- 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: Arbutin, Azelaic Acid, Colored Skin, Hundreds Of Years, Kojic Acid, L Glutathione, Lasers, Many Different Reasons, Melanin, Natural Skin Color, Personal Choice, Self Esteem, Skin Pigmentation, Skin Problems, Terrible Thing, Thermometers, Topical Ointments, Tretinoin, Uneven Skin Tone, Vanity
Are you thinking about skin whitening? Here are some things to consider.
Skin whitening has been in practice around the world for at least hundreds of years. While there are many different reasons people want to lighten the color of their skin, it’s a personal choice that some will make and some won’t.
Sometimes people get their skin whitened to have an effect on their social status, but other times it’s to help correct skin problems like discoloration, blotches and uneven skin tone.
Some might say that this is all about vanity, about people just wanting to look better and feel good about themselves. What’s wrong with that, though? Having clear, uniformly colored skin can go a long way to help with self-esteem.
With a high self-esteem, people feel more confident and as a result are capable of bigger and better things. So skin whitening might be connected to vanity, but it’s not necessarily a terrible thing.
There are a lot of different skin whitening techniques and creams out there using a wide array of substances. Hydroquinone, mercury, arbutin, tretinoin, kojic acid and azelaic acid are some of the things used in some topical ointments for skin lightening.
Some of those don’t sound that bad … but Mercury? That’s the stuff they use in thermometers and is highly toxic in the wrong doses! Are there alternatives if you want your skin whitened?
Lasers are also sometimes used in skin whitening, but with the technology available today, it’s not a very consistent way to lighten your skin pigmentation. They’ve been known to cause problems, especially for people with a darker natural skin color.
Another, some might say safer, way to skin whitening is a side effect of L-glutathione. Glutathione inhibits the production of melanin, which causes a lightening of skin color. It sounds a lot safer than products that contain mercury.
Whether or not to lighten your skin color is a decision that shouldn’t be made lightly. It should be a personal choice, though, not clouded too much by what other people might think.
You should still do your homework when thinking about having your skin whitened by any method. One idea is to try to go online and find other people who have had success with different methods of skin whitening.
To balance those people, you might also read about any people who may have had problems with various techniques at skin whitening. (Anyone have Michael Jackson’s email?!)
Other people might have their thoughts and opinions about skin whitening, but when all is said and done, it’s your choice as to whether or not it’s something for you. Skin whitening can go a long way in helping people feel better about themselves.
And when people feel better about themselves, they tend to feel better about other people and the world in general, making it an easier place for all of us to live.
By: Gen Wright