Skin Lightening is the buzzword in the up and coming cosmetic industry and since India as a nation in specific and South East Asia in general is luckily or unluckily obsessed with a lighter skin tone, the skin lightening market is going leaps and bounds.
As is customary, with every market growth comes increased awareness and with increased awareness comes the urge to spend and achieve the desired results. Now, when we talk of skin lightening, most of the readers must be aware of all the treatments that are available and a lot of other myths and facts.
In this blog, however, we will pick eight of the relatively unknown facts and talk about them in brief
1. The Pigmentation doesn’t go away forever
Yes, and hence all the claims you hear on the tv about a treatment being permanent are false. This is because even the most effective of the treatments
will be able to reduce or remove the pigmentation already present but they cannot stop the damage that will happen due to the external environmental
conditions. Hence, the skin will still respond to the pollutants and get dull/dark but if adequate maintenance is done, the same can be contained.
2. There are multiple skin whitening treatments available
Exactly, and these treatments range from glutathione shots, injections, lasers etc. The creams/topical applications and DIY treatments work too but more in a maintenance role.
3. The DIY skin treatments do NOT work
Much to the dismay of a lot of people who look at several medical and beauty websites for solutions, DIY and/or topical treatments do not work for skin
lightening. This is simply because skin lightening has to come from within- by breaking the pigmentation (melanin) deposited below the epidermis and by
boosting the skin immunity so that it is better equipped to fight the cell damage caused by free radicals. Since DIY treatments cannot achieve the same as they work on the surface alone, they are not an effective solution for skin lightening.
4. Genital Whitening isn’t safe but is pretty popular in several countries
As strange as it may sound but vaginal whitening is a thing. Luckily it hasn’t been as famous in India and has been mostly restricted to Africa and the rest of APAC region. Genital whitening involves usage of lasers or bleaching agents on the genitalia which can kill several useful bacteria or even damage the skin in and around in that region because the skin there is by default super sensitive.
5. Skin Bleach contains powerful and harmful chemicals
It is bleach after all, and continuous bleaching is never safe because it eventually decolourises the skin and the constant use of harmful chemicals on the skin can result in it becoming patchy or in extreme cases cancerous too.
6. Glutathione skin lightening treatments have known to be the most
effective
This is because glutathione is a substance which is produced in the body naturally and is responsible for boosting the skin’s immunity and preventing free radical damage and hence assisting with maintaining the natural skin tone. Hence, when glutathione is injected/injested, the body recognises it as its own and without hardly any resistance, lets it work to its maximum effectiveness.
7. Some countries have banned skin whitening products owing to its racist
undertones
Not in India though because we believe in freedom but in multiple nations and most notably the Koreas and certain parts of Thailand and Africa skin lightening as a treatment saw a ban as they had taken the concept to extremes by publicly shaming the darker skin tones. In addition, skin bleaching became a trend which lead to an increase in the skin cancer concerns. Hence, for a public health initiative the ban had to be incorporated.
However, in India strict US-FDA rules apply for the skin lightening treatments and the multi-ethnic culture creates an acceptance of all skin types.
At Kosmoderma, we firmly believe that skin color is one’s personal choice and hence a person has full right to choose whatever they want and hence, any kind of shaming is strongly condemned by us.
8. Harmful chemical used in skin lightening creams can be cancerous
It is an established fact that multiple skin lightening creams result in thinning of the epidermis. Also, the bleaching agents present in some of these creams can be carcinogenic too. Plus, skin lightening creams aren’t that effective at all as they only work on the superficial layers. Hence, the suggestion is- avoid them.
I hope that these facts help you at some point when you consider making a decision about opting for skin lightening.