Be Gone! Dark Spots And Pigmentation
Those dark spots and the uneven skin tone on your face, chest, and hands is a clear sign of aging skin, but with some daily attention, it doesn’t have to stay that way.
The trick to achieving and maintaining an even skin tone through the decades is to protect your skin from sun exposure while you’re young. Let me be clear. If you are in your twenties or thirties and you haven't noticed age (sun) spots, take precaution NOW. Because, if not, it is inevitable that you will be doing damage control in just a few years. Take heed, and make daily (face, neck, chest, hands, forearms) sunscreen application as important as brushing your teeth. If you are a wise women, 40+, and you are noticing the effects of the sun - brown spots, larger pores, bumpy, uneven skin - here is your life boat.Daily Sun Protection
Because a full 80% of the aging on your skin, is due to your daily exposure to the sun. Let me repeat that. 80% of the aging on your skin, is due to your daily exposure to the sun. Too many days in the sun without adequate protection from a broad-spectrum sunscreen rated SPF 30 or greater takes its toll on skin. Years of daily, cumulative exposure to the sun without sunscreen can cause: pores to weaken and expand, creating an orange peel–like texture on skin's surface that feels rough and looks uneven; dark spotted skin, and more sagging and lines than necessary. The solution: Daily (yes, 365 days, daily) sunscreen, skin brighteners and exfoliation!Gentle Exfoliants
Your skin's natural shedding process slows down with age and certain skin conditions, which equal - an uneven skin tone. Help your skin out with both mechanical (a gentle scrub) and chemical (AHA's and BHA's, kojac acid and retinol) exfoliant. Please avoid scrubs that contain jagged particles like apricot and nut pits or shells. Only ever use a gentle formula with smooth, round beads. Best yet, use our Jojoba Creme Scrub with smooth round beads made with jojoba oil that gently dissolve as you use them. And my goodness, don't stop at your jawline. Carry on through to your neck, throat, chest, hands and I suggest forearms. These areas get the most sun and the most damage, early on. Hint: Too much of a good thing is not always, a good thing. Too much exfoliant = flaky, red-irritated skin. Your skin should be smooth and soft with the proper amount for your skin. Experiment. Find your sweet spot.Vitamin C
Vitamin C has been solidly proven to help even out your skin tone, firm up your skin by building up collagen, (thus plumping up your skin) and lessening the effects of exposure to the elements. Ascorbic acid - Vitamin C's true name, is a powerhouse when mixed with other antioxidants. The combination can help alleviate uneven skin tone problems both before and after they occur. Although ascorbic acid is definitely an outstanding form of vitamin C, there are other forms that also have notable research demonstrating their stability (when compared to pure ascorbic acid) and efficacy such as ascorbyl palmitate and retinyl ascorbate.
Skin Brightening and Lightening for Discoloration
First, let's distinguish between a skin lightener and a skin brightener. A skin lightener is an over-the-counter product that contains hydroquinone as its active ingredient. This ingredient is approved for reducing the look of brown spots, dark spots, and freckles that result from sun exposure without using sunscreen and from other triggers. However, hydroquinone is not without controversy and tends to be strong; if its use is not well-managed, and it can be misused. We don't offer it up but you could research it for yourself if it intrigues you. Skin brighteners are cosmetics that contain ingredients such as various forms of vitamin C, kojic acid, acetyl glucosamine, arbutin, mulberry extract, various forms of licorice, and niacinamide, also known as vitamin B3. All four of these ingredients have research showing they can visibly brighten skin and make it look more even—and they tend to work best in combination rather than alone.
Don't Give Up - Have Patience
This is important. Results might take 6–12 weeks to appear—but think about it, your skin's appearance didn't change from even to uneven overnight, so give your new products time to work.
Intense Pulse Light (IPL)
Sadly, sometimes, even if you’re diligent with your new found skin care routine as well as diligent about daily sun protection, it’s still possible your dark spots may not improve as much as you like. Some discolorations are so stubborn and entrenched they are slower to respond to topical care and need more help. What to do? It may be time to consider seeing a dermatologist to discuss other options. IPL (Intense Pulse Light) is the tried and tested treatment for dark spots (as well as redness and broken capillaries). IPL is a light-based device which targets melanin in your skin. There is little downtime, though treated skin may be red for a few hours, and the pigmented areas get darker before scaling off. Depending on the stubbornness of what you are treating, you could need only one treatment, or as many as six. I find it quite reasonably priced as well. I am most definitely a fan.Better Skin Every Day
You can have better skin. When skin-lightening and brightening products, and exfoliants are combined with diligent daily application of a sunscreen rated SPF 30 or greater, you can absolutely reveal a luminous and more even tone that will help your skin look younger than it has in years! Going forward - Let's teach our daughters prevention. Sunscreen now. They will thank us in years to come.
