- Categories: Skin Whitening
- Tags: Antioxidant, Antioxidants, Bloodstream, Chemicals, Desired Effect, Glutathione Levels, Hydroquinone, Kojic Acid, L Glutathione, Lasers, Many Roads, Melanin, Pigmentation, Radiant Skin, Safe Way, Skin Color, Star Trek, Tretinoin, Vitamin C, Vitamin E
For whatever reason, you might be thinking about skin whitening. While there are many roads to the same destination (uniformly colored and radiant skin), some are a lot safer than others.
First, let’s look at the bad methods of skin whitening. Bleaching the skin with any number of chemicals that affect the pigmentation of the skin may not always have the desired effect.
There are, of course, hundreds of products out there that claim to help lighten your skin color or improve the overall quality of your skin. Some of these products may include one or more of the following – hydroquinone, mercury, arbutin, tretinoin, kojic acid and azelaic acid.
I don’t know about you, but those are some pretty scary names. Other methods include lasers, which doesn’t sound like it would be too much fun. (I’m sure it’s not the type of lasers they use in Star Trek, but still…)
Granted, glutathione has a name just as frightening and intimidating as the others just listed, but it’s something that occurs naturally in the body.
Glutathione is a “master antioxidant” that resides within cells of all living tissue. It’s what handles and routes toxins in the body to other antioxidants like Vitamin C and Vitamin E that operate outside the cell.
In simpler terms, it’s something you want to have in the right amounts in your body to help combat cell damage.
One of the side effects of increased amounts of glutathione in a person is that it causes skin whitening. It does this by inhibiting (blocking) melanin. Blocking melanin causes the pigmentation (color) of your skin to become lighter.
When this knowledge was first discovered, there weren’t any methods available to easily increase the body’s level of glutathione. Not a lot was known in the beginning. Recently, though, it’s been found that taking L-glutathione (a reduced form of glutathione) orally can help increase the body’s glutathione levels. It’s not as effective as delivery directly into the bloodstream, but taken orally in the right doses, it’s been shown to have an effect not only on skin color and the overall health of the skin.
So now we have a way to whiten skin and keep it healthy at the same time. If you’ve been considering skin whitening, you now have an option that will improve your skin tone, make it more uniform in color and also help keep your body healthy in other ways.
I don’t know about you, but this seems like a win-win situation. Glutathione isn’t a cure all, but it is a safe and healthy method of skin whitening. If that’s something you’re considering, for whatever reason, be sure to find out more about glutathione and how it might help you.
By: Gen Wright
- Categories: Skin Whitening
- Tags: Alcoholic Drink, Byproduct, Carcinogenicity, Cosmetic Products, Dr Jonathan, Drink Sake, Eye Irritant, Fermentation Process, Hydroquinone, L Glutathione, Lindenberg, Melanin Production, Pears, Sensitive Skin Types, Skin Whitening Products, Skincare, Tretinoin, Types Of Berries, Vitamin C, World Of Skin
Following the recent ban of hydroquinone in many countries, there has been a wide debate regarding the safety of skin whitening products and their respective ingredients.
So, what’s safe and what’s not in the world of skin whitening?
The following are the findings from a report conducted on behalf of SW+SS Skin Whitening by Dr Jonathan Lindenberg, skincare adviser.
-Hydroquinone. Although Hydroquinone is a very strong inhibitor of melanin production, it has been banned from various countries due to the link found with cancer. It is considered to be an irritant above 4% concentration and can be an unstable ingredient in formulations of cosmetic products.
-Mercury. Highly Toxic. Both an acute and chronic poison. Its carcinogenicity has been well documented.
-Arbutin. It contains the chemical glucosylated hydroquinone. It can be extracted from various types of berries and pears. No studies have been made regarding its toxicity, but there are fears that it can have the same links with cancer found in Hydroquinone.
-Tretinoin. It is a derivative of Vitamin A. It has various uses in dermatology, including skin whitening. It can cause thinning and dryness of the skin. Sensitive skin types can also experience redness, scaling, itching and burning.
-Kojic acid. A byproduct of the fermentation process for making the Japanese alcoholic drink sake. Recent studies in mice have shown that there is evidence on the carcinogenicity of kojic acid, but its yet unproven if the same applies on humans.
-Azelaic acid. Originally used to skin acne, has been found to have skin whitening properties. It can be a skin and eye irritant, but it’s believed that there is no risk to health associated with this ingredient.
-Vitamin C. Various formulations, like L Glutathione, have been found to have positive effects in reducing melanin production in concentrations higher than 5%. Studies have shown that it’s one of the safest whitening products in the market.
-Alpha Hydroxic Acids, like lactic acid and glycolic acid are safe to use under 10% concentration. Concentrations higher than 10% are only to be used by dermatologists and trained cosmetologists.
By: Dr Jonathan Lindenberg
- Categories: Skin Whitening
- Tags: Actors And Actresses, African American Men, African Countries, African Slave Trade, Career Advancement, Caste, Dark Complexion, Dark Skin, Impediment, L Glutathione, Light Skin, Naghshineh, Peasants, Peers, Plethora, Preconceptions, Preferential Treatment, Secret Of The Stars, Skin Whitening Products, Slaves
Islamabad, Pakistan – November 9, 2007 – Actress Maneesha Naghshineh in a recent interview publicly admitted that she has been using SW+SS skin whitening products to get over the preconceptions that were acting as an impediment to her career advancement.
“In Pakistan, the darker your skin, the lower your perceived status and caste” she said.
When she was first launching her career as an actress, she quickly realised that fair skin sells more that dark skin. The producers and directors were always selecting the light skinned actors and actresses over their dark skinned peers.
Skin whitening industry in Asian and African countries is booming, with a plethora of skin whitening products to select from.
Skin whitening in Asia has its origins in China and Japan, where white complexion was seen as noble and aristocratic. Those rich enough could afford to stay indoors, while peasants that had to work outdoors got a dark complexion. In Africa can be traced back to the time of the African slave trade. Light-skinned slaves were usually given preferential treatment compared to their dark-skinned peers.
Studies have shown that African American men prefer light-skinned partners. Similar studies have also shown a clear link between light skin and better economic and social status.
Manufacturers of “SW+SS” skin whitening products have released figures from a recent research showing that sales of skin whitening products worldwide have doubled during the past years due to the increase of safe skin whitening products, like l glutathione based skin whitening soaps and creams.
With the advent of safe skin whitening products in the market, maybe the future is bright after all.
By: Ninega