Why Minerals Are The Most Underrated Ingredients In Skincare
Minerals have historically taken a backseat in skincare, but they truly deserve a place in your daily routine.
Vitamins and minerals: they’re like PB and J, gin and tonic, Rachel and Ross. But are they? Really? While we often talk about vitamins and minerals in the same breath, it’s frequently the vitamins we concentrate on. Especially in terms of skincare ingredients. Vitamin A, aka retinol, needs no introduction, being the absolute gold standard in skincare, while vitamin C is everything when it comes to providing antioxidant protection and brightening powers. Then you’ve got the classic favorite, vitamin E which has been used and loved for years for its nurturing, soothing qualities. Even vitamin B3 has become a regular in the quest for gorgeous skin – that’s niacinamide, btw.
So, where are all the minerals in this list of skincare greats? Well, up until recently, they’ve been somewhat absent. But thanks to some serious innovations from major skincare brands (us included!), they’re now being utilized across a whole host of formulations. And how!
Read on for everything you need to know about these unassuming but potent ingredients.
What Are Minerals?
Minerals are naturally-occurring elements or compounds that each have a unique chemical composition. Not only are they present everywhere in nature, but they’re also found in foods and are prevalent in the human body where they’re essential for development and everyday functioning. Of course, minerals like magnesium, calcium, silica and potassium are crucial for bone, tissue and organ formation, but they’re also among many minerals that are super important for healthy skin.
What Are The Benefits Of Minerals In Skincare?
There are a ton of minerals that can be used to great advantage within a well-rounded skincare routine, and they each offer different benefits to skin health. By encouraging better communication between the skin cells, they improve efficiency at this vital cellular level which results in stronger, firmer, brighter-looking skin. Think improved moisturization, better elasticity, accelerated healing, the works.
The premise is not unlike taking a multivitamin supplement. These commonly contain minerals as well as vitamins (although why minerals don’t get credit in the name, we’ll never know!) and are a great way to improve your internal health. Similarly, a multi-pronged approach to your skincare routine that is full of well-curated vitamins and minerals is just as beneficial to the health of your skin. It’s pretty simple, when you think about it.
5 Of Our Favorite Minerals In Skincare
So which minerals should you be looking out for? Well, below are five beauties we think deserve pride of place in your skincare routine.
1. Zinc
Zinc is extremely well studied and possibly one of the most important minerals for your skin. For starters, it helps regulate sebum production, encourages collagen production and supports better healing. It also reduces inflammation which makes it fantastic for helping to reduce acne-causing bacteria from the surface of your skin. And that’s great news for anyone who deals with breakouts on a regular basis.
Zinc is also known to help other inflammatory conditions like eczema by strengthening the skin’s barrier function and helping to reduce transepidermal water loss.
And, then, of course, there are its sun protective properties. One of two important mineral sunscreens (along with titanium dioxide), zinc oxide reflects the sun’s damaging UV rays from your skin, creating a protective shield to keep your skin safe from harm. And we don’t need to tell you how important protecting your skin from the sun is, do we? DO WE? Apply SP30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C every day, people. It could not be more important.
2. Magnesium
As the fourth most common mineral in the human body, magnesium is another useful one for saying ‘no way’ to acne, rosacea or facial redness. It does its stuff by reducing cortisol levels in your skin (the ‘stress’ hormone) and improving cell communication which, in turn, keeps your sebum levels in check and helps reduce irritation. It also works hard to strengthen your barrier function which enhances hydration by keeping all the good stuff in your skin and the bad stuff out.
Our Multi-Vitamin Facial Serum is a fantastic way to up the magnesium levels in your skin as it contains a smart electrolyte blend which includes potassium and calcium as well as magnesium. It also contains zinc. It’s literally a shoo-in for getting your daily fill of minerals and vitamins!
Speaking of potassium…
3. Potassium
Potassium’s main MO is to regulate water content in every cell of your body. It makes total sense, therefore that it’s vital for helping your skin to retain water and thus combat the effects of dehydration.
How can you tell if your skin is dehydrated? Well, dehydrated skin feels tight like dry skin, but it can be oily at the same time. It will also appear duller than normal and any fine lines or wrinkles will look more prominent thanks to the lack of water keeping your skin plump and healthy-looking. Sounds familiar? Then you would be wise to look for skincare that contains potassium as well as other hydrating ingredients like hyaluronic acid and aloe vera.
4. Calcium
An essential mineral well-known for keeping your teeth and bones strong and firm, calcium is another goodie for your skin. It’s important because it helps your skin turn over efficiently.
As you know, your skin renews itself by producing new cells that move up to the surface, then die and naturally slough away. This process is great for keeping your skin in top-top shape. However, as you age, the whole thing slows down and dead skin cells end up staying on the surface for longer than necessary, contributing to dull skin, poor texture and all manner of aging issues.
Of course, exfoliation is a great way to improve cellular turnover, but applying topical calcium is another helpful way to replenish new cells and reinforce the resilience and firmness of your skin. That’s why it’s another key ingredient in our Multi-Vitamin Facial Serum.
5. Silver
Finally, we have silver, or more specifically, colloidal silver which is a liquid solution containing nano-particles of silver.
Colloidal silver has been used for centuries to aid healing due to its fantastic antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. It’s extremely soothing and often used to deal with breakouts of acne, eczema and rosacea. Experts also believe that it helps to target environmental stress by combating free radical damage, which makes it a smart choice for anyone looking to rejuvenate their skin and hold off on those visible signs of premature aging that we all know and don’t love.
If you fancy adding a little silver to your skincare life, try our incredible Ocean Minerals Super Toner which is packed with colloidal silver as well as more than 90 nutrient-rich marine minerals. And yes, you read that correctly, 90 whole minerals!
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![The Most Effective Ingredients For Sagging Skin]()
One wish: to enjoy the tight, gravity-defying skin of 20 years ago. Sadly, it’s not going to happen, so the next best thing? Skincare ingredients that boost collagen and help your skin appear subtly firmer and just a tad more lifted.
Let’s get one thing straight: skincare cannot perform miracles. We’d love to be able to tell you that our new Caffeine Facial Serum can give you the skin of someone 30 years your junior or that our Vitamin C Gentle Face Scrub will eradicate every single one of your much-loathed dark spots after just one use. But we’d be lying. Skincare is awesome, absolutely. And yes, it can 100 percent help to subtly improve the appearance of acne breakouts, wrinkles and aging skin. But it has its limits. And knowing that your favorite moisturizer or prized facial serum can only do so much is crucial. Otherwise, you will always be disappointed. And that’s not what we want for you.
OK, so now this bombshell is out of the way and you understand that skincare ingredients aren’t going to give you an instant facelift or smooth out your laughter lines like fillers or Botox, here’s what they can do.
Choose the right formulation, crafted with thoughtful, clinically-proven ingredients, and skincare can very much improve the look, feel and health of your skin. And if you’ve ever woken up after trying a new serum for the first time, only to be greeted in the mirror by visibly brighter skin, you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about.
So, which ingredients should you pin your hopes on if you’re specifically looking to lift and firm sagging skin? Well, skin starts to go south because of dwindling collagen supplies so boosting collagen production is your first and best bet. Bearing in mind everything we’ve just said about managing expectations, therefore, here are five topical favorites we believe are the most effective for encouraging healthy collagen and helping you on the road to firmer, more toned skin.
1. Peptides
Without blinding you with science, peptides are chemical compounds made from amino acids. They’re very similar to proteins, but where proteins are large molecules made up of long chains of amino acids, peptides are their baby cousins, containing much shorter chains. Why is this of interest? Because due to their similarity, peptides have the smart ability of being able to penetrate the skin where they work like little messengers, signaling for your cells to produce more proteins. And which protein is most abundant in your skin? Yes, you got it, collagen.
In simple terms, applying topical peptides encourages your cells to keep on producing collagen (and elastin, for that matter), thus helping to counteract the skin’s inevitable loss of this vital protein and staving off all that comes with it – namely wrinkles, lines and sagging skin.
Try: Firming Collagen Day Lotion which contains vegan collagen peptides, amongst other skincare powerhouses like ceramides, green algae, vitamin E and aloe.
2. Retinol
When it comes to boosting your skin’s supply of healthy collagen very few topical ingredients trump retinol. Ask your derm or any skincare expert and we bet 1,000 bucks they will agree. So, what makes it so darn good? Well, it’s been studied for decades and it never fails to deliver the same skin-regenerating results. You see, retinol has an innate ability to communicate with your skin at a deep cellular level to encourage a speedier production of collagen and elastin in a bid to heal and strengthen your skin. Simple as. Well, it’s not that simple, but that’s all you really need to know.
Of course, retinol isn’t for everyone – it’s so good, it can be a tad irritating for some skin types – but if you used it slowly and carefully, always patch testing it first, you’ll find it can be a fantastic way to help keep your skin firm and youthful-looking for years to come.
Try: Retinol Facial Serum which has been formulated with hyaluronic acid and vitamin E, helping it to be as gentle on your skin as possible.
3. Bakuchiol
If retinol isn’t for you but you’re looking for something that does almost the exact same thing and offers very similar results, allow us to introduce you to bakuchiol.
One of the newest ingredients to the skincare world (but an absolute keeper unlike other ridiculous ingredients that are all fluff and no function), bakuchiol is nature’s best alternative to retinol. How so? Because it works just like its long-running counterpart, stimulating collagen synthesis and accelerating cellular turnover at a deep, below-the-surface level.
Bakuchiol is extracted from the seeds and leaves of the babchi plant and has been used for centuries in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine. The reason it’s gained such momentum in Western skincare recently is that, granted, it's very similar to retinol, but more importantly it comes with way fewer unwanted side effects. Of course, its gentle nature means it works more slowly but if you sensitive skin and have patience, bakuchiol is a great choice for fighting the visible signs of aging –including sagging skin but certainly not stopping there!
Try: Rejuvenating Longevity Serum which combines bakuchiol with antioxidant-rich lingonberry stem cells and snow algae.
4. Vitamin C
If you don’t know by now how awesome vitamin C is then we’ve been doing something wrong! In our minds, this antioxidant wonder kid can do no wrong.
Like retinol, vitamin C is one of the most trusted and clinically-proven ingredients in the entire world of skincare. It’s known mainly for providing brightening benefits but never forget what an excellent antioxidant it is, offering the absolute best in environmental protection by neutralizing free radicals before they get a chance to destroy collagen – and believe us, that is exactly what free radicals will do if you don’t get in there first.
But it's not just vitamin C's antioxidant prowess that’s crucial for preventing collagen and elastin breakdown. Its highly acidic nature also works hard to boost your collagen and elastin levels. So there’s that.
Try: Vitamin C Deep Hydration Night Cream which gives your skin a delicious overnight boost of protective vitamin C, along with skin-loving botanical oils like jojoba, rosehip and evening primrose.
5. MSM
Sure, we’re all about vitamin C for president here at TruSkin, but another of our skin-firming favorites comes in the form of methylsulfonylmethane, or MSM to friends like you.
Very well tolerated by even the most sensitive of skin types, MSM is a naturally-occurring form of sulfur. And if you didn’t know, sulfur is one of the most important elements in the human body, often touted as the ‘beauty’ or ‘healing’ mineral.
What does that mean for sagging skin? Yeah, we’re getting to that. And the answer is simple: MSM plays a key role in the production and composition of collagen and keratin. Its anti-inflammatory qualities also help decrease damage to the skin caused by lifestyle aggressors like stress, lack of sleep and a sugar or carb-heavy diet. Oh, and as an extra sidenote, MSM also boosts the body’s production of glutathione which is one of your most important, naturally-occurring antioxidants. Take that free radicals!
Try: Vitamin C Super Serum+ which partners MSM with its bestie, vitamin C. Why do they love each other so? Because vitamin C helps the skin readily absorb MSM, thus doubling up their combined collagen-boosting effects.
The Most Effective Ingredients For Sagging Skin
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