Did you know that vitamin C can be used as a spot treatment? Here, one writer shares how she successfully used a vitamin C serum to target and diminish a prominent scar.
I used to be obsessed with getting facials. I was the kind of skin care-obsessed girl that was getting at least one facial a season, thanks to my Latina mom who hooked me up with my first facial when I was only 16. That was until I got one of the worst facials of my life last fall. An aggressive aesthetician left me with a scar so dark, I thought it would never go away.
In a nutshell, the aesthetician attempted to pop a pimple that hadn’t even surfaced yet and essentially bruised my face. I woke up with a big dark scab on my face the morning after. Not only did this aesthetician not listen to me when I expressed I have very sensitive skin and requested she leave the barely noticeable pimple she was trying to extract alone, but she clearly wasn’t well-trained when it comes to working with darker skin tones. If she was, she would have understood that brown skin is significantly more prone to hyperpigmentation because of the increased levels of melanin that already exist in our skin. My skin was so irritated after that facial that I even got new breakouts from it. My face was a mess!
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It took weeks for me to get over the panic of having a massive bruise on my right cheek and months for me to find the right formula to treat it. But after trying what seemed like every treatment and serum imaginable, I finally came across the Klairs Freshly Juiced Vitamin C Serum ($23). I’m happy to report that it’s now been almost a year since the nightmare facial and you can barely tell the scar (pictured below) was ever there at all.
When I was first researching the serum, I was impressed by the number of before and after pictures I found that showed how much this serum cleared up and brightened some of the most severe cases of hyperpigmentation I’ve ever seen. But I wasn’t exactly sold right away. My already sensitive skin had become even more delicate after the traumatic facial, so it was important for me to find a formula that was going to be just as gentle as it is effective.
However I learned that this serum features 5 percent vitamin C — a percentage gentle enough for sensitive skin types while still effective. Now the question was, would it fade the horrible dark spot?
It was recommended that I use the Klairs Freshly Juiced Vitamin C Serum in combination with the Klairs Freshly Juiced Vitamin E Mask ($27). The unique pudding-like mask is lightweight but formulated with a high dose of vitamin E, that when combined with a vitamin C serum helps to stabilize the vitamin C ingredient, making it that much more effective.
After just a month of consistently using the serum day and night and layering on the vitamin E mask in the evenings, I began to notice a major difference. Because I treated the spot so early on with the serum, it quickly began to fade to a pink—ish color and after just a couple of months, I was finally able to leave the house without any makeup or concealer on because you could barely notice it.
In case you didn’t already know, vitamin C works wonders on dark spots and hyperpigmentation. It inhibits the production of excess melanin which works to fade post-acne dark spots, scars, and even melasma. Vitamin C is also loaded with anti-aging benefits as it works to smooth fine lines and wrinkles, which for me is a major plus! It’s like my dark spot-fading and anti-aging treatment all in one.
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I plan on keeping this magical serum in my skin care routine for years to come. If you’re struggling with hyperpigmentation or just want a brighter and glowing complexion, I recommend you hop on this vitamin C bandwagon already. You’ll never look back!