What Vitamin E Actually Does For Your Skin | Allure

Scour the ingredient list on your most moisturizing skin care, and you’ll probably note the presence of vitamin E.  It’s found in nourishing serums and silky eye creams, and it even occurs naturally in our bodies and in certain foods. But how do you spot the version most likely to appear on an ingredient list, and what can it do for your skin? 

We asked a team of experts for a quick refresher course on all things vitamin E, including who should (and shouldn’t) use it, and the best ways to incorporate it into your skin-care routine.

Meet the experts:

What is vitamin E?

Yes, it is actually a vitamin. But if you want to get technical, the term vitamin E actually refers to a group of compounds. According to cosmetic chemist Ni’Kita Wilson, there are about “eight different types” or forms of vitamin E. “Vitamin E is the name given to [a] family of oil-soluble antioxidants,” explains cosmetic chemist Ni’Kita Wilson. Of the eight different types of vitamin E, “tocopheryl acetate and tocopherol are most commonly found in skin-care products.”

That means that although there are technically eight chemical forms in which vitamin E naturally occurs, it’s almost always tocopherol when you see the label “vitamin E” on your skin-care or supplement packaging. This is the only form of vitamin E that’s recognized to “meet human requirements,” as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) puts it. (Cosmetic chemist Ginger King explains that means it’s technically safe for humans to ingest.)