What Is an Antioxidant Serum & How Does It Help Your Skin?

When it comes to maximizing your skin health, few compounds do as good a job as antioxidants. Antioxidants are important compounds that play a key role in the health of skin cells, other bodily tissues, and even your immune system.

When applied topically in the form of a healthy, organic serum, antioxidants can provide even more potent benefits and lead to long-term health for your skin cells. Today, let’s break down antioxidant serums, how they work, and how they can help your skin when applied correctly.

Antioxidants Explained

Antioxidants are unique compounds that have the ability to reduce the influence of free radicals. Free radicals are unstable molecules that usually have or don’t have an electron, causing them to steal electrons from other compounds and, in turn, cause destabilization wherever they go.

On a physical level, this destabilization can manifest as skin irritation. Free radicals are thought to be behind many common skin ailments or issues, such as rashes or general sensitivity. They also contribute to the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, dark spots, and other signs of aging regardless of skin type.

Antioxidants neutralize free radicals by either donating or taking an electron, thus stabilizing the free radical molecules and preventing them from causing as much chaos.

Some of the most common antioxidants include:

• Vitamin A, including vitamin A derivatives like retinol — a common anti-aging compound
• Vitamin C, a known hydrating compound and core component of popular Vitamin C serums
• Vitamin E
• Alpha-lipoic acids
• Coenzyme Q10
• Niacinamide
• Lycopene
• Ferulic acid
• Certain peptides
• L-ascorbic acid
• Vitamin B3

Generally, you can get plenty of antioxidants from your diet. They are commonly found in fruits and vegetables, and some can even be found in certain types of protein. According to dermatologists, green tea is a particularly good place to find potent antioxidants, like the kinds mentioned above.

However, you can also get antioxidants in popular skincare products and supplements. These are found in immune system boosting supplements, wellness tablets, and even facial serums.

What Are the Skin Benefits of Antioxidants?

Antioxidants can provide a number of key benefits to your skin. For example, they can neutralize free radicals that may cause your skin to be more irritated over the course of the day. They may also prevent your skin from feeling as sensitive or reacting so strongly to new compounds, like brand-new skincare products you want to try.

However, topical antioxidants have ancillary benefits for your skin, including but not limited to:

• Protection from skin damage from UV radiation. When used in a high SPF sunscreen, powerful antioxidants may reduce damage from UV rays
• Brighter and younger-looking skin. The brightening effect is often seen when antioxidants are included in face serums.
• Minimized appearance of redness and discoloration or hyperpigmentation
• Promotes skin repair and regeneration due to support for collagen generation

Given all these benefits, it’s no wonder that antioxidants are some of the most important compounds in popular skincare products, ranging from cleansers to toners and more. However, you can also commonly find antioxidants in serums.

What’s in Antioxidant Serums?

Facial serums are special products designed to give your skin cells extra vitamins and nutrients. In doing this, your skin will theoretically look, feel, and be better than before. Skin serums are meant to be used after thoroughly cleansing and exfoliating your skin so that those vitamins can reach the deepest layers.

Antioxidant serums, of course, are chock-full of popular antioxidants like the compounds mentioned earlier. While they may have additional supplementary ingredients, such as glycerin or hyaluronic acid, they’re primarily packed with antioxidants to provide some of the benefits described above.

Due to their popularity, you can find antioxidant serums at most skincare vendors or retailers. They’re meant to be used like any other type of serum but are especially good for people with overly sensitive skin or skin that is more likely to turn red and irritated when other serums are applied.

How Do Antioxidant Serums Help Skin?

Like many other serums, antioxidant serums primarily help your skin by giving it extra vitamins and minerals that it might not otherwise have access to. Antioxidant serums help your skin by:

• Providing antioxidant ingredients, like vitamin C and vitamin A
• Providing moisturization, especially when applied properly
• Supporting cell turnover
• Soothing irritation
• Reducing the appearance of acne outbreaks

This isn’t to say that antioxidant serums can completely solve all of your skincare issues. But when leveraged properly, antioxidant serums may be one of the best parts of your holistic skincare routine. They can provide lots of benefits, help your skin look and feel younger, and maximize your routine’s effects.

How Should I Use Antioxidant Serums?

That said, you do need to use antioxidant serums properly if you want to see all of these benefits and more. To use antioxidant serums correctly:

• Always begin by washing your face with lukewarm water and without soap. Soap can irritate your skin and cause any effects from free radicals to be magnified
• Next, use a cleanser to clean out your pores and open them for the ingredients in your antioxidant serum
• If you’re using a new antioxidant serum, use the dab test. The dab test just has you put a little bit of the serum on your finger and dab it on your cheek to see if there is any negative reaction
• If all looks good, apply the antioxidant serum by rubbing it into your skin’s pores with small, concentric circles
• Be sure to give the antioxidant face cream a few minutes to sink into your pores
• Round everything out with moisturizer. Moisturizers help protect your skin even further and seal in the helpful ingredients from antioxidant serums, preventing them from evaporating or otherwise being removed

Of course, you should also target antioxidant serums that are made with organic, healthy ingredients. The best antioxidant serums won’t have any side effects, and your skin will not feel irritated.

Summary

All in all, antioxidants are important compounds in serums, supplements, and more. Certain supplements, such as Hope Health’s Melatonin Supplement, are specifically formulated with vital ingredients like botanicals and antioxidants to ensure you see tangible wellness results.

You can try this supplement, or any of our other quality wellness solutions, by visiting our online store today.

Sources:

Free radicals, antioxidants and functional foods: Impact on human health - PMC | NCBI

Free Radicals and Extrinsic Skin Aging - PMC | NCBI

Antioxidants in dermatology - PMC | NCBI