Antioxidants, what the heck are they?
Antioxidants, what the heck are they? Antioxidants, what the heck are they?
Antiodixant this, antioxidant that. It’s all you here amongst the beauty community, but what does it mean for your skin?
What Are They?
Antioxidants are naturally occurring vitamins and minerals that defend your body from the damage and inflammation caused by free radicals. Free radicals, you ask? Let me break it down for you.
Free Radicals – What They Are
Now, this will get a bit sciency, but hey, we are here to learn. Free radicals are highly reactive, unstable molecules. And no, by unstable, I do not mean about to have a breakdown or a mid-life crisis. In science terms, free radicals are unstable as they are missing electrons in their outer shell and thus want to bond with other molecules or atoms to make up for these missing electrons. Now for the non-scientist out there ( no need to get your grade 9 chemistry books out), this pretty much means it is missing a part of its self (the electron). So it wants to join with one that has this missing piece to make it feel whole again (it sounds like a love story, right).
Our bodies naturally produce free radicals, but they can also come from external factors such as UV rays, pollution, cigarette smoke and other chemicals.
How Free Radicals Affect Your Skin
It’s all fun and games until a free radical finds a healthy cell. To feel whole again, the free radical will join with a healthy cell to steal the piece it needs (aka the electron). This damages the healthy cell, which over time builds up, leading to more free radicals and damaged cells than healthy cells in your body.
For your skin, free radicals deplete your collagen levels, reduce the ability for your skin to heal itself and causes inflammation (nasty, aren’t they). This leaves you with fine lines, wrinkles, loss of elasticity and all that fun stuff (not).
The Missing Piece – Antioxidants
Back to what I said before, antioxidants defend your body against these free radicals (sigh of relief- see, your skin goals can still be achieved ). How they do this, you ask? Well, let me explain. Like the healthy cells in our body, antioxidants also contain the missing pieces the free radicals need. Antioxidants thus react with free radicals, stopping them from reacting with your healthy cells. However, obviously, it’s not that easy. Sometimes we have more free radicals than antioxidants.
Antioxidants are also anti-inflammatory, meaning they reduce the inflammation caused by free radical damage. When inflammation is reduced, this allows your skin to heal better and repair damaged cells.
What This Means
You should opt to eat foods high in antioxidants such as berries, beans, nuts, dark chocolate (the list could go on and on). And safe to say, you should also go for skincare products that have a high percentage of antioxidants (such as our Nourishing Nectar Drops and Must Have Moisturiser).
