Cora's Cottage

This is not medical advice. It is simply meant to be informational. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care professional with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment before beginning a new regimen.

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We often hear about all the ingredients, substances, and chemicals out there that are bad for our health, but how often do we hear about good ingredients we should want in our products?

With all the negative news we hear about different ingredients or products, it can be hard to know which options are better, or know where to start when finding better options.

When it comes to food it can be made simpler by choosing to cook from scratch with ingredients that are whole foods.  (Think fruits, vegetables, and meat. Foods that you can recognize as foods.)

But when it comes to other things like our personal care products, it can be daunting trying to sort through an ingredient label and know which ingredients are good and which ingredients are bad. 

If you missed last weeks blog post, I go through some of the ingredients to watch out for, not just in personal care products, but in other items we use daily.

This week I will be going through 3 powerhouse ingredients that are not only not harmful to your health, they can help you achieve glowing, healthy skin.  I will also share some of my favorite low-tox swaps that contain these 3 powerhouse ingredients!

Topical Vitamin C

We’ve all heard that vitamin C is great for our overall health and can help to prevent cold and flu, but it can also be great for our skin! However, you don’t want just any type of topical vitamin C, you want to use stable vitamin C.

Topical vitamin C is important because simple vitamin C through the diet or supplementation does not guarantee that all layers of the skin will reap the benefits, but topical vitamin C can help to bridge the gap. But why is stable vitamin C so important??

• Effectiveness: Stable vitamin C is more effective at brightening the skin, reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and protecting against environmental damage better than unstable vitamin C because it does not degrade quickly causing it to lose its effectiveness.  This protection of potency allows stable vitamin C to continue delivering benefits to your skin for longer. (source) (source)
• Oxidation: When exposed to light, air, and/or heat unstable vitamin C oxidizes easily, making it less effective and even causing skin irritation. However, stable vitamin C does not oxidize as easily, allowing it to deliver results from the very first use to the very last.
• Shelf Life: As mentioned above, stable vitamin C has a longer shelf life meaning you can continue to use it for longer without having to worry about not getting the same results or about it going bad.
• Skin Compatibility: Unstable vitamin C can be harsh on the skin, especially sensitive skin, causing irritation like redness and dryness, but stable vitamin C products are usually formulated to be less irritating than their unstable counterparts.

• Consistency of Results: As mentioned in the previous benefits, stable vitamin C remains active and potent allowing it to continue to deliver results longer and more consistently.  Each application has the same collagen-boosting, skin brightening, antioxidant protection effects. (source)

When looking for a stable vitamin C there are two types to look for, Ascorbyl Glucoside and Tetrahexyldecyl. Ascorbyl Glucoside is converted to vitamin C when it is applied.  Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate penetrates deep into the skin and is oil-soluble.

The Ascorbyl Glucoside formulation is important to look for in vitamin C serum because:

1. Prolonged Effectiveness: Ascorbyl Glucoside has time release formulation, meaning that the skin is receiving the antioxidant properties and protection from environmental damage and free radicals over an extended period (all day or night).
2. Enhanced Absorption: Instead of a single, high-concentration dose that can be irritating to the skin, the skin can fully utilize the vitamin C when it is slowly and steadily released through the time release mechanism.
3. Reduced Irritation: When a high concentration of vitamin C is applied it can cause irritation, especially in those who have more sensitive skin. Ascorbyl Glucoside’s time release formulation allows for a more gentle and controlled delivery helping to reduce the likelihood of irritation, redness, and dryness. 
4. Improved Stability: The time release mechanism of Ascorbyl Glucoside increases its stability both on the shelf and on the skin which allows it to deliver consistent results through its maintained potency.
5. Continuous Benefits: Since there is a time release mechanism, the skin receives continuous antioxidant protection, boosted collagen production, reduced hyperpigmentation, and radiance.

The two biggest benefits to the time release mechanism of Ascorbyl Glucoside are that it provides steady and consistent dose that maximizes benefits while minimizing the side effects that can come with vitamin C.

My favorite skincare products that contain stable topical vitamin C include I AM Bright, Sunlight Tinted SPF, and Powerlight.

Bakuchiol

This ingredient is derived from the seeds of the Babchi plant, and acts very similarly to retinol but without the harmful side effects. (source)

Bakuchiol helps to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles; helps skin to feel firmer; evens the skin tone and texture; and makes the skin appear brighter, more glowing, radiant, and luminous. (source)

Structurally bakuchiol has no resemblance to retinoids, but performs similarly in studies as a rejuvenating agent. (source) However, bakuchiol does not cause the same dermal issues and does not have the same concerns with UV exposure and use during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

My favorite skincare products that contain bakuchiol are Daylight Advanced Facial Cream and Nightlight Advanced Facial Cream.

Peptides

Peptides have become a hot topic lately, especially in the health and wellness, clean, holistic, crunchy living communities. There is good reason too!

When it comes to cosmetic peptides there are 5 main categories:

1.) Carrier Peptides: These peptides help to delivery another ingredient to the cells in the skin.  Examples include copper peptides and manganese peptides.

2.) Neurotransmitter-Affecting Peptides: This type of peptide acts much like Botox by paralyzing the muscles.  More specifically, they block the release of a neurotransmitter that is related to muscle contractions and memory called acetylcholine. Because this type of peptide can act on a neurotransmitter related to memory this type may not be great in the long-term.  Examples of neurotransmitter-affecting peptides include acetyl hexapeptide=3, acetyl hexapeptide-8, acetyl hexapeptide-30. (source)

3.) Enzyme inhibitor Peptides: These peptides work by impeding enzymes that are involved in the breakdown of collagen as well as other skin proteins. This could reduce collagen loss.  Examples of these types of peptides include soybean peptides, silk fibroin peptides, and rice peptides.

4.) Signal Peptides: Signal peptides work by increasing collagen, elastin, proteoglycan, glycosaminoglycan, and fibronectin in the skin. Additionally, pigmentation of photo-damaged skin, fine lines, and wrinkles are lessened through a boost in skin cell regeneration.  There are several examples of signal peptides including Palmitoyl Tripeptide-38, Palmitoyl Tretrapeptide-7, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-5, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1, and Palmitoyl Tripeptide-38.

5.) Structural Peptides: These peptides are derived from the protein that gives our hair and nails their structure called keratin.  By improving the skin’s barrier function, these peptides reduce dehydration and dryness resulting in plumper looking skin. Examples of this type of peptide include keratin peptides and wool lipids. (source)

Signal peptides, a common peptide in cosmetics and skincare, help to minimize the appearance of crow’s feet as well as stabilize and restore the collagen and elastin network of the skin. (source) (source) This can result in a smoother and more youthful, radiant skin.

Some of my favorite peptide containing skincare products are Goldenlight Multi-Peptide Facial Serum and Powerlight Eye Cream.

These are just 3 of the positive ingredients to look for when swapping to cleaner, less toxic products, but there are many more! In fact, I ran out of room the share about all the ingredients I wanted to, so be sure to subscribe so that you get next week’s blog straight to your inbox with more ingredients to look for when reading ingredients labels.

If you want to get the skincare items I shared in this post, click here and get a preloaded cart with all of the items I shared plus a few of my other favorites.  If you don’t want the whole cart, just remove the items you don’t want. Use code “ADVOCATE10” to get a 10% discount off your first order of $50 or more.