Article Image clean beauty, Vitamin C 

WHAT IS VITAMIN C SERUM?

Jan 09, 2022

Through Common Heir, we get the chance to pass on our favorite traditions and love of beauty, starting with our premiere product. We knew it had to be something we’d reach for every day and readily recommend to friends — enter, Vitamin C.

Bursting with benefits both preventative and restorative, Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant and an essential skincare supplement. Centered in your regular rituals, it can help you get to your best skin ever. That glow. That juicy plumpness. That beautiful feeling of “wow, my skin looks great today.” That’s Vitamin C. Here’s how we think about it in skincare and in our serum:

Vitamin C is an active. And actives are our favorite. In high-performance skincare, actives are the star ingredient that help the product deliver on its ultimate promise. Popular actives you know and love include: antioxidants, AHAs, BHAs, retinoids, peptides, ceramides. 

Vitamin C is an antioxidant. Just like you take Vitamin C to boost your immunity, you can apply it topically to boost your skin’s healthy, hydrated glow. Antioxidants like Vitamin C work to shield skin from destressing environmental factors that break down collagen and can help reverse damage by treating inflammation. 

After a Decade in Clean Beauty, Meet Our Favorite Form of Vitamin C

For any active skincare ingredient, the goal is to harness its power without irritating your skin, bringing out benefits, not harsh side effects. To achieve that with Vitamin C, pay attention to its form and concentration. And embrace derivatives.

The most common form of Vitamin C is its purest and most cost-effective in formulation: L-ascorbic acid. But having worked in clean beauty for years, it’s never been our favorite. It oxidizes quickly, losing efficacy over time, plus it’s most likely to cause irritation. That’s why we upgraded our Vitamin C serum with a 10% concentration of Tetrahexyldecyl (THD) Ascorbate. A more stable, non-irritating Vitamin C derivative, THD penetrates skin deeper and in smaller doses to deliver on all of Vitamin C’s brightest benefits without stinging.  

Vitamin C’s Preventative Powers

If you’ve ever researched anti-aging skincare, you’ve been recommended Vitamin C. We embrace each birthday and encourage the celebration of getting older, but it’s true that every year, your skin is exposed to more damage. Vitamin C can actually help protect from some of it, acting as your first defense against skin stressors in the world around you: free radicals, pollution, the sun. Follow your Vitamin C application with SPF for a superpowered recipe to help prevent spotting, discoloration, and hyperpigmentation along with fine lines and wrinkles.

How Vitamin C Restores Skin to Its Best

If you, like us, have memories of being outside with friends, passing around a bottle of Sun In or Hawaiian Tropics, we bet you weren’t always as loving to your skin or diligent about sunscreen as you may be now. Like a dream derm posted up on your beauty shelf, Vitamin C’s restorative benefits can help treat your now-all-grown-up skin angst. 

Just look to Vitamin C’s best-known benefit: its anti-inflammatory and brightening powers. Our Vitamin C Serum is supercharged to work with all different skin types and melanin levels. So no matter what volume your current glow starts at, Vitamin C turns up the luminosity from dull to “damn!” With regular use, our clinical trials (and our community!) report smoother, softer skin and an even and more toned texture.