Antioxidant Ingredients Dictionary for Skin Care

Find the best antioxidant serums and skin care products for your skin type.  This blog compares different types of antioxidants and helps you find the best for your skin concerns. There is a list of antioxidant ingredients for skin found in skincare products. How do these antioxidants work and what are the skin benefits? How do you choose which ingredients and products to buy?

I will discuss the best antioxidant ingredients in skincare to treat acne, rosacea, melasma and skin aging in addition to what antioxidants do,  how they work, and their skin benefits.

I will help you shop for the best antioxidant products for your skin type.

Keep reading to learn which type of antioxidants are best for you.  In this section I will list dermatologist recommended serums, crams and sunscreens that have antioxidants. But there are so many choices so read this entire blog or take the quiz and I will help you shop by your Baumann Skin Type.

Use these antioxidant serums in step 3 or your morning or evening regimen.

Which to choose depends on what skin concerns you have and what your Baumann Skin Type is.

Use these lotions and creams in step 4 of your routine or after any toners or serums in your skin care routine.

Antioxidant creams are best for dry skin types. Our favorite antioxidant cream for dry skin is the barrier repair moisturizer  is Zerafite Wrinkle Defense Barrier Cream.

Creamy and luxurious antioxidant moisturizers for dry skin:

Oily skin types need a light noncomedogenic antioxidant cream, light serum, or lotion.

Antioxidant oils are great for soothing sensitive skin and conditions such as:

• Eczema
• Inflammation
• Psoriasis
• Rosacea
• Skin Allergy
• Stinging Skin

If you get a lot of sun exposure consider using Heliocare capsules with polypodium leucotomas to help protects your skin and a sunscreen that has SPF and antioxidants.

Antioxidants protect against the ravages of free radicals by reducing and neutralizing them. Free radicals are also called reactive oxygen species (ROS).

The skin has natural antioxidants to protect itself, but they are not enough to protect skin from excess sun and pollution. 

Oral supplements, beverages, foods, vitamins, and topical antioxidant serums and creams can be used to help the skin protect itself from free radicals. 

The benefits of antioxidants are that they protect skin from inflammation, pigmentation and aging.

Antioxidants work by donating an electron to free radicals which calms them down and prevents them from stealing electrons from vital cell components like cell membranes.

Once they donate an electron to a free radical, they have no more electrons and cannot help anymore.  This is why you need so many antioxidants! They get used up really fast, especially when many free radicals (also called reactive oxygen species) are being generated. 

Antioxidants benefit skin by blocking free radicals. This helps prevent:

• aging
• hyperpigmentation
• inflammation
• skin barrier damage

But some “bonus antioxidants” have additional characteristics that can help your skin. These vary depending on the antioxidant ingredient 

Here are some examples of the most interesting bonus antioxidants in skin care products:

1. Coenzyme Q10 gives cells energy
2. Green tea soothes inflammation.
3. Vitamin C increases collagen.
4. Saururus chinensis prevents collagen breakdown
5. Crepidiastrum Denticulatum protects skin from pollutants

Antioxidants that naturally occur in the skin include superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, α-tocopherol (vitamin E), ascorbic acid (vitamin C), glutathione, and ubiquinone. [1] 

Natural antioxidants are found in many layers of the skin. Are large concentration are found in the skin's oil which is why an oily skin type is considered healthier than a dry skin type. 

Sebum (oil) produced by the sebaceous glands on the face has many antioxidants such as Vitamin E in it that can help protect your skin. 

The lips do not have sebaceous glands and therefore have less antioxidant protection than the rest of the face. This is one reason that skin cancer is more common on the lips.

Antioxidants may help prevent skin aging by protecting skin from the damage caused by free radicals. Antioxidants may prevent wrinkles, but antioxidants do not erase wrinkles that are already present.

One exception to this is Vitamin C which in addition to being an antioxidant, also helps increase collagen production.  So Vitamin C is one antioxidant that can improve skin texture and wrinkles.

Acne is characterized by inflammation in the hair follicle that leads to clogged pores, pimples, and cysts. (12-14) This inflammation causes free radicals. 

The bacteria that causes acne known as Cutibacterium acnes has porphyrins in it which can also cause free radicals.

When porphyrins are exposed to specific wavelengths of light, they transition from a ground state to an excited state. This excited state is short-lived and energetically unstable. The excited porphyrin  can become a photosensitizer and cause free radicals (ROS).These ROS lead to even more skin redness and inflammation.  Using an antioxidant serum in a noncomedogenic moisturizer can help treat acne.

Antioxidants may help  alleviate the symptoms of rosacea. In fact, some of the benefit of the prescription rosacea medication Metronidazole may be due to its antioxidant capabilities.

Underlying inflammation and oxidative stress play role in rosacea.  By reducing oxidative stress, antioxidants can reduce the inflammation and redness associated with rosacea, providing a soothing effect on the skin. Look for antioxidants that also have anti-inflammatory abilities such as:

• Niacinamide (Vitamin B3)
• Green tea extract (contains epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG)
• Resveratrol (found in grapes and wine)
• Quercetin (found in apples and onions)
• Silymarin (from milk thistle)
• Licorice extract (contains glabridin)
• Curcumin (from turmeric)

Including these antioxidants in your skin care routine or diet may provide relief from rosacea's inflammatory symptoms,

A few antioxidants are also tyrosinase inhibitors and therefore have skin lightening abilities.

The most well known is ascorbic acid, Vitamin C. Licorice extract is also good.

Arbutin and Kojic acid have weak antioxidant abilities.  Niacinamide, which treats hyperpigmentation by blocking the PAR-2 receptor, has weak antioxidant abilities. 

Vitamin C is the best antioxidant ingredient to use to treat dark spots on the skin.

There are many types of antioxidants.  Some are fat soluble while others are water soluble.  Some are anti-inflammatory, while a few lighten skin. Some help prevent skin cancer. Some are strong and others are weak. 

Some have special abilities:

• Vitamin C increases collagen
• Resveratrol decreases cellular senescence
• Coenzyme Q 10 and niacinamide increase cellular energy

Its best to combine many different types in your skin care routine.

After an antioxidant “disarms” a free radical by giving it an electron, the antioxidant no longer has an electron to give.  It needs to be given more electrons or “recycled”.

When antioxidants donate an electron, they themselves can become unstable and potentially act as weak free radicals. This is where the concept of "network antioxidants" comes into play. In the body, there exists a network of antioxidants that can regenerate or recycle one another back into their active form after they've been used up. This interplay is crucial for ensuring sustained protection against oxidative stress. For instance, vitamin C can help regenerate vitamin E after it's been oxidized. Some antioxidants, like glutathione, alpha-lipoic acid, and polyphenols, are known for having multiple electrons to donate, making them particularly effective in neutralizing free radicals. 

Antioxidants work synergistically to enhance the power of each other which is why you need several types of antioxidants in your skin care routine.

There are 2 main types of antioxidants: 

1. Fat soluble
2. Water soluble.

The fat-soluble antioxidants are usually found in creams and oils. They protect the lipid-filled cell membranes. Fat soluble antioxidants include include Vitamin E (tocopherol), Carotenoids, Coenzyme Q₁₀, idebenone, and lycopene.

Water soluble antioxidants are usually formulated in toners or serums. They protect the hydrophilic section inside the skin cells. Water soluble antioxidants found in cosmeceuticals include ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), Green tea, silymarin and glutathione. 

Alpha lipoic acid is unusual in that it is both fat soluble and water soluble.

There is not one best antioxidant for the skin, but green tea, resveratrol, and Vitamin C have the most evidence-based research to support their use.   It is best to have a combination of different types of antioxidants, both fat and water soluble.

There are several important factors to consider when looking for the best antioxidants for skin:

• Oral antioxidants (food, drink, or supplements) must be absorbed in the stomach, move to the blood stream and make it to the skin. Most do not.
• Topical antioxidants must be absorbed into the deep layers of skin and remain there long enough to target free radicals
• Many antioxidants are very unstable and become oxidized and inactive before reaching the target. Heat, light, air and other skincare ingredients can make antioxidants ineffective.
• Skincare products with antioxidants must be formulated, manufactured, and packaged to minimize air and light exposure- this is challenging and expensive.

• Alpha-Lipoic Acid
• Artemisia capillaris
• Coenzyme Q₁₀ (Ubiquinone)
• Coffeeberry Extract
• Curcumin
• Genistein
• Glutathione
• Grape Seed Extract
• Green Tea
• Idebenone
• Melatonin
• Polygonatum Multiflorum Extract (Solomon's Seal Root Extract)
• Polyphenols
• Pomegranate
• Pycnogenol
• Resveratrol
• Silymarin
• Vaccinium myrtillus (also called wild bilberry)
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin E

• Arbutin
• Kojic acid
• Niacinamide

Polyphenols are naturally occurring antioxidants found in fruits, vegetables, and plants. Flavinoids are a type of polyphenol. Polyphenols have a strong antioxidant capacity. All polyphenols are antioxidants but not all antioxidants are polyphenols.

Retinol is not an antioxidant.  It is a retinoid. Retinoids are in the Vitamin A family. Retinoids are great for skin but retinoids like retinol are not antioxidants.

Click here to learn how retinol and retinoids treat aging skin.

There are many dermatologist-recommended antioxidant skin care products. Which is best for your skin care routine and when to use them in your regimen depends upon your Baumann Skin Type.

You should choose products based on your Baumann Skin Type.  Take the quiz and we will give you a skin care routine and a list of products that are right for you.