You know your skin needs vitamins to look, feel, and perform at its best.
And you know vitamin deficiencies can lead to skin ailments from acne to rashes to wrinkles.
But what vitamins does your skin need? And is better to get your skincare nutrients in pill form or to apply them topically?
Take some tips from Bellagena’s expert Bradenton aestheticians on how best to nourish your skin from the outside and the inside.
What Vitamins Does Your Skin Need?
Your skin is a big, complicated organ. It has a lot of responsibilities, and it needs a lot of different vitamins and nutrients to do all of those responsibilities well. And beautifully!
Your skin needs to stretch and to keep its shape; to be supple but not swollen; to be waterproof but also moisturized; and to support and protect the rest of your body—hopefully without showing all the damage it withstands every single day.
So here’s a quick rundown of the most important vitamins your skin needs to do all these jobs, and to look good doing them.
- Vitamin A: Healing, sun protection, collagen preservation.
- Vitamin B: Maintenance, balance, even skin tone.
- Vitamin C: Collagen production.
- Vitamin D: Anti-inflammatory, sun protection.
- Vitamin E: Anti-inflammatory, sun protection.
- Vitamin K: Collagen preservation and repair.
- Protein: The building blocks for collagen and keratin.
- Omegas (healthy fats): Needed for strong, healthy cell walls.
- Magnesium: Sun protection, cellular balance and regulation.
- Zinc: Healing, sun protection, cell diversity.
How Do I Give My Skin the Vitamins It Needs?
Well, there are two primary ways we can get nutrients to our skin. One is by applying them topically (directly to the surface of the skin) in the form of serums (and lotions, oils, etc.). The other method is by ingesting supplements orally and delivering those vitamins to the skin from the inside, through the bloodstream.
The effectiveness of these two methods depends on how our skin and digestive system absorb and process various types of substances.
Why Do Certain Skincare Vitamins Work Best Topically?
Topical skincare treatments work best for ailments affecting your skin’s outermost layers. Topical treatments are also most effective when their active ingredients can be absorbed in effective quantities by the skin, rather than simply drying out or washing away.
It’s also important that topical treatments be very low risk for skin irritation. You don’t want your “treatment” to cause more problems than it treats.
Also, topical treatments can be ideal for sun protection. Because sun damage happens to the outermost layers of the skin first, it’s great to give those outermost layers what they need directly.
What Skincare Vitamins Work Well Topically?
Vitamins A, certain Vitamin Bs, and Vitamins C, D, and K all provide great benefits in topical skincare serums and creams.
Topical treatments can provide instant or fast-acting relief. These quick results are especially evident for certain skin irritations. For instance, a Vitamin D cream or serum can moisturize and sooth psoriasis on contact and even provide anti-inflammatory relief quickly.
Other conditions like acne can be treated in a matter of days and weeks with regular topical applications involving, for instance, Vitamin A.
Topical vitamins can also create long-term effects for certain conditions, but you’ll probably need to use them on a regular basis to see significant changes. Scarring and wrinkles can be mitigated over time with regular topical treatments like Vitamin C.
Why Do Certain Skincare Vitamins Work Best Orally?
On the other hand, sometimes skin ailments come from overall vitamin deficiencies. In these cases, it’s good to give the body everything it needs to make stronger, healthier skin starting at the most basic cellular level. And that means giving your body vitamins and nutrients through the digestive system, which is ideally equipped to absorb and process these building blocks.
Additionally, certain combinations of vitamins and nutrients can cause skin irritation when used together topically. But in supplements they get along just fine.
Which Skincare Vitamins Work Best Through Oral Supplements?
Proteins and healthy fats are the building blocks of healthy skin cells. They form amino acids and cell walls to account for strong, supple, resilient skin. They are structural rather than superficial.
But when applied topically, these nutrients won’t reach enough of your skin’s layers to make a difference in your skin’s structure. That’s why it’s important to account for these vitamins in your diet and supplements, so that your body has what it needs for healthy skin through all its layers.
Other vitamins influence hormones and behavior that can indirectly affect skin ailments. Vitamin B complex supplements, for example, can lower stress and cortisol levels, thereby lessening stress-induced acne and irritation.
Overall, your skin is one part of a complicated system in your body. If your body is out of balance, then your skin will show some symptoms of that imbalance. Vitamin supplements, as well as probiotics, can help your body re-regulate itself, thereby returning your skin to its healthy, balanced state.
Questions? Ask Your Certified Aestheticians at Bellagena.
