6 ingredients to look for in skincare supplements

Skincare and supplements
You must have heard or come across the popular saying “You are what you eat.” Well, we hate to burst your bubble, but it’s true.. It’s all true, if there’s one saying that is actually true, it’s this one! Have you ever noticed a change in your energy levels, or your skin when you haven’t been packing up on essential nutrients or supplements? Yup, you are what you eat.
So pay as much attention to what you are putting in your body, as what you put on it. That’s the ultimate key to healthy skin!

The quality of our skin from the inside out improves with a 360-degree approach that entails eating healthy and embodying an overall healthy lifestyle! However, it’s difficult to faithfully consume the daily recommended servings of food, vegetables, and fruits that supply us with all the vitamins, probiotics, and minerals that we need. Furthermore, curating the perfect skincare and wellness routine may not guarantee the long-term skincare results that you’re looking for :(.

The skin needs the right balance of nutrients to protect the rest of the body. A lot of the ingredients we apply to our skin are equally beneficial when incorporated into our diet and when complemented through supplements.


Here are the 6 ingredients to look for:

1. Vitamins

Vitamins play a crucial role in good skincare (Ahmed, 2020) – and are essential for maintaining optimum levels of skin appearance, health, and function. There is a vitamin for anyone skincare concern you can think of. Therefore, it helps to know which vitamin does what! Vitamins A, B, C, D, E, and K are typical ingredients to look for.

They improve skin tone, stimulate cell turnover, balance natural oils, improve the texture of the skin, reduce fine lines and wrinkles, improve the look and feel of mature skin, support the skin’s natural defences, speed wound healing, preserve skin moisture, reduce inflammation, improve skin elasticity and increase zinc absorption. As if that’s not enough, these master ingredients work hard to treat rosacea, hyperpigmentation, dermatitis, and eczema!


Vitamin A

Vitamin A boosts the shedding of those old skin cells we no longer need and stimulates regeneration of healthier, smoother, newer cells :). In addition, it improves skin tone and texture while reducing post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Collagen and elastin production is also stimulated in both the dermis and epidermis, which reduces fine lines and wrinkles, while acne is reduced through normalised oil production, preventing pores from clogging with oil.


Vitamin B

Vitamin B is grouped into 8 different categories which all contribute to healthy skin! These include vitamin B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (nicotinic acid or niacinamide), B5 (pantothenic acid), B6 (pyridoxine), B7 (biotin), B9 (folic acid or folate), and B12 (cobalamin). A supplement is referred to as B-complex when it contains all 8 vitamins!

Vitamin B1 is the ‘anti-stress’ vitamin. It improves the look and feel of dry, sensitive, and mature skin. In addition, it supports the skin’s natural defenses and protects it against environmental stressors. If you notice stress-related acne on your skin, then we have some good news for you! This is the time to do your skin justice and be diligent with your vitamin B1 supplements. The vitamin converts glucose into energy which soothes the nervous system and heals wounds.

Vitamin B2 is great for dry skin, premature ageing, and acne! This is because it helps improve skin tone, maintain healthy collagen levels, aids cell turnover, reduce inflammation, makes skin more radiant, speeds wound healing, increases zinc absorption, and balances natural oils.

Vitamin B3 is the ‘powerhouse’ or ‘skincare hero.’ It’s considered one of the best forms of B vitamins for the skin because it treats a variety of skin irritations and conditions. These include premature ageing, acne, eczema, dermatitis, hyperpigmentation, dry skin, rosacea, and uneven skin tones.

Vitamin B5 reduces acne, skin ageing, skin inflammation, and dullness. It preserves skin moisture and improves skin elasticity resulting in smooth, younger-looking skin.

Vitamin B6, like Vitamin B1 is a ‘stress buster. It rejuvenates dull skin, treats dry patches, increases cell generation, and reduces breakouts resulting from stress, lack of sleep, and anxiety.

Vitamin C

When ingested, Vitamin C maps directly onto the vitamin C on skin (DeWeerdt, 2018). Vitamin C evens out skin tone, improves complexion, reduces the appearance of dark spots, reduces the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines, prevents premature ageing, heals wounds, and aids collagen production keeping skin youthful.

2. Minerals

Zinc, selenium, calcium, potassium, selenium, and magnesium are just some of the minerals you should have on your skin glow up list or supplement ingredient list when shopping. Minerals improve wound healing, protect the skin from UV damage, help in the development of elastin which supports the structure of the skin from beneath, restores elasticity, regulates inflammation, aids in the production of new skin cells, firms up the skin and protects it from disorders such as psoriasis.

3. Probiotics

The leaky gut syndrome could allow bacteria to leak into the bloodstream (Obrenovich, 2018) – and is one of the causes of really bad skincare conditions. When something harmful enters your bloodstream, the quickest way for your body to get rid of it is through your skin. Having more bad bacteria versus good bacteria is damaging to the gut and reflects on the skin. This is where probiotics i.e. good bacteria come to play! Probiotics are made up of bacteria and yeast and keep the body healthy and fight off bad bacteria to keep a good balance.



4. Collagen

You must have come across collagen if you have tried seeking out anti-aging products at some point. Collagen is a vital ingredient for youthful skin! It reduces visible wrinkles by moisturising the skin, improves skin strength, and helps replace dead skin cells.

5. Healthy fats

There are two types of healthy fats to look out for, namely omega-6 fatty acids and omega-3 fatty acids. Healthy fats help maintain healthy skin, prevent skin dryness, reduce inflammation, reduce sensitivity to harmful UV rays from the sun and help fight skin conditions such as psoriasis.

6. Hyaluronic acid

Hyaluronic acid alleviates dry skin, by adding moisture to skin and reduces the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines.

Do you take supplements? What supplements do you take? Let us know in the comments below.