Serum Benefits: Reasons Why Your Skin Can’t Do Without It

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Serums. You realize they do more than you think. Rather than think of why you should add a serum to your skincare routine, just think instead- why not? Serum benefits are copious that it outweighs why you shouldn’t.

Consequently, serum becomes a necessity in any skincare routine you partake in. And no, serums are not toners, moisturizers, or oils. They work differently to provide the skin with the rejuvenation it needs.

If you are considering adding a serum to your skincare practice but need assurance that you are making the right choice, you are in the right place. Here, I will identify why you and your skin need a serum leading the charge in your routines.

What Is a Serum?

Serums are skincare products containing active ingredients to treat targeted skin-related conditions or issues. These ingredients have proven to deliver and help restore the skin’s health.

These serums often come in a clear gel-like or smooth liquid. However, they do have other forms. Nonetheless, the thick formula provides the extra hydration, protection, or balance you might not get from a moisturizer, but it should not replace a moisturizer.

According to a board-certified dermatologist and director of cosmetic and clinical research and an associate professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, Dr. Joshua Zeichner, “there are different types of serums that perform different jobs, which range from hydration to skin brightening.”

As a result, you have various options when it comes to picking your serum. Its ingredient concentration level is an essential plus to any skincare level.

Serum Benefits for Face

Before you get started in your skincare routine, you need to identify the essential benefits of serums to your skin.

1. Hydrates Your Skin

With ingredients like hyaluronic acid, aloe vera, glycolic acid, and others, your skin stays hydrated for a long period. Furthermore, the serum boosts the hydration moisturizers provide, keeping the skin supple for a long time.

In addition, some of the hydrating ingredients are humectants that absorb moisture from the surrounding. Consequently, your skin stays in a hydrated loop.

2. It Protects Your Skin

Present in some serums are ingredients like ceramides, peptides, and vitamins C and E. These ingredients protect the skin against free radicals that break down the skin tissues and barriers, causing signs of aging or dryness.

Similarly, serums benefit the skin by protecting against the UVA/UVB rays of the sun. These ingredients work to keep your skin healthily clear by restoring your lipid barriers or acting as a film to cover the surface layer of your skin. 

3. It Soothes Your Skin

With antioxidant ingredients, your skin stays nourished, thereby reducing the effects of irritants. This is especially beneficial to irritated dry skin. When your skin is soothed, itching, redness, and breakouts are also controlled.

4. Brightens Your Skin

Serums help to clear your skin tone, bringing out a clearer and fresher one. The serums often contain exfoliating ingredients like AHAs/BHAs to improve skin cell turnover. When new skin is revealed, the skin color also brightens.

Similarly, serum benefits the skin by removing blemishes and hyperpigmentation. You get to unveil your true complexion with a good brightening serum in your routine.

5. Clears Your Pores

Serum benefits the skin by clearing your skin pores of dirt, residue, and bacteria. This, as a result, helps to reduce the breakouts on your skin pores. When your pores are refined and clean, the texture also softens.

6. Reduces Signs of Aging

Serums help to control the signs of aging on your skin. Some serum formulas contain ingredients that smoothen the skin surface, diminishing the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, age spots, and crepes on the skin.

Serum Benefits for Dry Skin

Apart from hydrating your skin with the best ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, serum enhances the look of your dull skin. A serum benefits dry skin by reviving the glow of its skin and keeping the moisture balance retained.

Most serums for dry skin contain humectants and emollients that attract moisture from the air and then seal the moisture in the skin. As a result, the moisture stays in the skin.

Furthermore, the hydrating serum nourishes the skin by providing the needed nutrients to boost skin suppleness. This, in turn, prevents the cracking of the skin. It renews the freshness and smooth texture of rather coarse dry skin.

Your skin gets rejuvenated when you use a hydrating serum for your dry skin. This becomes a test during low humid climates like winter when your skin needs help it can get retaining moisture in the pores.

Serum Benefits for Oily Skin

Oily skin secretes excess sebum (oil) by nature. As a result, the skin needs to have sebum-controlling ingredients in its routine. This would help the skin stay moisture-balanced, which, in turn, prevents the breakout of acne.

Furthermore, serum helps to control the sebum on oily skin. As a result, the skin’s complexion and tone remain balanced. Excess oil can attract free radicals, which causes hyperpigmentation and discoloration on the skin.

Moreover, oily skin types need serums to keep their skin fresh, even during humid climates.

Serum Benefits for Sensitive Skin

Sensitive skin types experience irritation, inflammation, redness, and itchiness. As a result, the skin needs skincare products that soothe and restore the skin’s texture. Antioxidant serums are common for sensitive skin types due to their protective formulas.

The serum benefits these skin types by reducing the effect of free radicals and reactions on the skin. In addition, they are hypoallergenic, which means they contain skin-protecting and skin-soothing ingredients.

Consequently, your skin will not experience any discomfort under the sun or due to harsh ingredients.

Anti-aging Serum Benefits

For anti-aging skin, serum benefits them by diminishing the signs of wrinkles, fine lines, age spots, and crepes. With active ingredients such as retinol, vitamin C, collagen, hyaluronic acid, the serum moisturizes and rejuvenates the skin.

Furthermore, they help in renewing skin cells by improving collagen production, which helps in skin rejuvenation and smoothness.

As a result, serum benefits aging skin by not only renewing its skin texture, it also reducing the appearance of aging caused by environmental aggressors such as free radicals.

Serum Mask Benefits

Serum masks also known as sheet masks are cotton/fabric/paper cutouts shaped like a face to provide targeted treatment to the skin. The masks usually treat dryness and tone issues in the skin.

Serum Benefits for Hair

Serums also benefit your hair. Hair serums contain ingredients that improve the shine, curls, or strengthen your hair strands. Like skincare serums, hair serums are targeted treatments for specific hair issues.

Serums help to protect your hair from sunlight and environmental aggressors that weaken the strength of the follicles of your hair. You can use a serum to keep your hair from heat damage, chemical, or environmental damage.

Serums also help to improve the smoothness of your hair strands. It does this by unknotting the tangles and matted strands. Moreover, hair serums often contain silicone, which improves the smooth texture of your hair.

In addition, serum benefits your hair by reducing and controlling frizz of your hair. For weak and damaged hair with frizz and split ends, it weighs on the strands, taming the dangles popping out.

Then you can use your serum to boost the shine of your hair. For dull-looking hair without presence, the glossy texture of the hair serum increases the shine of your hair.

Asides from this, a serum benefits your hair by smoothening out your tresses or enhancing the curls. It enhances the natural texture of your hair from the follicles. So if you want to define your curls or keep your straight hair sleek, use a hair serum.

Serum Side Effects

You can experience certain side effects from using serum, especially if you are switching products or using one for the first time.

The skin experiences what experts call ‘a purge’. That is, the serum’s active ingredients are detoxifying your skin of former active ingredients on the skin or the skin is adjusting to the active ingredients.

Often, the skin experiences side effects such as itchiness, breakouts, redness, or inflammation. However, this is temporary. The skin goes back to normal in a week or two after the total purge.

Additionally, the skin can experience side effects when the right formula is not used. Oily skin cannot use a serum that provides intense hydration. The formula could clog the skin’s pores or leave a greasy finish with a shiny effect. This is likely going to aggravate your oily skin or lead to breakouts.

Using the serum most suitable for your skin helps to avoid these side effects.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should you use a serum?           

Once or twice a day. You can use your serum as much as twice a day if the serum allows for it.

On the other hand, a serum designated for a particular time of the day should only be used at such specific moments. For instance, night serums contain ingredients like retinol that are more active away from sunlight.

As a result, they work better at night. If such serum is used in a morning routine, the ingredient could lead to oxidation on the skin, causing exposure to free radicals.

Can serum be used on the body?

Yes, it can. There are body serums used to improve skin problems. These serums made for the body, work just like any other targeted face serum.

Moreover, face serums can also be applied to the body. However, you might run out of bottles quicker.

Should serum be directly applied to your face without cleansing?

No, it shouldn’t. Do not apply the serum directly on your unwashed or uncleansed face. Adding a serum to your residue-filled face is a waste of product.

Apply your serum after cleansing and toning your skin to let the active ingredients effectively penetrate your skin.

Can you apply serum under your eyes?

Yes, you can. Serums work for your under-eye area. You can improve the area with a facial serum or an eye serum to get the best skin result you want.

Conclusion

Starting your day with serum is an excellent way to improve your skin in a gradual effort. If you feel you can do without it, just look at the benefits of uprising one; naturally, it outweighs why you shouldn’t.

Consequently, placing a serum will not only accelerate your road to good skincare but will also help in reducing the signs of aging.

Therefore, lean on the golden goose of all skincare products to get you your dream skin texture.

Thanks for reading.

Serum101 provides relevant skincare answers to improve your skincare routines.