vitamin e

Another very powerful antioxidant used in skincare is vitamin E. This oil soluble antioxidant is used widely in the skincare industry, both to prolong the shelf life of naturals oils used in the product as well as provide valuable antioxidant properties to the skin.

Vitamin E itself is not a preservative, but rather it is used in skincare products to prolong the shelf life of base oils preventing them from going rancid.

 

There are two different forms of Vitamin e used in Skincare:

  • Natural Vitamin E (d-alpha tocopherol)
  • Synthetic vitamin E (dl-alpha tocopherol)

 

The synthetic form is especially useful for preventing oils from going rancid without having much skin benefits while the natural form of vitamin E is more effective for healing the skin than preventing oils from going rancid. As both functions are equally important in making skin care products, it is usually better to incorporate both forms into the product to ensure that both our skin as well as the oils we are using in our products are protected.

 

Vitamin E is usually incorporated in skincare formulations between  1%-5%. I mostly use a combination of both forms in my skincare products at a level of 1% (0.5% synthetic and 0.5% natural forms of vitamin E)

 

Some skin benefits of vitamin E Include:

  • Improving skins moisture content so really good for mature skin types
  • Skin protection, smoothing and healing properties
  • Helps to reduce the effect of free radicals formed from sun damage.

 

Tomorrow, I will be looking at the antioxidant properties of Green Tea.

 

Please join me…..

 

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