You can reap the brightening benefits of vitamin C without the irritation.
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In beauty speak, there’s a dedicated term for the unpleasant effects of retinol use: the retinol uglies. Why there isn’t one for the skin-ravaging aftermath of vitamin C that many of us with sensitive skin often experience is a mystery. Might I submit “ascorbic agitation” for consideration?
But it doesn’t have to be this way! We don’t have to suffer through redness, irritation, and sensitivity just to use topical vitamin C. Turns out, there’s a gentler alternative to L-ascorbic acid (LAA), the pure yet caustic form of vitamin C that we’ve been using in our skin care products for decades. This form penetrates more easily into the skin’s deeper layers than LAA while being gentler. Meet tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate (aka THDA or THDC) who really is that girl. She’s not exactly a new ingredient, but has been popping up more recently as of late, perhaps in response to just how many folks self-identify as having “sensitive skin” these days.
