You’ve probably heard all kinds of wild claims about how this or that ingredient in skin care products is the miracle solution that all women have been looking for. There is one product though, that has solid evidence to support its claims to be an excellent topical agent to include in skin care products. What is this miracle of modern science? Your grandma would be pleased to know that it is none other than vitamin C.

Now that we know how effective vitamin C is for fighting off the signs of aging it should be a simple solution to include this wonder ingredient in all forms of skin care products. Right? Not exactly. The problem is that while we know how effective vitamin C is, it is also somewhat unstable to use as an ingredient in skin care products because it oxidizes too quickly—which can lead to the formation of free radicals.

You will find a few skin care products that have mastered a method for slowing the oxidation rate. Unfortunately, the procedure, when able to harness enough vitamin C to be effective is costly, and those costs are passed on to you. In other words, skin care products that contain enough vitamin C to be effective without running the risk of damaging the skin are expensive.

Your choices, as of now, remain paying out a small fortune for skin care products that contain the elusive but highly effective vitamin C, purchasing products that contain close relatives of the C vitamin that are extremely effective just not as much so as the full strength version of the actual vitamin, or using products that contain vitamin C derivatives. These derivatives are less expensive than the real thing but quite effective in their own right and growing right along with the technology. The key to the derivatives over the close relatives of vitamin C is that the derivatives are actually able to boost collagen production. These products continue to be quite rare in the skin care products line, you should see an increase in availability in the near future.

At the end of the day, vitamin C as a primary ingredient in topical skin care products is believed by many to be the equivalent of taking a sip from the Fountain of Youth. Since that remains a difficult task  for those who do not have the budget to enjoy these amazing products, derivatives of vitamin C are becoming increasingly viable options. You also have the options of enjoying more vitamin C rich foods in your  diet to boost the healing power, even to the skin, of vitamin C when it works from the inside to the outside. The results can be impressive though not as immediate or quite as effective as topical skin care products that contain vitamin C. Try finding skin care products that contain vitamin C and eating more foods that are rich in vitamin C to see what a difference it can make for you.