Owl in a Towel incorporates natural vitamin E into our deodorant cream and hand sanitizers. Why Vitamin E and why natural Vitamin E specifically? Ingredient choices and ingredient quality makes a big difference in skincare efficacy and outcomes.
Vitamin E is a powerful anti-oxidant and an amazing, multi-tasking ingredient. Vitamin E increases the lifespan of a product and helps to preserve active ingredients.
Moreover, Vitamin E benefits skin in the following ways:
-helps maintain skin's natural moisture
-moisturizes dry skin
-anti-aging neutralization of free radicals
-anti-inflammatory
-improves micro-circulations of the skin
-supports protection against UV radiation
Free radicals damage cells, including skin cells through oxidation, leading to damaged, aging skin. Vitamin E blocks and therefore delays the oxidative process.
The protective layer of our skin helps prevent water loss and Vitamin E helps support skin's natural oils and fortifies this natural skin barrier.
Vitamin E is available in both natural and synthetic forms. Tocopheryl acetate is a synthetically made ester of tocopherol and acetic acid. In addition to the name tocopheryl acetate, this ingredient could also be listed as dl-alpha tocopherol. The body does not readily absorb Vitamin E in its synthetic form because the body must remove the acetate first. Only a small percentage of tocopheryl acetate actually becomes the beneficial Vitamin E in its tocopherol form. Notably, tocopheryl acetate is typically produced as a petroleum by-product.
Why would a brand choose to use synthetic Vitamin E over natural Vitamin E? One simple reason is cost. Natural Vitamin E is significantly more expensive to use than Tocopheryl Acetate.
When it comes to synthetic ingredients versus natural ingredients, which option is best depends on the specific ingredient each and every time. It would be easier if one could say that natural is always better than synthetic, but that's simply not the case. Sometimes, a synthetic version of an ingredient is better because it's more sustainably acquired, vegan, more stable, or a host of other reasons. In the case of Vitamin E though, natural is superior for a host of different reasons.
Natural Vitamin-E is much higher in bio-availability. And, it's better to obtain Vitamin E from renewable plant sources instead of non-renewable fossil fuels.
There are also variations in how natural Vitamin E is sourced. Natural Vitamin E can be sourced from soy, rapeseed oil, or sunflowers amongst other plant sources. The Vitamin E Owl in a Towel uses is COSMOS approved and derived from non-gmo sunflowers from Spain.