8 Unusual Skin Lightening Agents Experts Don’t Want You To Know

Tan Removal Heroes That Can Change Your Life

Okay, today I’m going to list out some unusual ingredients that can make your skin lighter & brighter.

You can skip the following portion if you don’t have much time, but I’d recommend you to go through it in order to not misunderstand me.

             Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not promoting lighter skin, but the truth is many of us have damaged our skin in sun & pollution so much & it looks so dull that it is indirectly affecting our self esteem. In India, I do agree people have fetish for fair skin. Even me, as a teenager had really dark skin (it didn’t matter to me but it bothered my peers) & I was happy with it. I was just another regular girl, going to school in the sun wearing skirts with no sunscreen on. Back then, we didn’t have much knowledge on these things. Only luxury we could afford was a cream at night (any cream), a body oil (rarely), & some talcum powder (used as compact occasionally). But then I grew up & it took a little time to realize how much damage I’d done to my skin which would take years to reverse (it indeed did). I never ran for a fairer skin, you actually can’t override your natural skin colour, but as I started taking a bit care, my skin responded accordingly. It started looking lighter & lighter & then I became what I am now. Ofcourse, all the cosmetics didn’t make me any lighter, but it was my real skin colour buried under years of abuse in the harsh sun & pollution. Whatever remedy I state here does NOT make skin fairer but help regain & retain your natural skin colour but yes, it’ll make your skin brighter for sure. Any skin colour, at it’s most natural state, if healthy, is BEAUTIFUL & I’ve seen some women with healthy dark skin to be most beautiful, so please don’t think I’m trying to promote fair skin to be beautiful. Health is beauty & a bright & healthy skin is beautiful (throw your shade card out, it’s suitable for your walls only). During the journey of finding the best skincare routine for me, I found out some really unusual things that can reverse sun damage to a certain extent & has the potential to remove tan & make your skin brighter & thus, lighter.

Ingredients that make skin lighter, brighter & improve complexion:

·         Lemon Peel: Maybe you’ve heard thousand times that lemon is the best ingredient that can whiten your skin tone. But this tan removal ball of magic has another part which is even more powerful than the juice itself. It’s the peel. I’ve read research papers, it has ingredients that act as natural tyrosinase inhibitor activity. (nerdy?? okay Tyrosinase is an enzyme that simply stating aids in the process of melanogenesis or synthesizing melanocytes from the amino acid Tyrosine, & anything that inhibits the activity of tyrosinase, the enzyme is a tyrosinase inhibitor & without tyrosinase, melanocytes/melanin forming cells cannot generate thus you skin remains light. So a tyrosinase inhibitor is a whitening agent.)

Leave the science here & let’s move in how to use it. Lemon peel is available in powdered form these days but if you don’t have it, you can make your own. Some people prefer to dry the lemon peel in the sun & grind it to powdery form. This is good because it has better shelf life but I prefer mine in the wet processing. I soak lemon peel (collected after the juice is extracted for cooking) in water overnight (better refrigerate) & make a fine paste the next day in a mixer-grinder. Add this to your regular face pack & you’re good to go. You’ll see the difference in a few months I guess.

·         Nutmeg: Yes, you heard it right. Nutmeg is a popular spice in India & the aroma is killer but it has another property. It’s amazing is scar removal. Make paste with water or dry roast to grind it to a powder, it’s a very potent skin lightening agent. Nutmeg, when applied with honey works well in reducing scars, removing tan & making skin brighter.

·         Raw papaya: Raw papaya works in a different way. If you have researched cosmetics online, I’m sure you have heard about enzyme peels. Raw papaya is the home made version of enzyme peel that naturally encourages skin cell turn over (accelerating peeling of dead skin cells on the upper layer of skin called the stratum corneum & revealing fresh skin from underneath). Raw papaya has a very potent enzyme called papain, which degenerates skin (don’t be afraid, it’ll just work on your upper layer & destroy the dead aggregating cells) & degrades protein, that’s why its also used as a meat tenderizer. Ask any culinary expert, papaya is pasted & used as a marinade in mutton recipes to make the mutton tender so that that cooking time is reduced into half (also used in kebabs & biryani recipes). This very potent attribute is we’re going to use here.

Cut papaya in small pieces & make fine paste (add water as you please) & add this to your regular face mask. But one word of caution, do not apply it as it is. Add this in other masks & then apply. Let it dry & wash off. Regular usage can not only remove tan, but also stubborn scars & brighten up.

·         Pear Skin: It’s the most potent of all I’m mentioning here. Pear peel contains Arbutin (if you’ve ever researched skin whitening creams, I’m sure you’ve heard of it). Arbutin is a natural derivative of Hydroquinone, which is the super potent skin bleaching agent but with its own side effects. Arbutin has similar chemical structure & thus works kind of in the same way minus the sometimes horrific side effects of hydroquinone. Some dermatologists consider arbutin to be as potent as hydroquinone & thus, you’ll find this in many prescription medications for skin lightening.

But as you’re applying it in a natural form, (peel contains some amount of arbutin, it’s not all-arbutin) its not going to magically make your skin whiter in a jiffy. You need to wait a little to see difference. So, next time you crave pear, use its skin wisely. Peel it off & make a paste. Add this to your regular face pack & see your skin glowing.

·         Spinach: Remember Popeye? Yes, it’s the same thing. You need to become a skincare Popeye here & add a little spinach paste in your regular mask or just simply make a face mask based on spinach paste. It can do wonders to your skin. It also soothes burn & at the same time is a scar & tan removal superhero.

·         Dry Brushing: Okay agreed, it’s not a skin lightening agent rather a skin lightening technique used from the medieval times, works in the same way as modern day microdermabrasion. After a shower, take a little rough washcloth & rub it gently on your semi-wet skin (Not completely wet not completely dry) but do not rub so much that it becomes raw & inflamed & you curse me, just a little less than that & slowly you’ll see the cloth (if its white), turning dark & the amount of dirt coming out from your skin will surprise you. The name is a misnomer, you don’t perform this on dry skin, and it’s just half dried. After this, apply oil. Do this once a week on your limbs & body but NOT ON YOUR FACE.

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Citrus Essential Oil: Any essential oil of citrus fruit origin has inherent tyrosinase inhibitor activity (see explanation above on ‘pear skin’) & thus can lighten your skin tone & improve complexion. We have a plenty of themà Lemon essential oil, Lime Essential oil, Bergamot Essential oil, Mandarin Essential oil etc.

Among the above mentioned, all of them have various other benefits too like Lemon & Lime oil are excellent in reversing sun damage. So after a hectic day at work, or coming from venturing in the sun, add a few drops of them in your regular cream/moisturizer/carrier oil/face oil & apply on your face at night. It’ll rejuvenate & brighten up your skin as well as fight sun damage.

But be extra cautious about Bergamot oil, which is famous for its sun sensitivity. Never ever apply Bergamot oil in the daylight as it’ll give rise to a compound called Psoralen which causes immense damage to the skin. So apply this only at night. Of course this general rule applies to everything citrus; from lemon to citrus essential oilsà never apply them during the day light & these things has the potential to make skin extremely photosensitive. This is counter-productive, so apply sunscreen during the months you’re treating your skin with citrus oils or fruits.

•  Pineapple: Pineapple juice can sometimes be as effective as raw vinegar & even more effective than lemon juice. In this case, do not forget to dilute it or mix it in other face masks before application. But as the citrus rule applies here, it also makes your skin photosensitive thus sunscreen is a necessity here & not an option. 

Hope this article helps you. If you have any complain, please let me know in the comments section below & don’t forget to hit the blue ‘follow’ button on the sidebar if you like what you read.

Thank you.

CHEERS!!!