What could be a problem with ascorbic acid for skin care?Updated a year ago
When it comes to results, ascorbic acid is one of our favorite skincare ingredients. It offers a ton of benefits, and there’s a lot of research showing that it’s truly effective.
You’ve probably run across altered forms of ascorbic acid in skincare, like magnesium ascorbyl phosphate or tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate. Unlike ascorbic acid, though, these derivative molecules haven’t actually shown us the same effects. Topical applications don’t raise the levels of vitamin C in the skin the way ascorbic acid can, and the limited studies on their benefits are almost exclusively run by the companies that produce them.
It’s easy for brands to slap “Vitamin C Serum” on the label and have customers assume that they’ll see all of the benefits of using a real vitamin C serum with ascorbic acid.
Which begs the question - why isn’t everyone using ascorbic acid in their serums?
The reason is that, unfortunately, ascorbic acid is very hard to formulate. It’s extremely unstable, so any exposure to air causes ascorbic acid serums to degrade and lose their potency. It’s a bit of an open secret in the skincare world that many brands are effectively selling “spoiled” vitamin C serums that no longer contain vitamin C by the time they reach consumers.
Plus, for it to actually be as effective as possible, it needs to be at a very specific (and fairly low) pH, and ideally in a water-based formulation. We detail this in our guide to choosing a vitamin C serum that works.