Now the active ingredients are becoming the stars of the skin care game, maybe you’ve been hearing about Coenzyme Q10, which we affectionately refer to as “CoQ10” for short. CoQ10 is showing up in a lot of products. As a DIY ingredient, it’s been a staple here at Skin Actives since our foundation. And if you look at our products that contain it, you’ll find many of our most desirable bestsellers.

Maybe it turns out that CoQ10 is one of your favorite actives! Who knew?

But what is CoQ10? What does it do, and how can it best be used?

Let’s explore further.

What is CoQ10?

Coenzyme Q10 is a naturally occurring enzyme inside the cells that make up not just your skin, but every part of your body. CoQ10 is an antioxidant, and it both creates energy for your cells to use, and helps purge free radicals which lead to the effects of aging.

When you are very young, this enzyme is working at peak performance, but as you age, it’s capacity diminishes, usually peaking around your early 20s. This means you can have a lot of good years at non-peak performance. Fortunately, through topical application we can get more functionality out of the CoQ10 that is still working in our bodies.

Benefits of CoQ10 For Your Skin

People use Coenzyme Q10 in skin care products for a number of reasons.

First, as a powerful antioxidant, CoQ10 is helping us wage that unending war against Reactive Oxygen Species. This is critical. CoQ10 is no replacement for a good sunscreen, but it does help repel sun damage at the cellular level. 

Second, to increase the energy of your skin’s cells. When your skin is doing its job, that means less work and less damage for you. Coenzyme Q10 increases the energy in the cell activity which means that they are able to do their job better.

Third, to iron out fine lines and wrinkles. CoQ10 helps with the production and synthesis of collagen and elastin. These key chemicals are what keep your skin youthful and agile. This means generating less lines and wrinkles as well as rolling back the ones you already have.

Fourth, to help keep skin tone even. Coenzyme Q10 helps with your body’s ability to produce melanin. This is important to keep skin tone even, without dark spots or light patches.

How To Mix Your Own Skin Care Products With CoQ10?

How much you use is an interesting question, but it’s also important to know in what context you should use it. Coenzyme Q10 is a fat soluble active, and fat is another word for oil. This means that you are going to want to mix your DIY CoQ10 projects in with oil-based serums. It simply won’t dissolve into water! You’ll be able to dissolve it into creams because these formulations have both water and oil in them. When added to a cream, the CoQ10 will have something to bind to.

At Skin Actives we sell a .6 gram vial of CoQ10 for you to add to a 4 oz cream like one of our base creams. That’s all you need for four whole ounces!

You can use products with CoQ10 in your normal morning/night ritual along with your other favorite skincare products. In fact, some of your favorites probably already have Coenzyme Q10 in them! CoQ10 works well with retinoid based products, because their realms of activity complement each other. Check out our recent blog on retinoids here!

If you have concerns about vitiligo, CoQ10 might not be for you. The skin tone evening effects that CoQ10 is sought after for can actually have an adverse effect on people with vitiligo.

Skin Actives' Products Containing CoQ10

Some of Skin Actives’ most famous products feature Coenzyme Q10!

Anti-Aging Cream - This awesome top layer cream isn’t just for your face! Put some on your arms, hands, neck and decalotage! Anti-aging Cream is an all time bestseller at Skin Actives Scientific, it’s the place where many of our most devoted customers got their start. Try it and you’ll see why!

Ultimate Moisturizing Cream - If you are working on maximizing your skin’s hydration for smooth, soft texture, you’ll want to take a look at this offering from our Advanced Ageless line. Not only is this cream the “ultimate” in moisturizing, it’s packed with cutting edge antioxidants, from Apocynin to our patented ROS BioNet™ to Coenzyme Q10!

Revitalizing Nutrient Cream - Did you miss our recent blog on the power of mitochondria? You can catch up on it here. Meanwhile Revitalizing Nutrient Cream is where you’ll find CoQ10 and mitochondria teaming up to do work on a cellular level. This is where the nutrients you feed your skin are coming together to make the tools you already have work harder and more efficiently for you.

Try these or one of our other great products that contain CoQ10 by shopping on our webstore.