulates Epidermal Ceramide Production by Regulating Its Metabolic Enzymes | National Library of Medicine

Skin melanocytes: biology and development | National Library of Medicine

How to fade dark spots in darker skin tones | American Academy of Dermatology

The Roles of Vitamin C in Skin Health | National Library of Medicine