Skincare’s Bubbly Girl Next Door
Panthenol might sound like an ingredient you’ve never seen before but you’d be surprised at how much it has already been doing for you. Take a quick scan of the ingredients list of your favorite moisturizer or face cream. We’ll bet at least one of those contains panthenol.
What It Is
Panthenol is also better known as the alcohol form of pro-vitamin B5 (the sister of vitamin B3, niacinamide) and it’s in that form that B5 appears in skin care products. Once applied topically, panthenol is quickly absorbed by the skin and converts to vitamin B5
Why we love it
The reason why it’s in almost every great moisturizer is that just like other great humectants (glycerin, anyone?), it has the amazing ability to attract and hold moisture on your skin. In other words, this ingredient makes your skin feel baby-butt soft. It’s also a team player, and holds the other moisturizing ingredients together so they do a better job of moisturizing you.
But that’s not all this awesome ingredient does. Due to the protective skin barrier panthenol creates, it reduces the risk of dehydration and dryness in the skin from evaporation and prevents natural water loss over time. Which means, your skin will become better at keeping itself hydrated ( We can feel our dry skin getting excited!)
Panthenol’s moisturizing nature also makes it a skin-soothing anti-inflammatory. If your skin is dry, it becomes sensitive because the moisture barrier that protects the skin from external stimuli weakens. Panthenol is effective against sun-induced redness and irritation because it works as a skin protectant that reduces itchiness and irritation.
Because panthenol in the long run strengthens your skin, a daily use of it will definitely improve your skin and your skin texture. If you pair panthenol with vitamin C, which is also famous for helping the production of collagen (the secret to youthful skin), you can reap all its benefits and boost your skin’s appearance
Next time you pick up a moisturizer and it has panthenol alongside other moisturizing ingredients, just know that you are guaranteed to get your money’s worth from it.
