Free radical scavengers, wrinkle fillers, stain removers: anti-oxidant treatments are the new essential care products of our beauty routine . Explanation and advice with Fanette Campas, Head of SkinCeuticals training.
What is oxidation of the skin?
Take an apple, cut it and leave it in the open air ... after a few hours, its flesh browns and dries. It has become oxidized.
Well unlike the apple, our skin naturally produces antioxidants to protect themselves. But these molecules lose in "performance" when the body is exposed daily to oxidizing factors like stress, fatigue, pollution, cigarette and of course the sun. Then to defend itself, the skin emits free radicals , in surplus. They are the ones that, in the long term, nibble the cells of the epidermis and cause spots, wrinkles and wrinkles.
Why use antioxidant care?
To combat this phenomenon of skin oxidation in a targeted way. Moreover, the Americans speak of "beauty maintenance" by evoking antioxidant care.
What about antioxidant food supplements?
If they protect the organism from oxidation , they have no proven action on the epidermis.
What about antioxidant foods?
They are also effective in protecting our body, but to see convincing effects on our skin, we would have to eat them in very large quantities.
What are the effects of antioxidant creams on the skin?
From the first week, the skin is brighter and smoother . At the end of a month, the tasks and wrinkles begin to fade and the skin is more homogeneous.
The best antioxidants of the moment for the epidermis: resveratrol, pure vitamin C, pure vitamin E and ferulic acid.
When to start using antioxidant care?
Ideally from the age of 20 , when the skin has not been too much stressed, too short nights, pollution and UV. Prevention is better than cure !
In the morning an antioxidant cream will protect the skin throughout the day from various environmental factors (pollution, stress, UV ...).
In the evening , an antioxidant cream repairs and prepares the skin the next day. For it is at night, during our sleep, that the cellular renewal is the most intense.
Note: the dermatos recommend the use of an antioxidant cream or serum on return from holidays , in cure, to repair the damage of the UV. They serve as a shield to our skin when we multiply the lunches on the terrace and extend the tan.
Do anti-oxidant treatments replace sunscreen?
No, they complete it. If sunscreen protects the skin from UVA and UVB, it does not block the free radicals generated by stress, pollution, junk food ... Summer, at the beach, the ideal is to use a sunscreen in addition antioxidant care.
