THE ORDINARY 100% L ASCORBIC ACID – HOW TO USE PURE VITAMIN C
The ordinary is 100% l-ascorbic acid powder you may have heard of this inexpensive vitamin c product from the ordinary but do you know what l ascorbic acid actually is and do you know what to mix this powder with to get them maximum benefits for your skin today we’re gonna talk about the science the chemistry of ascorbic acid and why it’s actually different than
Vitamin c what you should know before putting it on your face and of course how to use this l ascorbic acid is often called the most potent form of vitamin c but ascorbic acid and vitamin c aren’t actually the same thing vitamin c is more of a complex whereas ascorbic acid is one piece there’s also two different types of ascorbic acid there’s l-ascorbic acid and
D ascorbic acid but l-ascorbic acid is the one we care about most for our skincare and for our bodies you probably know that vitamin c is important it’s found in oranges lemons other citrus fruits and different vegetables it’s very important for us to consume because it’s used in so many processes in our bodies and a lack of it actually causes the disease called
Scurvy but outside of consuming it in our diet using vitamin c on our skin has some amazing benefits here’s the thing there are a lot of products out there that will sell you their expensive vitamin c but because it’s such a finicky guy it degrades pretty quickly so sometimes you’re paying a lot of money for a product that isn’t giving you the full potency what’s
Great about this product is that it is 100% pure l-ascorbic acid so you’re in control but that also means that you’re responsible and unfortunately because this is so powerful some people have had negative reactions which is why you need to know the science behind how it works how you can use it and what to do if things do go wrong the main benefits here come from
The antioxidant properties vitamin c is often sold as something that will brighten or glow up the skin and it’s very true it’s great brightening the skin and working against dark spots specifically those caused by sun exposure uv exposure and reactive oxygen species the reason that sun exposure can be damaging to skin is because of those reactive oxygen species and
L-ascorbic acid or vitamin c actually protects the skin by neutralizing those reactive oxygen species those nasty little guys that want to destroy your skin not only is it great for working on some of that sun damage and those dark spots but it’s also great if you want to boost up collagen you see in the body vitamin c is needed to produce color but does it work
The same on the outside of the skin that’s not totally definitive but there are some studies showing that vitamin c when applied topically can boost up collagen synthesis meaning keeping the integrity of your skin stronger and hopefully protecting or promoting it to create more of these strong stretchy stuff here’s the biggest problem with vitamin c it oxidizes
Meaning if it comes into contact with sunlight it can start to degrade meaning if it touches air it’s going to be less effective for your skin even in some water based formulas which it is soluble in it starts to break down and that’s why if you buy a really expensive vitamin c product from the store and let it sit in your warm moist bathroom or on the shelf in the
Sun for six months the vitamin c in there may have completely degraded and you’re getting no benefit to your skin this is fantastic because this l-ascorbic acid is a fresh powerful dose you mix it right in your hand at the time you’re ready to use it so it is the most potent however often with potency comes pain specifically talking about sensitivity to the skin
Or a negative reaction if this is used improperly the other thing is that vitamin c generally is safe to use during the daytime there are studies that show that if you use it in combination with sunscreen it can actually protect your skin just the slightest bit more however because this is 100% and it can cause a little bit of irritation to the skin i personally
Recommend using this only at night now what should you be mixing this with remember that ascorbic acid is a fractionated crystalline isolate of vitamin c essentially it’s soluble in water but unfortunately leaving it in water too long can cause it to degrade because you’re mixing it right here right now you can use it with water-based products the ordinary has also
Put out statements directly recommending that you mix it with water based solutions but there are a couple oils that you can get away with and a couple of anna hydrous or not water solutions that you can also mix this in with the ordinary provides this little measuring scoop that you use to go in and take out the right amount of vitamin c i personally recommend only
Using about half because again this stuff is really potent as a general rule of thumb mixing this powder in with oils is going to be a little bit more gentle on the skin and mixing it with water is going to make it a little bit more sting e but keep in mind that l-ascorbic acid is water soluble so just the way sugar dissolves in water this is going to dissolve in
It if you mix this in with oil it might stay a little bit chunky or a little bit gritty if you’re going to use oils i would recommend something like vitamin e vitamin e has been shown to stabilize vitamin c and it’s also very beneficial for the skin in our bodies vitamin c and vitamin e reacts to actually rejuvenate each other in different biological processes
And on the skin it can also provide a benefit one of my favorite oils to use that it’s from the ordinary is something like the b5 b5 is also a water-soluble vitamin that is very beneficial to the skin especially when it comes to soothing and a little bit of anti-inflammation b5 is also really good for acne prone skin the marine hyaluronic siz another one that i
Really like to mix this in with but one of my favorites is the resveratrol and furu liqu acid you may have heard of vitamin c and freulich acid in a lot of other products such as ones from drunk elephant or from skinceuticals and that’s because for rule ik acid and vitamin e can directly benefit this vitamin c or l-ascorbic acid this resveratrol for liqu acid
Blend also gives some of those benefits but it also has resveratrol which you may know from grapes or from wine this is an amazing antioxidant and these formulas actually work really well together they blend in really nice they really treat my skin kindly and the ordinary has directly recommended using these two together there are some moisturizers that are not
From the ordinary that are water-based that i really like mixing these in with they go onto the skin nicely but remember even though vitamin c is soluble in water or water-based products it can sting a lot more and because water degrades vitamin c or l-ascorbic acid over time you shouldn’t be saving this formula mix just what you need put it on your skin and use
It you see vitamin c or l-ascorbic acid works best at a low ph if we go back to that ph scale it stands for potential hydrogen it shows us how well it’s going to get into the skin you see our skin is built to protect us this outer layer at the very top is made to keep things out and keep us in our skin helps our body regulate temperature it carries the nerve so
That we can touch and feel and it’s our body’s largest organ mainly used for protection and waterproofing us so that we don’t fall apart in the shower you see the stratum corneum is this very top layer of skin that connects us to the outer world and it’s a very fatty layer which means it’s hard for products to get inside of it in order to get a product through the
Skin it’s actually quite difficult we want our products to go through the epidermis or maybe even into the dermis down here where it can do work but naturally our skin trying to protect us wants to keep those things out because it doesn’t know that we’re giving it something beneficial because the skin has oil in it and because most vitamin c is water-soluble and
Again a charged particle it’s going to have a really hard time getting in there but again that’s why lowering the ph that potential hydrogen helps this get in deeper you can kind of think of a lower ph as having a pathway for the vitamin c and this product to get where it needs to go a ph below 3.5 is generally best but remember that’s also very acidic so it can
Sting or it can be irritating especially if you have sensitive skin so low ph products are fantastic to get this product deep in there which is why mixing this with something water-soluble is a very potent idea but please keep in mind that you should always patch test this first just to make sure that you don’t have a negative reaction patch testing should always
Be done as a safety precaution at least 24 to 48 hours before and if you want to know how to patch test and wear you should do it because you shouldn’t patch test directly on your face you can watch a video that we’ve done on that right here now there are a few products that you should not mix with else korvac acid or vitamin c one in particular that the ordinary
Says as a contradiction is the eu k 134 there’s also niacin amide not most of your vitamin c products that you find at the store aren’t going to have negative reactions to b vitamins or to niacin amide however this is 100% l-ascorbic acid this is really really potent and the ordinaries niacin amide and zinc is also very potent so these should not be mixed together
The ordinary says this directly but i would even go as far as to say don’t mix this with any niacin amide based product just to keep yourself safe you also shouldn’t mix this with benzoyl peroxide if you’re struggling with acne then you know what that is we’ve done a full video on how benzoyl peroxide actually works how a bond inside of it breaks in order to kill
Bacteria and kill acne but because of the way that benzoyl peroxide works vitamin c doesn’t get along well with it so this is something that you shouldn’t use or mix any product that has benzoyl peroxide in it just use them at different times a day do you remember to use this on unbroken skin even though vitamin c is used in wound healing the ordinary states that
This should not be used on broken skin and you don’t want to cause granulomas in the skin i’ve seen some horrible videos online of people micro-needling their face and then putting vitamin c on it don’t do that it can cause irritation to the skin it can cause these little granulomas these little bumps underneath the skin to form and they can be even harder to get
Out so don’t use vitamin c after any micro needling procedures or chemical peels if you do put this on the skin and it starts to sting or burn you can always use an acid neutralizer or something like a baking soda paste in order to counteract this remember it’s that low ph that is causing it to both penetrate into the skin and to sting a little bit so if you bring the
Ph up higher either to a neutral or an alkaline position it can kind of reverse that stinging from happening because remember back from chemistry acids and bases cancel each other out the positives and benefits are numerous from the fact that this is an expensive the fact that you actually get a lot of this this is a ton of vitamin c and i don’t think anyone would
Actually use this completely before it goes bad the ordinary says that it’s good for around six months after you open it and it is in this light sealed container and again it is so potent you can mix it in with so many different things it does allow you to experiment like a skincare scientist in your bathroom but again with that opportunity comes great responsibility
And some of the cons are the fact that it can burn the skin that if you use it improperly or irresponsibly that it can cause issues such as micro-needling plus this could equal granulomas the other con that i have with this is that it is not quick and it is a mess because it’s a powder it can literally puff up into the air or it can be hard to mix in your hand and
Again it’s a time consuming process it’s not just squeezing something out of a bottle and putting it on your skin it’s actually taking this out putting it in your hand mixing it with another ingredient making sure that it’s evenly dispersed or dissolved and then applying it to your skin and being careful about what other products you’re using before and after it
Overall it is something that i highly recommend but i hope that you always do your homework with if you learned a little something from this video make sure that you that like button and that subscribe button if you haven’t already more videos on the ordinary and skin science can be found right here and i can’t wait to see you and your beautiful skin in the next video love you guys bye
Transcribed from video
THE ORDINARY 100% L ASCORBIC ACID – HOW TO USE PURE VITAMIN C By Cassandra Bankson