On the primary weekend of every month, this column turns into a spot for magnificence problem-solving. Readers e-mail me or get in contact through Instagram (@laura_m_kennedy) with their questions, and I discover the correct knowledgeable to clear up the confusion. This week, we’re taking a look at antioxidants. You’ll hear this buzzword in lingo-saturated magnificence “speak” from manufacturers, journalists, and influencers. But what are antioxidants, and why ought to we be placing them on our pores and skin?
To reply these questions I enlisted the assistance of skincare knowledgeable Jennifer Rock, founding father of The Skin Nerd and the superb Irish skincare manufacturers Skingredients and The Cleanse Off Mitt. Rock is a multi-award-winning dermal facialist and tutor, and she is aware of skincare inside and out. With her signature readability, she simplified antioxidants for these of us who are confused.
“Antioxidants are the underdog of the skincare world,” says Rock. “They are molecules which struggle free radicals in your physique. They exist naturally in fruit and greens, and we are able to apply them topically day by day (which I advocate) in serums and SPFs.” That’s all effectively and good, you may suppose, however what are free radicals? According to Rock, they are “molecules with an unpaired electron, which implies that they are unstable in our physique. Free radicals desperately go looking for one other electron to steal to stabilise themselves, and they go in like a bull in a china store, inflicting harm in their wake.
“Life itself is a free-radical publicity web site, and they attain us by way of air pollution, the meals we eat, what we drink and secondhand (and first-hand) smoking.” Free radicals are additionally “the pure results of particular chemical processes in our physique, so even should you hid in a bunker, you’d nonetheless be producing free radicals your self”.
Reducing harmThe good thing about antioxidants, Rock advises, is that they “present these free radicals with an electron to pair with, stabilising them and lowering the harm they trigger – the very harm that may trigger our pores and skin to age sooner”. Skincare can thus assist as “antioxidant serums, meals and dietary supplements work to guard your pores and skin from free-radical harm day by day. In this, they’re working to scale back the harm that may trigger deeper high-quality strains and wrinkles, pigmentation, lax pores and skin, crepey and dehydrated pores and skin.” Rock says that it’s straightforward to miss antioxidant skincare “as they’re extra of a preventative ingredient than a corrective”, so the outcomes play out over years slightly than exhibiting instantly.
More than simply giving errant electrons one thing productive to do, “antioxidants work to scale back irritation too, so except for the pro-ageing advantages, they are key for many who expertise any redness or soreness in their pores and skin, so these with rosacea, psoriasis and zits, for instance”. I ask Rock how you can determine antioxidants on an elements label. “Some of these thought-about most potent embrace vitamin A (retinol, retinyl palmitate, retinaldehyde, beta carotene and many others), vitamin E and precursors (tocopherol, pre-tocopheryl), inexperienced tea extract (camellia sinensis leaf extract), resveratrol (Japanese knotweed extract), liquorice root extract (glycyrrhiza glabra leaf extract) and many extra.”
Antioxidant merchandise to striveSkingredients Skin Protein (€42 at skingredients.com)
Ultraceuticals Ultra Protective Antioxidant Complex (€60 at ultraceuticals.com)
Image Vital C Hydrating Anti-Aging Serum 50ml (€76)
La Roche-Posay Anthelios Age Correct SPF50+ Cream (€29 at lookfantastic.com)
Product of the WeekKVD Vegan Beauty Good Apple Skin-Perfecting Foundation Balm (€36 at boots.ie from May)
