Vitamin E or tocopherol is an essential, fat-soluble vitamin naturally found in the skin. However, vitamin E reserves are depleted when skin is exposed to environmental stressors such as UV radiation. One of the main roles of this vitamin is that it acts as an anti-oxidant. This simple ingredient very effectively inhibits cellular damage which occurs due to the action of free radicals or unpaired oxygen molecules. We can say that vitamin E breaks the chain reaction of the negative effects oxidative stress would leave on the skin due to exposure to harmful environmental factors such as smog, cigarette smoke, traces of heavy metals and UV radiation.
Applied topically to the skin, vitamin E efficiently helps reduce redness, repair burns and all other types of invisible-to-the-eye photo damage to the skin but it does not possess a UV protection factor on its own. Paired with vitamin C it is especially effective in a photoprotective role, especially when applied regularly underneath products that have an adequately high UV protection factor. Further, vitamin E protects fibroblasts, cells that produce collagen and glycosaminoglycans as well as glycoproteins for the skin’s extracellular matrix. As such, vitamin E is very effective in all forms of anti-age skincare.
In addition, vitamin E also contributes to maintaining a healthy level of moisture in the skin. However, it is not recommended to be used as a raw material directly on the skin because it may cause contact dermatitis. It is much safer and more effective integrated into a product as an ingredient (source: Kosari P., Alikhan A., Sockolov M., Feldman S.R. 2010 Vitamin E and allergic contact dermatitis Dermatitis, 3:148-53).
Along with ferulic acid and vitamin C in the form of sodium ascorbyl phosphate, vitamin E is the star of Skintegra’s Superba C serum.
