Question: How do I know if my vitamin C serum has gone bad? The best way to tell if your vitamin C treatment has gone bad is to smell the product and check out its color. If the serum is completely yellow, brown, orange, or any color other than its normal color, it has probably gone bad. Sometimes the product at the tip can be oxidized (or darker) and you can wipe that part away and continue to use the rest of the C serum, but if the entire product has changed colors, it's time to throw it away. How the vitamin C product smells is also an indication of its freshness. If it smells weird, funky, sour, or rancid, the C treatment is no longer good and should not be used. Be sure to check the expiration date of the product as well. To prevent vitamin C products from going bad, it's best to store C serums in dark glass bottles or metal tubes, away from sunlight and heat. They must also be tightly sealed after each application to prevent oxidation. To tell if your vitamin C serum is still safe to use on your skin, make sure it smells fresh, has not changed in color, and has not expired.
Last updated: September 27, 2012 FAQ: Am I too young to start using retinoids? Back « Skin FAQThe "Slush" Facial Kylie and Kendall Love Contains Two Terrifying IngredientsVitamin C is a vital part of your daily diet since it is water-soluble and your body uses what it needs and excretes the rest. While you should get enough vitamin C from fruits, vegetables and juice, in some cases you may need to take a vitamin C supplement. Always check the expiration date on any supplement or medication. Expired vitamin C may not be dangerous, but it may not be as effective or as easily absorbed because it has been sitting for an extended period of time. Vitamin C plays several important roles in your body, chiefly its ability to keep your immune system working at its best. Having adequate vitamin C in your system protects cells and tissues throughout your body by deactivating free radicals. These harmful substances scavenge through your bloodstream and causing permanent damage, which increases your risk of chronic disease such as cancer.
Vitamin C also aids in collagen formation. Collagen is a structural component of cell walls, connective tissue and the walls of veins and arteries. Getting adequate vitamin C daily allows veins and arteries to fully dilate so that blood can flow freely. You can get vitamin C in a variety of over-the-counter forms, including multivitamins, chewable tablets, powder and liquid solutions. Women need 75 milligrams of vitamin C daily while men require 90 milligrams, reports the Office of Dietary Supplements. Even though vitamin C is relatively safe in large doses, you should avoid consuming too much. Ingesting more than than 2,000 milligrams daily, which is the maximum amount you should have, may cause gastrointestinal distress, including gas, abdominal cramping and diarrhea. Check the expiration on the package before you purchase it to ensure the date is not right around the corner. Expired supplements are probably safe, just not effective. Your expired vitamin C supplements may not have the same effect and benefits they did when they were fresh.
Where you store your supplements also comes into play. Keeping them in the bathroom, where there is lots of humidity, can also affect potency by making them "age" sooner than the expiration date. Discard your expired vitamin C supplements in a responsible manner. Throwing them in the trash may give your children access to them, and flushing them down the drain can pollute groundwater. Your local pharmacy or community may have a program that accepts expired vitamins, so they can dispose of them properly. The Office of National Drug Control Policy suggests mixing your expired supplement with an undesirable substance, such as cat litter or used coffee grounds. Place the mixture into a sealable bag or container with a lid. At this point you can dispose of it in your regular trash receptacle. Should I Take Vitamin C in Powder or Pill Form? Do Vitamin C Supplements Go Bad or Lose Potency? What Are The Effects of Eating Too Much Vitamin C? What Does High Vitamin C While Breast-feeding Do?
Can Too Much Vitamin C Hurt the Liver? Why Is Time-Released Vitamin C Better? What Are the Benefits of Vitamin C Powder? What Are the Health Benefits of Sodium Ascorbate? Vitamin C & Diarrhea High-Dose Vitamin C & Weight Loss Are Vitamins Safe After They Expire? Do Dietary Supplements Expire? Ingredients of Vitamin C Tablets Vitamin C for Chronic Inflammation Symptoms of Vitamin C Toxicity What Drinks Contain Vitamin C? Differences Between Ester C & Vitamin C What Is Sodium Ascorbate? Homemade Vitamin C Face Cream Should You Take Iron With Vitamin C?Some skincare products have certain rules as to how and when you're supposed to use them. Retinols are one of them; acids too (though there is contradictory information about that); and also, vitamin C. For the longest time, I was convinced that all vitamin C-based products like serums had this ridiculous shelf life that succumbed to oxidation the second it came into contact with air and light — which is essentially every time you apply it — so that its effectiveness had a diminishing half-life.
I don't even get how anyone would get on board with that considering that vitamin C serums are by and large not cheap (and if it is cheap, it's probably straight acid — run). They are however AMAZING at doing their job of brightening and telling free radicals to scram so your complexion can be all clear and glowing. Quick refresher: vitamin C is one of the best antioxidants to diminish hyperpigmentation, fine lines and visible sun-damaged areas, as well as promote collagen production. Among the finicky reputation of vitamin C, one thing I've heard about it include that tidbit above and related to it is that you should never purchase a vitamin C serum in a clear container because it's probably degraded by the time you buy it. I also read that you should only apply it at night because it makes your skin more sensitive to the sun. The main difference in that half-lie is that there's a big shift in effect with unstabilized and stabilized vitamin C in skincare products. Unstabilized formulas, once oxidized, can actually harm your skin.
They last about six months. Stabilized formulas can last up to two years and don't break down as easily. Ascorbic (or L-ascorbic) acid is pure vitamin C. You'll see a lot of vitamin C derivatives in skincare products, however, because of their ability to not totally eviscerate your complexion. You can roll-call these when you look through your products' ingredient list:Ascorbic acid is obviously an acid and depending on its concentration can seriously mess up your facial situation if you're not ready for that jelly. It's the most irritating and most rapidly oxidizing kind; however, it's essential to do all the magic to your skin that you want it to. It's all a matter of how it's formulated. One of my all-time fave vitamin C do-ups is Drunk Elephant's C-Firma Day Serum. This formula uses 15% L-ascorbic acid, pumpkin ferment extract, ferulic acid and vitamin E. It wasted no time in brightening and evening out my skin tone, and even getting rid of a few baby breakouts in less than a month.
You're meant to apply this in the morning before your SPF to kick-up your skin's damage defenses.But then I met SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic a little while later and realized that it had a similar formula that included both ferulic acid and vitamin E. This orange is rather small.Well apparently, that trio is gangbusters — plus it's in it for the long haul, doubling up the photo-protection ability of the formula as well as acting as a stabilizer. I've tried vitamin C serums before that didn't do anything but make me a bit red in the face — and at the time, everyone I knew who tried them had similar reactions. I'm pretty sure it was because the stuff I was using before was the unruly rebellious teens of ascorbic acid in all its unbridled orange juicery. It smelled strongly of pennies and No Fear t-shirts. It's difficult to know what serums are stabilized since it doesn't exactly say so. A step in the safe direction would be to keep your eyes peeled for vitamin C derivatives (that list above).