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The Truth About Skin Lightening - Fashion - Nairaland

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Reviews Of The Best Skin Lightening Products You Have Ever Used. / Best Skin-Lightening Cream / Best Skin Lightening/toning Soap (2) (3) (4)

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The Truth About Skin Lightening by mychaella(f): 9:02pm On Nov 27, 2012
I’ve read many threads with complaints from people who have used mixed creams sold by “mixers” in Yaba, Lagos Island Lekki, Ikeja, Surulere and other places. The end result of usage of these products is usually damaged skin or results that are worse off than what the user started out with. The reasons for this fall into two main categories;
1. Use of dangerous/toxic chemicals
Many of these products claim to produce fast results in the shortest possible time (I’ve heard of some that claim to lighten in a couple of days!). The truth is, you may get your result in the time promised, but at what price? What many people are blithely unaware of is the high level of toxic chemicals contained in these products. Sure you’ll get lightened skin in “no time”, but you’re killing yourself slowly with the overload of hydroquinone, mercury and steroids.
Now, hydroquinone in itself is not harmful as long as it is in amounts of 2% or lower as approved by the FDA for over-the-counter products. But 2% hydroquinone is not potent enough to “lighten you in seven days” No ma’am, it isn’t. The products that promise this are known to contain hydroquinone levels in excess of 20%! Yes, as high as that. The side effects of this are numerous. Let us count the ways;
allergic reactions like rashes and hives, swelling of mouth and lips, excessive reddening of skin, formation of blisters on the skin, appearance of blue and black pigments on the skin (the condition is called exogenous ochronosis) and increased sensitivity to the harmful rays of the sun which in turn increases the chances of skin cancer. And these are just a few of them.
Mercury, also known as mercurous chloride, poisons the bloodstream, and toxic when used in cosmetics because it is readily absorbed. You know the end results? Kidney, brain, nervous and gastrointestinal disorders; skin rashes, mood swings, memory loss, and muscle weakness. What’s more? Prolonged contact with mercury also leads to skin rashes, mood swings, memory loss, and muscle weakness.
Last, but by no means the least, Steroids. Excessive usage of steroids can lead to blood-containing blisters on skin, burning and itching of skin, increased skin sensitivity, lack of healing of skin condition, numbness in fingers, painful, red, or itchy, pus-containing blisters in hair follicles, raised, dark red, wart-like spots on skin, especially when used on the face, skin infection, thinning of skin with easy bruising

2. Good Manufacturing Practice
For producers of skin care products, GMP is a necessity. It simply means that the utmost care must be taken in ensuring that products are produced using ingredients that are of the highest quality, with sterile equipment and in the cleanest of environments. The raw materials must be within their prescribed shelf life and must be free of adulteration and impurities. The equipment used in creating these products must be free from bacteria and other pollutants and the environment must meet the strictest hygienic standards. But in reality (or at least with many of these would-be cosmetologists) do not adhere to these requirements. Expired actives are used, oils and solutions are exposed to environmental pollutants and hygiene is not regarded in many of the makeshift laboratories.
So even if the raw materials aren’t toxic in themselves, exposure to these elements will affect the purity and safety of the end product. In the end, you have bacteria, metal pollutants, etc, reacting with the active ingredients present in these mixtures and producing something else entirely. Furthermore, many of these creations do not use chelating agents. In simple terms, a chelating agent is one that prevents two elements from reacting with each other and producing a third unknown and potentially harmful element. Sort of like preventing hydrogen and oxygen from combining to form water are preventing blue and yellow from combining to form green. In many of these products, the absence of a chelating agents leaves the active ingredients to freely react with each other to form a third compound that will almost always be harmful to your skin and your health. Chelating agents also perform other actions; they reduce rancidity, promote stability and reduce oxidization to ensure a safe product.
Scared? You should be.
If you are or have been using products based on these ingredients, now is the time to stop it.
There are safe and effective non hydroquinone, non-mercury and non-steroid solutions to freckles, melasma, age spots, uneven skin tone, dark underarms, acne scars, inner thighs, knees, elbows. Products that contain natural ingredients like licorice extract, alpha arbutin, nicotinamide, vitamin e, vitamin a, alpha hydroxy acids and beta hydroxy acids are considered safe for skin lightening.
Re: The Truth About Skin Lightening by vinna(f): 4:49pm On Nov 28, 2012
Most people have bad experiences while lightening their skin because of the following reason;

1. Using Harsh chemicals e.g Hydroquinone and Steroids
2. Not protecting their skin with Sunscreen
3. Not using deep moisturizing products
4. Having unrealistic expectation. (wanting to go 3 shades in one month...safe and healthy skin lightening takes time)


There are so many safe ingredients that will lighten you without damage to your skin; visit the link below to learn about them

http://organicsbymelvee..com/2012/11/lighten-your-complexion-naturally.html#.ULYw62c9wxg

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