Wow, A Safe Skin Lightener

If you're going to use a skin lightener, you'd best use a safe one.

As you may have heard, natural skin care is picking up steam. Anything applied to the skin, be it make up or moisturizer, is absorbed into the bloodstream just like it had been eaten.

There are over 10,000 harmful chemicals in common skin care products, including industrial agents, reproductive toxins, pesticides and stuff that just should not be on your body, let alone inside of it. They're linked to a variety of health concerns, ranging from head aches and nausea to lingering reproductive and psychological problems.

This makes the need for a safe skin lightening product even more apparent, because traditional skin lighteners contain exceptionally harmful ingredients, among which mercury is so dangerous that it's now banned in the United States.

Fortunately, there may be a safer alternative to common skin lightening products in Illuminatural 6i by the Skinception line of skin products. We'll get to that soon. But first, let's review what a skin lightener does.

How Skin Lightening Works

A skin lightening product is designed to lighten the skin, for an even complexion and reduction in visibility of skin blemishes, including moles, age spots, sun damage and acne scars.

To achieve this, a skin lightener does two things. First, it inhibits the enzyme tyrosinase, which is responsible for production of melanin - the dark pigment that causes dark spots and uneven skin tone.

Secondly, a skin lightening product exfoliates the skin, with turn over of dead, dark and mutated skin cells to coincide with the skin's natural regeneration process. This takes place over 28 days, and exfoliation allows newer, bright skin cells to replace the dark, blemished skin.

Hydroquinone, Chemical Peels, Mercury

Unfortunately, most traditional skin lightening products are laden with harmful chemicals. Hydroquinone, for example is a popular skin-bleaching chemical that, although common, is linked to an increased risk of cancer and leukemia.

Chemical peels are another common treatment to lighten the skin. They're designed to scrape away at the dermal layers with, of course, chemicals, that force the body to repair the exfoliated skin. Unfortunately, they can make pigmentation worse, not better. Complications are frequent, and they tend to work only for people with fair skin.

Yet it's the mercury content in many skin lighteners that presents some of the most compelling reasons to choose a natural lightener. This toxic agent is linked to ongoing neurological, psychological and kidney problems. Though it's now banned in such products in the United States, estimates suggest that one in four lighteners in the U.S. still contain mercury, labelled as calomel, mercuric or mercurio.

Natural Skin Lightening

A natural skin lightener, by contrast, uses botanicals and proven ingredients in the natural skin care industry, to inhibit tyrosinase and excess melanin production and to gently encourage exfoliation of dark skin cells.

Unlike the more dangerous methods of skin lightening, a natural skin lightener should contain no hydroquinone, steroids, and certainly no mercury. Instead there should be an emphasis on gentle ingredients, including:

Alpha-Arbutin - Derived from berries, alpha-arbutin may inhibit production of melanin by up to 70% and is generally effective for all skin types. In a Chinese study, alpha-arbutin was 60% more effective in lightening the skin than hydroquinone.

Niacinamide - A form of vitamin B3, niacinamide is involved in over 200 enzymatic reactions. In a recent clinical study, 89% of participants who applied niacinamide reported 'noticeable' or 'significant' skin lightening results in less than four weeks.

Beta Glucan - A multi-talented player in the natural skin care industry, beta glucan promotes healthy turnover of skin cells, stimulates collagen and promotes health of macrophages - the cells that destroy dead or mutated skin cells. Beta glucan is also considered a non-intrusive alternative to Botox.

A natural skin lightener, with these ingredients, may be a safer alternative to the common skin lighteners that consumers purchase for skin of smooth complexion and reduced skin blemishes. At the present time, Illuminatural 6i is one of the few products formulated with these natural ingredients, and customer feedback from the Skinception line that offers it is rated as excellent.