It is becoming increasingly popular for you to find products that have some form of labeling that promises a whitening effect on the skin. For instance, you can pick up a whitening bar soap, whitening lotion, whitening serum or whitening mask.
But what does the whitening on the products really mean? Does it mean that your skin will become bright when you use a whitening product or does it work to lighten your skin complexion by a few shades?
The aim of this post is to explain that whitening can mean many different things across many different products. For some, it can mean skin brightening to make the skin look more luminous and vibrant, or skin lightening in the form of clearing dark spots, uneven skin tone and sun darkening, or it can even mean lightening the skin complexion a few shades. The secret lies in the ingredients that are found inside the products.
Skin Brightening
Have you sometimes noticed that your skin has lost its shine and vibrancy? The reason may be that it has a build up of dead skin cells and this makes it look dull in appearance. Skin brightening methods come in great handy in this instance because they involve natural remedies such as exfoliating and moisturizing.
These natural remedies are designed to increase your skin cell turnover. One such remedy is a body scrub, which is manual exfoliator that you use to scrub off the dead skin cells, giving way for new skin cells to be revealed. Another form of natural remedies are chemical exfoliators and these involve ingredients that dissolve dead skin cells like alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs), beta hydroxy acids (BHAs) and fruit enzymes.
Skin whitening products that contain these kinds of ingredients and properties are essentially skin brightening, so they will not lighten your skin. Using a product that has fruit enzymes like papine or BHAs like salicylic acid will brighten your skin in the form of exfoliating.
Skin Lightening
Skin lightening procedures work by reducing the concentration or production of melanin in the skin. Melanin is the pigment that gives skin its colour and helps protect it from the sun. So, in a sense, the less melanin you have, the lighter your skin tone will be. Skin lightening procedures therefore aim to lighten dark areas of the skin or to achieve a lighter overall skin complexion.
If you would like to target your dark spots, sun darkening or hyperpimentation, try to look for skin whitening products that contain ingredients such as Kojic Acid, Alpha Arbutin, Glutathione, Licorice Root and vitamin C. These ingredients are generally safe and naturally derived.
There are however more powerful skin lightening ingredients that can be found in products. These ingredients are:
hydroquinone
corticosteroids (steroid medicine), such as hydrocortisone
In many regions these ingredients are banned due to their adverse effects on the skin. For example, studies have shown that prolonged use of hydroquinone can lead to exogenous ochronsis (this appears as greyish dark patches on the skin). If you desire to use products that contain these slightly more stronger ingredients, it is better to do so with the advice of a doctor or skin care specialist.
To sum it up, the skin whitening label can mean many different things and its effectiveness will depend on the ingredients that are found in the product. Some skin whitening products can contain either brightening ingredients or lightening ones, and some even have a combination both the brightening and lightening.
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