When it comes to combining actives, it might be confusing while you are attempting to develop a skincare routine to treat multiple skin issues. Both Vitamin C and Niacinamide are strong skincare ingredients that offer numerous advantages for your skin. And you may have heard that you shouldn’t take Vitamin C and Niacinamide together.
So, can you use niacinamide with vitamin C?
The answer is yes! But before we discuss utilizing niacinamide and vitamin C together, let’s take a look at why you would want to add them into your skincare regimen in the first place.
Benefits of Vitamin C
Vitamin C, commonly known as ascorbic acid, has several benefits for the body, such as the skin. There are three significant benefits of using vitamin C on your skin.
- Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant and protects skin from photodamage caused by free radicals owing to UV exposure. This cellular damage can contribute to premature skin aging, such as wrinkles and fine lines. According to the results of this research, vitamin C can help to reduce wrinkles and changes in skin texture in photo-damaged skin. Also, applying a vitamin C product in the daily skincare routine before sunscreen helps to protect the skin from harmful UV rays.
- Vitamin C increases collagen formation, which results in tighter, smoother, and younger skin.
- Vitamin C helps to reduce dark spots, hyperpigmentation, and improve uneven skin tone.
There are some drawbacks to all of these benefits. When exposed to air, heat, and light, vitamin C becomes unstable and more prone to oxidation. These elements break vitamin C and reduce its efficiency, causing it to become brown.
At higher concentrations, vitamin C may be unpleasant. If you have sensitive skin or prefer to avoid the possibility of irritation from pure vitamin C, search for formulas that have lower ascorbic acid concentration or use a vitamin C derivative.
If you want a more stable and non-irritating alternative to pure vitamin C, various vitamin C derivatives are available in skincare products that provide many of the same advantages as a pure vitamin. Although these derivatives of vitamin C are not as powerful as pure vitamin C, they do not have a negative interaction with niacinamide.
The vitamin C derivatives include magnesium ascorbyl phosphate, sodium ascorbyl phosphate, tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, ascorbyl glucoside, and 3-O-ethyl ascorbic acid.
Benefits of Niacinamide
Niacinamide is all-star skincare active, similar to vitamin C, in that it provides various advantages for the skin (including some of the same benefits as vitamin C) while avoiding many of the adverse effects associated with stronger actives such as retinol and glycolic acid.
- Niacinamide promotes ceramide production and reduces transepidermal moisture loss in dry skin. In fact, it helps in the repair and strengthening of the skin barrier, which is a natural moisture barrier that keeps moisture and hydration in while keeping environmental stressors out.
- Niacinamide increases the development of collagen and certain proteins in the skin, which can make the skin seem firmer and fresher.
- Niacinamide lightens hyperpigmentation and dark spots evens out uneven skin tone and can be used to treat melasma. Niacinamide reduces the transfer of melanosomes (organelles that create pigment) while having fewer negative effects than the skin-lightening agent hydroquinone.
- Niacinamide is particularly good for persons with oily or acne-prone skin because it can control sebum (oil) production and also has anti-inflammatory qualities. According to research, niacinamide in the form of 4 percent nicotinamide gel is as efficient as 1 percent clindamycin gel mostly in the treatment of acne.
Can You Use Niacinamide and Vitamin C at the Same Time?
If you Google if you can combine using niacinamide with vitamin C” (ascorbic acid), you may find that they will not be used together. I did some studies to find out why some people think these two actives can’t be used at the same time.
The concern with mixing Vitamin C and Niacinamide is that their efficiency may be decreased. When they are combined, a process may occur that converts niacinamide to nicotinic acid (niacin), which may produce redness and flush in the injury induced by epidermal Langerhans cells.
Can vitamin C be used with niacinamide?
The research that discovered that Vitamin C and Niacinamide will not be used together dates back to the 1960s, so it’s clearly a little out of date. It turns out that the issue only occurs when Vitamin C and Niacinamide are combined at high temperatures for a lengthy period of time. In reality, if you store your skincare products at room temperature, this should not happen.
Another issue is that when niacinamide and vitamin C are combined, they become yellow, raising the possibility that they would cancel each other out, making them inefficient. Remember that when vitamin C oxidizes and loses its effectiveness, it turns a deeper orange/brown color.
When Vitamin C and Niacinamide are combined at a pH close to 3.8, some of their molecules combine to produce a complex known as niacinamide ascorbate. As niacinamide ascorbate penetrates deeper into our skin, it begins to separate back into ascorbic acid and niacinamide, and each element continues to provide its original skin benefits.
Even when combined, niacinamide ascorbate has its own share of benefits. According to the results of this study, niacinamide ascorbate can minimize pigment production in skin exposed to solar simulated radiation.
So, when utilizing these two skincare products under normal conditions, these two concerns, (1) the formation of niacin and (2) the loss in the efficacy of both niacinamide and vitamin C, should never be an issue.
Using Niacinamide and Vitamin C Together
Even if you are still hesitant to use niacinamide and vitamin C together, you may alternate their application.
Niacinamide before or after Vitamin C and when to use Niacinamide and Vitamin C?
You might apply vitamin C during the day and niacinamide at night.
Another option is to combine a vitamin C derivative with niacinamide; this will ensure that the vitamin C derivative does not interact with niacinamide in the same manner as pure ascorbic acid would.
Vitamin C and Niacinamide Serums
Neogen Dermalogy Real Vita C Serum (2-in-1 Vitamin C Derivative + Niacinamide Serum)
Can you mix vitamin c and niacinamide?
Because it contains a vitamin C derivative, you don’t have to worry about combining pure vitamin C or niacinamide with this serum. Neogen Dermalogy’s niacinamide and vitamin C derivative serum combine two items in one.
Can vitamin c and niacinamide be used together?
Yes, The Neogen Dermalogy Real Vita C Serum has a 22 percent concentration of a vitamin C derivative and niacinamide, which works to brighten skin tone and reduce the appearance of photodamage, hyperpigmentation, and dark spots.
Sodium ascorbyl phosphate, a gentle and oxygen stable form of vitamin C, is the vitamin C derivative. This derivative provides antioxidant protection, promotes collagen production, brightens dull skin, and removes discoloration, much like pure vitamin C (ascorbic acid). According to this study, it can even treat and prevent acne without causing any negative effects.
Although the quantity of niacinamide is not disclosed, it has the fifth greatest concentration of all 31 components. As previously stated, niacinamide has several skin advantages, including strengthening the skin barrier, controlling sebum production, enhancing skin elasticity, and brightening the skin.
If you have sensitive skin, please be aware that this serum contains fragrance and citrus fruit extracts (orange extract, lime extract, grapefruit extract, lemon extract, and tangerine extract) to brighten and refresh the skin. Vitamin E and panthenol hydrate and soothe the skin. The salt form of hyaluronic acid, sodium hyaluronate, moisturizes and draws moisture to the skin.
Paula’s Choice C15 Super Booster
To get a pure form of vitamin C, try Paula’s Choice C15 Super Booster, which includes 15 percent ascorbic acid (pure vitamin C) as well as antioxidants vitamin E and ferulic acid to increase vitamin C’s stability and photoprotective effectiveness.
Also included in the serum are sodium hyaluronate and glycerin for hydration and moisturization, as well as panthenol and bisabolol for soothing the skin. Hexanoyl dipeptide-3 norleucine acetate is a tripeptide that is known for its capacity to smooth and moisturize skin.
This serum has a lightweight texture that is similar to that of water, making it easy to include into your skincare routine under or combined with other serums. It acts as an effective anti-aging ingredient, helping to minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, brighten dull skin, and provide antioxidant protection.
Paula’s Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster
Paula’s Choice 10 percent Niacinamide Booster is another serum that includes niacinamide as well as vitamin C derivatives. With 10% niacinamide, this multi-tasking serum helps to lighten the appearance of large pores, uneven skin tone, skin texture, redness, dryness, rough skin, and fine lines.
There is ascorbyl glucoside in the serum, and it’s a long-lasting and very powerful vitamin C derivative that gives protective antioxidant advantages, lightens dark spots, and stimulates collagen production.
Epigallocatechin gallate, ubiquinone, carnosine, beta-glucan, and genistein are some of the additional antioxidants found in the serum. Glycyrrhiza glabra (licorice) root extract is one of the plant extracts used in this product, and it brightens and calms the skin. Glycerin and sodium hyaluronate are both known for their ability to hydrate and moisturize the skin. Panthenol (pro-vitamin B5) is a skin-soothing and moisturizing agent.
This serum, like Paula’s Choice’s C15 Vitamin C Super Booster, is featherlight and looks almost like water on the skin when applied to the skin. The result is that it is the perfect serum to use throughout the day under makeup and as sunscreen.
The Inkey List Niacinamide Serum
The Inkey List Niacinamide Serum contains 10-percent niacinamide, which helps to reduce excess oil, pimples, and redness on the skin. It also includes a 1 percent hyaluronic acid solution, which helps to hydrate and retain moisture to the skin. Glycerin and squalane help to keep the skin moisturized. Allantoin and panthenol are skin-soothing ingredients.
Despite being somewhat thicker than some of the liquid niacinamide serums on the market, this serum is quite effective in treating breakouts and redness. This product also helps to control sebum production and maintain a healthy skin barrier, all at a very reasonable price.
The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%
The Ordinary Niacinamide 10 percent + Zinc 1 percent includes 10 percent niacinamide and 1 percent Zinc PCA (zinc salt of pyrrolidone carboxylic acid), which works to target blemishes and maintain the balance of sebum production on the skin. Despite its low price, this best-selling niacinamide serum is very efficient in brightening the complexion, fading hyperpigmentation, and even out uneven skin tone.
This serum from The Ordinary is popular among those who have oily or acne-prone skin. It helps in the reduction of the appearance of acne and redness, as well as the control of oil.
Whichever method you choose to utilize Vitamin C and Niacinamide, both active ingredients are very efficient for brightening dull skin and help in the reduction of hyperpigmentation and dark spots. They are also both powerful anti-agers since they target fine lines and wrinkles while also increasing skin firmness.
Concerns against using both at the same time are out of date and unfounded, so combine them to get double the anti-aging and whitening benefits!
If you want to know about Can You Use Salicylic Acid with Niacinamide Together? then, take a look at this post.
