What is Vitamin F?
Yes you’ve heard of Vitamin A, C and E also B vitamin complex, but what the heck is vitamin F?
Well it turns out that Vitamin F is actually a combination, or blend, of two acids: ALA and LA acids. ALA and LA are critical for healthy skin as they keep the upper levels of your skin supple and hydrated.
ALA is also known as Alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid, while LA is Linoleic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid. Both of these keep our skin healthy How? They maintain our skin’s outermost barrier, preventing water loss. Inside our body they reduce inflammation and help keep blood sugar levels stable.
Wendy Gardner
Vitamin F for skin
The good news is that you can eat your vitamins as well as apply them to your skin.
But Wendy, why should we use vitamin F in our skincare if we can eat it? Good question! Well remember that your skin is your body’s largest organ, however it is not first in line for nutrients, so if you are not eating enough, your skin will start to look drab, shabby and tired.
And of course, our soil is so depleted of nutrients from intensive farming methods, and we live in cities instead of farmlands where access to fresh picked produce is reduced, it’s inevitable that our foods have less nutrition than our great-grandmothers did.
They also did not have access to foods from elsewhere in the planet, thinking here of sugars, cocoa etc that we take for granted each day. albeit fairtrade, organic and such. We are eating more cosmopolitan menus, and not what our direct ancestors ate.
And then add to this the pressure to do more and more, that we end up with less time to cook from scratch so become reliant on more ready-made or processed foods. Who reading this bakes their own bread, milks their own cow to make butter and cheese, grows all their veg?
Exactly. Me neither.
This is why applying nutritious skincare to your face is so helpful- it is like applying a vitamin cocktail directly to where it is visible to your colleagues, parterm family and friends. If you’ve loked oint eh mirror and hated that tired reflection, it could be that your skin is suffering from lack of nutrition, as well as other factors liek sleep, clean air, gentle exercise.
So when you apply vitamin F to your skin, you are improving your skin’s outermost barrier, sealing in moisture. They also work to reduce redness and itching, and many Celtic women find menopause years tricky because of this as their skin has a tendency anyway to rosacea. This is why I designed Heart of Eternity with uber helpful argan and avocado which lock in the rosewater! It means your precious cells get to bathe like Cleopatra in rosewater.
Vitamin F is converted into ceramides in the skin. Ceramides create the glue or mortar between the skin cells that seals in the moisture or hydration. This outermost layer of skin also protects us from pollution, dust, UV and irritants.
By the way, symptoms of vitamin F deficiency include dry skin, poor wound healing, and blemishes that won’t heal.
Food with vitamin F
So which foods are packed with vitamin F? There are vegan, vegetarian and omnivore options:
In the fruit and veg section look for: avocados, corn and sprouts. Green leafy veg, kiwi fruit
Nuts: almonds, walnuts, pecans, brazils, cashews, hazels
Seeds: hemp, pumpkin, flax, pumpkin, sunflower, hemp, chia, sesame, pine nuts
Supplements: spirulina, evening primrose, blackcurrant seed oil
Fish like salmon, trout, mackerel, sardines and tuna.
Eggs.
Meat
Dairy products
Here is a simple morning skincare routine that includes vitamin F! First cleanse with Jardin de Fleurs or Harmony. Then spritz with collagen supporting Drench before applying Heart of Eternity. Job done. Enjoy your happier, softer skin.
