OneSkin

Antioxidants aren’t just another buzzword; they’re the foundation of any serious longevity-focused regimen. Once hailed as the next trend, antioxidant-powered skin care is here to stay.

And for good reason. Antioxidants play a crucial role in combating a major cause of premature skin aging: free radicals.[1] Today, a robust antioxidant profile isn’t optional—it’s the bare minimum your skincare needs to deliver true defense and even help target visible signs of aging. Let’s break down why antioxidants remain indispensable and how OneSkin uses specific antioxidant blends to address specific skin concerns, boost the effects of other active ingredients, and deliver an unparalleled boost to the longevity of your largest organ.

What Are Antioxidants?

Before we dive into what antioxidants are, you should understand how they interact with free radicals. Free radicals are unstable molecules that are missing an electron. This makes them highly reactive, causing them to steal electrons from nearby stable molecules in the body. When a free radical steals an electron from another molecule, it damages and destabilizes that molecule, causing it to become another free radical. This initiates a chain reaction that perpetuates further free radical formation and damage — a process known as oxidation.[1]

Antioxidants are molecules that “donate” electrons to free radicals to help stop this oxidation process and prevent further damage. Antioxidants are quite literally anti-oxidants because they neutralize the oxidative process.[1]

Why Does The Body Need Antioxidants?

The body is constantly exposed to a level of oxidative stress from both internal and external sources. Internally, your body produces free radicals as an unavoidable byproduct of the metabolic processes that keep you alive, or through processes like mitochondrial aging. You also face external exposure to free radicals from your surroundings, such as radiation, air pollution, industrial chemicals, and other stressors. [2]

A certain level of free radicals is normal; in fact, your body has natural antioxidant mechanisms to counteract oxidative stress. However, these defenses are often easily overwhelmed by your daily exposure to sources of oxidation. This excess of free radicals in the body can be extremely harmful to your health. Since they wreak havoc on DNA, oxidation is known to be a fundamental contributor to several degenerative diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and dementia.[3]

The oxidative damage caused by free radicals leads to genomic instability and epigenetic changes, two of the primary hallmarks of aging itself. It’s this oxidative stress and cellular degeneration that partially determine how fast you age.[4]

What Do Antioxidants Do For Skin?

Now that you understand how antioxidants work at a cellular level, let’s explore their specific benefits for skin health.

As the first line of defense against external stressors, your skin is exposed to some of the highest levels of oxidative stress in the body. Here are some of the primary benefits of antioxidants for your skin:

Antioxidants Combat Sun Damage

When UV radiation hits molecules in your cells, it can strip them of an electron and create a free radical. This is why UV exposure is one of the primary sources of oxidative stress. What's more, oxidative stress can trigger other downstream sources of aging and inflammation, such as cellular senescence.[5,6]

The antioxidants in your sunscreen or moisturizer can help minimize these effects by stopping a source of secondary skin damage in its tracks.

Antioxidants Strengthen The Skin

As oxidation affects structural proteins in your skin, such as collagen and elastin, it can cause them to break down and deteriorate. This results in a weaker, thinner skin barrier with reduced protection against external stressors and increased water loss. Over time, this can even contribute to signs of skin aging, like wrinkles and crepey skin.[7]

Antioxidants prevent this structural protein damage and may also support skin functions that produce collagen, helping to reinforce the skin barrier.

Antioxidants Help Improve Acne

Oxidative stress has been shown to trigger skin inflammation that can trigger or exacerbate acne. Not only that, sebum produced by the oil glands can also become oxidized by free radicals, modifying its viscosity and composition in a way that causes it to begin blocking pores, leading to blackheads and acne.[8]

By reducing inflammation and sebum oxidation, antioxidants can help control acne and minimize future breakouts.

Antioxidants Exfoliate

Some antioxidants increase cellular turnover from the inside out, making them a gentle and natural way to exfoliate the skin. In contrast to exfoliants that manually or chemically slough off surface cells, antioxidants facilitate a process similar to skin resurfacing by helping the skin's deeper levels grow thicker, healthier skin. This results in smoother, more radiant skin without the irritation and micro-tearing sometimes caused by harsh physical exfoliation. Many dermatologists recommend using antioxidant-rich products for this very reason, as they provide continuous, gentle exfoliation by fostering faster cell turnover.[9]

Is it More Effective to Eat Antioxidants or Apply Them Topically?

When it comes to healthy skin, the best approach is a comprehensive one, as both methods have their benefits and drawbacks. Eating antioxidants doesn't ensure they reach the places you need them most, while topical antioxidants only affect local skin oxidative stress. That means eating a variety of antioxidant-rich foods and using skin care products like OneSkin’s, which are formulated with potent antioxidants. Used together, this approach can help protect against environmental stressors while enhancing cellular repair and rejuvenation.[10]

Pro tip: While potent dietary supplements containing antioxidants are available, some research suggests that these supplements may have the opposite effect of their intended purpose and contribute to oxidative stress. Instead, a balanced diet rich in antioxidants is the preferred method of obtaining the antioxidants your body needs.[11]

How Do The Antioxidants In OneSkin Products Help Prevent Skin Aging

At the heart of OneSkin products is a potent blend of antioxidants specifically designed to work synergistically with the OS-01 peptide. Here are some examples of how OneSkin leverages antioxidants to target skin (and hair follicle) aging:

OS-01 FACE

Designed for facial skin, OS-01 FACE is supported by several powerful antioxidants:

Niacinamide: This form of vitamin B is a true skin care superstar. By reducing inflammation, regulating skin oil production, evening out skin tone, and promoting protein synthesis in the epidermis, niacinamide does much more than just neutralize free radicals.[12-15]
Oleic Pau Mulato Extract: Extracted from an Amazonian tree, this antioxidant blend lowers the skin's oxidative stress, helping it support skin repair functions.[16]
Pracaxi Oil: This oil is known for its moisturizing, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, and antifungal properties. New research suggests that this oil offers additional benefits, including its potential use in wound healing and modulating inflammation-induced melanogenesis.[17,18,19]

OS-01 FACE SPF

Our broad-spectrum mineral sunscreen is formulated with antioxidant levels proven to outperform other vitamin C serums and leading “anti-aging” sunscreens when it comes to neutralizing skin-damaging free radicals.[20]

Shown in lab studies by measuring levels of free radical scavenging for common vitamin C serums (popular $90 and $50 vitamin C serums) and OS-01 FACE SPF using a DPPH assay.

Shown in lab studies utilizing a chemical probe with a stable radical that changes color when that radical is scavenged to measure the antioxidant capacity OS-01 FACE SPF versus a leading "anti-aging" antioxidant SPF moisturizer. OS-01 FACE SPF showed significantly higher antioxidant capacity. (p < 0.01; *p < 0.001)

Behind these industry-leading results are five antioxidants. Let's zoom in on three of these:

Green Tea Extract: Packed with EGCG, green tea extract neutralizes free radicals 25-100 times more effectively than vitamin C. Additionally, green tea is recognized for its ability to protect mitochondria, repair UV damage, modulate inflammatory responses following UV exposure, and even prevent UV-induced immune suppression.[21,22,23]
Vitamin C: Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant. However, its sun-protective capabilities are what make vitamin C stand out in any sunscreen formulation. By directly combating the initial damage caused by UV radiation, vitamin C can help reduce the severity of sunburn and reverse early signs of photoaging.[24] Plus, vitamin C can improve the durability of mineral UV filters like those found in OS-01 FACE SPF.[25]
Bisabolol: This chamomile-derived compound soothes UV-induced inflammation and enhances the penetration of other actives, helping them reach the deeper layers of skin where they're needed most.[26,27]

By combining these skin longevity-boosting ingredients with an SPF designed for daily use, OS-01 FACE SPF is advanced sun care that performs like skin care.

OS-01 HAIR

While it may not be intuitive, your scalp is skin. And it’s constantly exposed to oxidative stressors that can exacerbate scalp conditions and even accelerate hair loss. Healthy hair starts at the follicle, and antioxidants can help protect those roots from everyday stress. OS-01 HAIR includes two that go the extra mile:

Fisetin: Found in fruits like strawberries and apples, fisetin helps reduce oxidative stress and inflammation in the follicular environment. Research suggests that fisetin can help shift follicles from a resting (telogen) phase to the active (anagen) phase of the hair growth cycle, activating stem cells essential for new hair growth and reducing the burden of senescent cells.[28,29]
Sunflower Sprout Extract: Rich in antioxidants and vitamins A, D, and E, this extract helps combat cytokine-driven inflammation and oxidative stress. It also supports mitochondrial health in follicle cells, preserving scalp vitality and hair density over time.[30]

Thanks to these antioxidants and the OS-01 peptide, OS-01 HAIR is clinically validated to promote thicker hair with improved density by encouraging more hairs to enter their active growth phases.[20]

Key Takeaways:

Antioxidants are a family of molecules with the property to inhibit oxidation caused by environmental stressors.
Free radicals induce unwanted oxidation, which leads to genomic instability and epigenetic alterations—two hallmarks of aging. Antioxidants inhibit this oxidation and thus slow aging.
Antioxidants can improve skin health, reduce acne, and offer a more effective way to exfoliate, further combating uneven skin tone and texture.
Consuming antioxidant-rich foods and applying antioxidants topically is a comprehensive approach for promoting skin health.
The antioxidants in OneSkin’s products work together to prevent skin damage and support repair mechanisms.

References

Last Updated June 09, 2025

Reviewed by

Alessandra Zonari

PhD, Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) and Co-Founder of OneSkin

Alessandra earned her Master’s degree in stem cell biology, and her PhD in skin regeneration and tissue engineering at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil in collaboration with the 3B’s Research Group in Portugal. Alessandra did a second post-doctoral at the University of Coimbra in Portugal. She is a co-inventor of three patents and has published 20 peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals.

What Do Antioxidants Do For Skin and Why Should You Care?

What Are Antioxidants?

Why Does The Body Need Antioxidants?