You might be unaware, but your skin is putting up with a fair amount of abuse! Stressors like intense UV exposure, harsh cleansers, chemical sunscreens and even exposure to environmental pollution.

That’s where applying antioxidants topically to your skin come into play. Antioxidants have the ability to keep your skin healthy by protecting your skin cells and preventing further damage down the road.

But first…What exactly is an antioxidant?

“Antioxidant” is one of those health buzzwords that gets thrown around a lot. To understand antioxidants, you first need to understand free radicals and oxidation.

Oxidation or oxidative stress is a big deal. It is thought to be a leading cause of deterioration and disease, including memory loss, the breakdown of organs, autoimmune disorders, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and even...yes, it’s true...wrinkles.

Brown spots on aging hands, for example, are due to oxidized fat underneath the skin.

Oxidative stress happens when free radicals and antioxidants are imbalanced, which can lead to cell and tissue damage. Your body’s normal metabolic process is consistently trying to maintain this balance.

There are many factors in your life that contribute to oxidative stress including the sun’s UV rays, irritation or inflammation, psychological stress, smoking, or even lack of sleep.

All of this oxidation then results in free radicals. What is a free radical? Technically speaking, free radicals are oxygen molecules that have split into single atoms with unpaired electrons. As they seek out other electrons, they damage cells and DNA (resulting in wrinkles, skin cancers and sagging skin). Free radicals are created by oxidation.

And now, here’s where antioxidants come into play. They are the good guys in the fight against free radicals. They neutralize them by giving them the electrons they need. This means that the antioxidants are repairing damage from the free radicals and neutralizing the bad guys before they can create further damage.

The solution to aging (and damaged) skin seems simple enough: We need to consume and apply more antioxidants!

5 Main Benefits of Antioxidants for Your Skin:

Help to correct signs of age, reduce wrinkles and create skin with a youthful glow.
Preventing sunburn and sun damage by neutralizing free radicals created from harmful UV rays.
Antioxidants help skin repair itself with their anti-inflammatory properties.
They help brighten and correct uneven skin tone.
Antioxidants may help prevent skin cancer by repairing damaged DNA and skin cells. Specific antioxidants, such as vitamins A, C and E, have anti-carcinogenic properties.

Which Skin care Product with Antioxidants Should You Choose?

A lot of products boast about having antioxidant power, but not all are created equal. Formulating a product that has antioxidants is more of a challenge than you would think. The antioxidant ingredients have to be potent, stable enough not to degrade, and biologically active on your skin. I have done extensive investigating and research into product lines, formulations and specific ingredients to determine the best products.

Here are some of my favorites:

Neolife Nutriance Organic

This impressive line of organic skincare packs several types of antioxidants (like polyphenols and flavonoids), but it’s main heavy-hitter is the antioxidant powers of marine botanicals. Marine botanicals include seaweed, specific types of sea algae and even mineral rich sea water.

These marine-derived ingredients are some of the most nutrient-rich ingredients on the planet and have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, moisturizing, and antibiotic properties...naturally! And this product line is clean, organic and paraben free.

SkinCeuticals CE Ferulic

This serum contains 3 antioxidants, vitamins C and E and ferulic acid. Vitamin C is a strong antioxidant that binds and removes harmful free radicals from your skin, like those produced from exposure to ultraviolet radiation and environmental pollutants. It can help prevent aging skin, including lightening brown spots, stimulating collagen, and protecting against UV damage.

Prescription Tretinoin (Retin-A) and Over-The Counter Retinoids

These are all topical derivatives of vitamin A that have multiple functions, such as increasing healthy cellular turnover (thus exfoliating the skin and improving age spots), repairing cellular structure of the skin, decreasing sebum production, and stimulating the formation of collagen.

Why Are Antioxidants Important in Your Skincare Products?