Effective DIY Vitamin C Serum Recipe

Vitamin C is one of the most effective and well studied anti-aging ingredients for the skin.

​The most effective biologically active form of the Vitamin C is L-Ascorbic Acid. L-Ascorbic Acid is very unstable when exposed to light, air or water. For this reason, the majority of creams and serums contain a stabilized and much less potent form of the Vitamin C. 
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A vitamin C serum is a must in an anti-aging skincare. An easy, effective and very inexpensive option for a vitamin C serum is a DIY with L-Ascorbic Acid powder. It takes 5-10 minutes to make. The cost is about $1.5 - $5 per 50-60 ml bottle of the Vitamin C serum. If made in a dark bottle and stored in a dark place, it remains effective for up to 10 days. 

The DIY Vitamin C Serum Recipe

​INGREDIENTS 

• A non-metal serum-type dark bottle, from which you can dispense liquid (clean and reuse)
• L-Ascorbic Acid powder, high quality 
• A scale that allows measuring at least down to 0.1 mg
• Clean water
• A narrow scoop that will allow you to pour the powder through the bottle neck (opening). The back of a narrow spoon handle can be used for that
• Optional: Vegetable glycerine to add viscosity to the serum and skin hydration
• Optional: pH test strips to verify that you have effective pH

A sample list of supplies for a DIY Vitamin C Serum. 
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​If you are buying a 100 gram package of L-Ascorbic Acid, that will be enough to make approximately 20 of 50-ml bottles of serum with abut 10% vitamin C concentration. That is enough for 20 weeks if you are using the serum on face, neck, décolleté, and hands. 

Important: for the serum to be effective, it must use high quality pure L-Ascorbic acid.
​The best way to confirm that what you are buying is indeed the clean > 99% L-Ascorbic Acid is to ask the seller (the company that packaged the Vitamin C and whose brand you see on the package) to send you a copy of the laboratory test results (COA).
The most reliable test results are from a third-party laboratory. Such test results are documented in what is called COA (Certificate of Analysis) that the seller would have available. The cGMP in the USA and FDA do not require nutraceutical companies to test every batch, yet very responsible companies still do that.  
The second choice is if the seller has consistently used the same supplier of the L-Ascorbic acid, tested some of the previous batches, and never found issues with the prior batches. Ask for the COAs on the previous batches.
The Amazon list of supplies above only has L-Ascorbic acid from the sellers whose product has been tested. 

STEPS
1.  Add room temperature boiled water to the bottle.
To leave space for glycerine and L-Ascorbic acid, add about 20% less than the bottle size. E.g., if using a 50 ml bottle, pour 40 ml of water. You can use the scale to measure the 40 grams of water (1 g of water = 1 ml of water)
2.  Press "Tare" on the scale to set the weight to zero or remember the total bottle+water weight before adding the Ascorbic Acid. 
3.  Pour 5 to 15% L-Ascorbic Acid into the bottle with the water.
If you are just starting and have sensitive skin, begin with 5%. With each new batch, increase by 2-3%. Example, if you are using a 50 ml bottle and are comfortable with 10%: 40 ml of water and 4 (4.4) grams of L-Ascorbic Acid powder.
4.  Close and shake well for the L-Ascorbic Acid powder to dissolve. 
5.  Re-open the bottle, remove the cap, press "Tare" on the scale to set the weight to zero or remember the total bottle+water+Vitamin C weight before adding the Glycerine. 
6.  Add 2 grams of Glycerine per 50 ml bottle. Close and shake the bottle, test the solution on skin. If that still leaves your product too watery, add another 1-2 grams. If adding more than 5-6 grams of glycerine per 50 ml bottle, you will likely find your serum to be too sticky. Remember the glycerine concentration you liked for the next time. Glycerine is optional. If you do not add it, your serum will be as effective just feel to touch like water. 
7.  The first couple of times you are making the serum, also measure the acidity of the serum (pH).

• For normal skin, the optimal acidity of the Vitamin C serum is pH of approximately 3.5.
• If you find that 3.5 is too irritating for your sensitive skin, increase it to pH of 5 to 6 by decreasing the amount of ascorbic acid in the next batch of your serum.

Use the test strips as described on the strips package. 
8.  Store the bottle with the serum in a dark place. The serum will remain effective for up to 10 days.
9. Use once or twice a day. Creams and serums can be layered: apply the vitamin C serum before creams or oil-based skin products.

​The most expensive consumable ingredient in the serum is L-Ascorbic Acid powder. The larger the powder package, the less expensive per gram (ounce) it is.  

And enjoy the anti-aging benefits of the Vitamin C Serum unfolding.  
You will start seeing some results after one to two months of consistent use.  
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