Benefits of Antioxidants for Skin

When skin care is spoken of, it’s likely that you will hear the words antioxidants and free radicals over and over again. You will hear that antioxidants are good and that free radicals are bad, simply put. While this may be true, several questions might pop into your mind, such as: what are antioxidants and free radicals and what do they do? Why are they important? What do I have to do to get more antioxidants and less free radicals? Will they really help to make my skin look younger and healthier? This article will try to answer some of these important questions.

Antioxidants are chemicals produced naturally that work to protect the skin from the elements. There are many factors that can affect your skin in harmful ways. Elements such as air pollution, cigarette smoke and sunshine are culprits that act against the skin by damaging it. Antioxidants help to repair the skin from these and many other irritating agents.

Free radicals result from the damaging effects of these environmental factors. Emotional distress is one of the biggest contributors to the formation of free radicals. Metabolism also has a lot to do with the formation of these free radicals. It seems like common sense that these things are not good for you. It has only been within the past few decades, however, that we are learning why and how antioxidants and free radicals operate together to damage and also actually heal your skin.

There are many ways to use antioxidants in your daily skin care routine. There are literally thousands of products on the market that contain antioxidants. One of which could be an antioxidant skin cream. Antioxidants are in everything from moisturizers and cleansers to anti-wrinkle and anti-aging creams. As in most cases, the beauty industry has taken various scientific discoveries and studies and turned them to their advantage. This is one of the great things about a free market economic system. One of the disadvantages of our system is that anyone can make any claim they want to try and make money. Most of these companies are reputable and want to give you a good product at a good price. Some, however, just want your money. Telling the difference between the two is the hard part.

There are many sources of antioxidants. They are found in abundance in healthy foods like fruits and vegetables. Blueberries, for example, are packed with antioxidants. You can also get antioxidants from vitamin supplements. There are hundreds of different supplements that market their products with the promise of antioxidants. Antioxidants are very important when it comes to skin care products. It is difficult to find any product meant for skin care that doesn’t contain antioxidants.

Products that contain antioxidants for skin care sell well because there is truth and research that prove their claims. The big question is whether you can get these same antioxidants through a healthy diet. Most credible scientists will say that with a good diet you don’t need any supplemental antioxidants. However, in the case of skin care, the immediate effects of using antioxidant skin products could lead to faster and more impactful results.