Watch any late night skin care infomercial and becoming more and more popular are skin lightening products. While their main audience might be Asian skin types who want to go lighter and brighter, many women with skin colors of all ranges, from dark to light are flocking to these lightening products to give themselves a flawless bright complexion.

So what should you look for when considering some of these creams?

Check what the main active ingredient for lightening your skin is. Many skin whitening creams contain hydroquinone, mercury, steroids or other harmful bleaching additives which can be dangerous in large doses so avoid them if possible.

Try and find natural lightening ingredients which are effective but safe for all skin types.

You should also avoid fragrances in your skin care products (and that applies to all creams, not just skin whiteners). Fragrances are put in to mask any ‘chemical’ smells that your face cream will have. If it’s got a chemical smell then you probably won’t want to put it on your face (with good reason). However many added fragrances in cosmetics have been linked to cancer and no price of beauty is worth that, especially when there are safer products on the market.

How do they work?

Most skin whiteners work by either reducing the amount of melanin in the skin which is the skin pigment responsible for tanning and darkening, or by blocking the sun’s rays from your skin preventing darkening.

What are some of the best known skin whitening creams on the market?

Many skin care companies are bringing out their own ranges of lighteners but currently the best selling creams are Meladerm, SkinBright, Revitol and Lucederm.Â

There are also many skin lightening blog’s that claim to give you tips on lightening your skin, but be sceptical about some of their claims.

Can Skin Lightening Products be used on freckles or skin pigmentation?

Yes most of them are completely safe and can be very effective against birthmarks, freckles, sun and age spots and other skin discolorations.

How long do they take to work?

Obviously there is no guarantee’s on any of these products, but most manufacturers claim that you should start to see results after around three weeks with a noticeable improvement by eight weeks.

ADVERTISING