We talk about vitamins a lot here at Skin Actives Scientific, and as a society we tend to as well. We know that we need vitamins, and that vitamins are good for us, but what are they, and why do we need them?

At their most basic level, vitamins are a type of nutrient that an organism needs to survive. What makes a vitamin different from any other life-sustaining chemical inside a body or a cell, is that vitamins are not natively synthesized. That means that vitamins must be found somewhere outside the body and then introduced into the body. This happens most commonly through the ingestion of food. But, there are benefits to topical application of some vitamins for the purpose of skin care.

Today we are talking about vitamin E!

Why Do You Need Vitamin E?

Vitamin E does a lot of things and we’ll sketch them out broadly here, in five points.

1: It provides oil-soluble antioxidant capacity - This is important because we know that not all vitamins are oil-soluble. If you are looking to get antioxidant action, but you also need to be applying oil, vitamin e is going to be able to be suspended in the formulation and get to work when it reaches your skin.

2: It protects your cell membranes - A lot of what we refer to as antioxidant activity takes place on the cellular level. This is important because vitamin E is going to protect the porous membranes that are vital to cell health.

3: It takes care of your lipids and lipoproteins - Your skin needs the oil that it creates to stay healthy. Sure there is such a thing as too much oil, but you don’t want too little oil either. Vitamin E helps to take care of your lipids, which is another way of saying oil. Also, as a bonus, it helps with lipoproteins the GOOD type of cholesterol.

4: It gives you some protection from the sun - Remember, nothing is better for avoiding the oxidative damage of the sun than limiting exposure to sunlight and wearing sunscreen. That said, vitamin E reduces oxidative damage and will therefore help repair the stress that has been caused to your skin over the course of a long weekend.

5: Defends you from ozone, a pollutant - We used to hear about the Ozone layer a lot in the 90s, but not so much anymore. We might be inclined to think, based on that context that ozone is only a good thing. The truth is more complicated, and ozone is a good thing when it is in the atmosphere protecting the plant but it’s a bad thing for your skin. We have a lot of products that focus on antioxidant support, but this is the one we point out for ozone!

The Types of Vitamin E For Your Skin

Vitamin E is not a unique substance; just like you can get vitamin C from more than just orange juice of green chili. That said, α-tocopherol is the preferred form of Vitamin E for absorption and accumulation in humans.

Tocopherol (alpha-D) is the natural form of vitamin E, a vital lipidic antioxidant. Vitamin E serves as a scavenger for free radicals that are destructive to the cell membrane, whose integrity is paramount to cell metabolism and life. Although alpha-D-tocopherol is the most widespread vitamin E, other tocols are also vitamin E, in the sense that they have vitamin E activity. We use alpha-D-tocopherol in conjunction with other lipophilic antioxidants (see our antioxidant booster), they work better together.

The ozone present in polluted air decreases Vitamin E content in the stratum corneum of the skin, accelerating oxidation and destruction of membrane lipids, which in turn causes skin problems. This is why it is important to apply alpha-D-tocopherol topically to replenish the Vitamin E lost by the action of ozone on the skin.

Note: Synthetic forms of this chemical can be allergenic. This is because the body will not recognize the “wrong” one.

Tocotrienols (alpha, gamma and delta) are very similar to tocopherol, but are more powerful antioxidants and better UV-protectants than tocopherol. The antioxidant activity of tocotrienols is likely to be the underlying mechanism of their tumor suppressing activity.

What Can I Do With Vitamin E?

Vitamin E is a great DIY ingredient that you can use to upgrade lots of skin care products and even some of your Skin Actives favorites!

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Add to one of our fantastic base creams to help protect your skin from sun damage, pollutants and ozone. All you need is a few pumps!
• Add to Antioxidant Day Cream for an extra boost of antioxidants with a few pumps of vitamin e!
• Add several pumps to Hand and Body Lotion to protect your hands and arms as well.
• Don't forget your hair! Add a few pumps of vitamin e oil to one of our great hair care serums to help protect your hair as much as your skin!