Skin Whitening Products - Dos and Don’ts - Part II
Almost all great cosmetic brands have specially created cosmetic lines that are specific to the Asian Market, like Lancome’s Blanc Expert, Shiseido with Lucent or Superieure, Helena Rubinstein, MAC with their whitening line recently brought to the West as Lightful, Clinique also has a specific whitening line called Derma-White and has paved its way to the Western market just to name a few.
Around the time of Lightful’s release some became infuriated viewing it as just another euphemism for racism accusing the cosmetics company of being racist feeling that the product line was intended to make ethnic darker skin white, which is completely far from the truth.
So what are whitening products and what are they aimed at?
Mostly, what these products do is block or reduce melanin production by inhibiting the production of tyrosinase and breaking down the production of melanin, thus it doesn’t bleach the skin like many would think, but it just stops the skin from producing the substance that darkens the skin’s pigmentation.
Amongst the chemicals used in these products the more recurrent are hydroquinone (used topically), other well known alternatives to hydroquinone (banned in France for fear of cancer risk) are Vitamin C and Alpha Hydroxy acids (such as lactic and glycolic acids) and are present in many of today’s cosmetics either because they’re high in anti-oxidants (Vitamin C) or are chemical exfoliants that help shed older layers of skin that usually can cause blockage and blemishes.
Next, misconceptions and applications of today’s whitening cosmetics, if you chose to use them.
