There are many good reasons besides vanity to want to lighten your skin. As we get into middle age, sometimes even as soon as our early 30s, our skin starts to lose the fresh, smooth look of youth.
Too Young for "Age Spots"?
Obviously a few wrinkles and crow's feet are to be expected as we age but in some people brown spots on the face can appear rather suddenly. They might show up as a brown blemish or two on the upper check or a line of small freckles along the upper lip. It seems like once this starts to happen more spots appear in the following months.
Areas of Discoloration Called Melasma
There's also a condition called melasma in which larger parts of the face get lighter or darker than the surrounding area. Sometimes melasma is called the "pregnancy mask" because it can be triggered by pregnancy and goes away soon after. But sometimes melasma is not related to pregnancy and it can be very frustrating to have a portions of discolored skin on the face, especially if you've always had nice even skin tone.
Main Culprits: Sun and Time
Over time our cells go a little haywire, that's why we don't live forever. And the effect of the sun on our face takes years to become apparent. That combination of sun and time create pigmentation time bombs that suddenly go off in the form of spots on our faces appearing seemingly out of nowhere.
Reappearance of Old Acne Scars
If you suffered from acne in your youth, that combination of sun and time also doesn't help as acne marks that had all but faded (and been happily forgotten) start to become more noticeable again.
Clear Skin Is Confidence
Obviously patches of different colored skin, brown blemishes and acne scars are more than vanity issues. Since we look each other in the face when interacting having it can make us very self conscious to interact with people when we have spots and patches melasma on our faces. This is why the word "correction" is sometimes used in skin care products - it's about getting back to our normal, natural selves.
So let's see what we can do about naturally correcting our skin color and getting our confidence back.
Nature Gave Us Blemishes, Use Nature To Correct Them
There are many good reasons to get "back to nature" when it comes to skin lighteners. There's the appeal of using natural ingredients instead of chemicals, wanting to avoid buying the bottles and containers cosmetics come in as well as avoiding the sting and side effects that can be part of chemical-based commercial bleaching products.
It turns out that it's easy to blend a natural face mask that lightens and whitens skin using the properties in everyday foods.
Common Skin Lightening Ingredients
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is a well known skin treatment that's used in major name brand cosmetics. Well, you don't have to look any further than oranges and lemons and tomatoes to find lots of fresh natural vitamin C.
Other ingredients like the lactic acid in dairy and the absorbent and gentle scrubbing power of oats help clear blemished skin by removing old dry cells through exfoliation, and refreshing the skin's surface through a mild peeling effect.
Citrus Fruits - and Tomato - Lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruits, and tomato - have acidic vitamin C to stimulate new cell growth and have antioxidants for protection against free radicals
Dairy - Cream cheese, milk, cream and yogurt contain lactic acid to remove top layer cells
Honey - Natural sun block and antibacterial
Oatmeal - Wicks up dirt and oils and exfoliates with gentle scrubbing
Four Simple Homemade Masks
Here are four easy to make masks made with healthy natural ingredients.
Lemon, Cream Cheese and Oatmeal Mask
Mix 1 tablespoon oatmeal with 4 tablespoons cream cheese and half a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice. The lactic acid from the cream cheese acts like a very light peel, shrinking pores and cleansing the skin. And the combination gently exfoliates and lightens too.
Yogurt and Orange Juice Mask
Mix 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) plain yogurt with two teaspoons lemon juice.
Apply thin layer to face, leave for 15 minutes. Wash off with warm water.
Yogurt and Grapefruit Peel Mask
Grate the rind of a whole grapefruit and mix with ¾ cups of yogurt. Leave on the face for 10 minutes. Wash completely with warm water.
Honey and Papaya Mask
Blend 2 tablespoons of honey and a half cup of mashed ripe papaya into a paste, then leave the mixture on your skin for up to 20 minutes.
Expected Results and After Care
Using these masks once a week over a period of several months can results in lighter, tighter and fresher looking skin due the antioxidant effects of vitamin C and mild peeling effects of the milk based ingredients.
As the masks are used and the old skin layers are replaced by new cells the areas of darker pigmentation should lessen in most cases.
It's also important to use sunblock and limit exposure to sunlight to protect the new skin layers and to keep those fresh new skin cells from developing too much pigmentation again.
For serious pigmentation problems or for faster results natural face masks may not be powerful enough. In these cases there are products such as Obagi Clear and Obagi Tretinoin that use chemical solutions to alter pigmentation at the cellular level.
These products can have side effects such as redness and peeling but they're also very effective at quickly resolving stubborn spots or uneven skin tone issues.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Karen_Walpole
Too Young for "Age Spots"?
Obviously a few wrinkles and crow's feet are to be expected as we age but in some people brown spots on the face can appear rather suddenly. They might show up as a brown blemish or two on the upper check or a line of small freckles along the upper lip. It seems like once this starts to happen more spots appear in the following months.
Areas of Discoloration Called Melasma
There's also a condition called melasma in which larger parts of the face get lighter or darker than the surrounding area. Sometimes melasma is called the "pregnancy mask" because it can be triggered by pregnancy and goes away soon after. But sometimes melasma is not related to pregnancy and it can be very frustrating to have a portions of discolored skin on the face, especially if you've always had nice even skin tone.
Main Culprits: Sun and Time
Over time our cells go a little haywire, that's why we don't live forever. And the effect of the sun on our face takes years to become apparent. That combination of sun and time create pigmentation time bombs that suddenly go off in the form of spots on our faces appearing seemingly out of nowhere.
Reappearance of Old Acne Scars
If you suffered from acne in your youth, that combination of sun and time also doesn't help as acne marks that had all but faded (and been happily forgotten) start to become more noticeable again.
Clear Skin Is Confidence
Obviously patches of different colored skin, brown blemishes and acne scars are more than vanity issues. Since we look each other in the face when interacting having it can make us very self conscious to interact with people when we have spots and patches melasma on our faces. This is why the word "correction" is sometimes used in skin care products - it's about getting back to our normal, natural selves.
So let's see what we can do about naturally correcting our skin color and getting our confidence back.
Nature Gave Us Blemishes, Use Nature To Correct Them
There are many good reasons to get "back to nature" when it comes to skin lighteners. There's the appeal of using natural ingredients instead of chemicals, wanting to avoid buying the bottles and containers cosmetics come in as well as avoiding the sting and side effects that can be part of chemical-based commercial bleaching products.
It turns out that it's easy to blend a natural face mask that lightens and whitens skin using the properties in everyday foods.
Common Skin Lightening Ingredients
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is a well known skin treatment that's used in major name brand cosmetics. Well, you don't have to look any further than oranges and lemons and tomatoes to find lots of fresh natural vitamin C.
Other ingredients like the lactic acid in dairy and the absorbent and gentle scrubbing power of oats help clear blemished skin by removing old dry cells through exfoliation, and refreshing the skin's surface through a mild peeling effect.
Citrus Fruits - and Tomato - Lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruits, and tomato - have acidic vitamin C to stimulate new cell growth and have antioxidants for protection against free radicals
Dairy - Cream cheese, milk, cream and yogurt contain lactic acid to remove top layer cells
Honey - Natural sun block and antibacterial
Oatmeal - Wicks up dirt and oils and exfoliates with gentle scrubbing
Four Simple Homemade Masks
Here are four easy to make masks made with healthy natural ingredients.
Lemon, Cream Cheese and Oatmeal Mask
Mix 1 tablespoon oatmeal with 4 tablespoons cream cheese and half a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice. The lactic acid from the cream cheese acts like a very light peel, shrinking pores and cleansing the skin. And the combination gently exfoliates and lightens too.
Yogurt and Orange Juice Mask
Mix 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) plain yogurt with two teaspoons lemon juice.
Apply thin layer to face, leave for 15 minutes. Wash off with warm water.
Yogurt and Grapefruit Peel Mask
Grate the rind of a whole grapefruit and mix with ¾ cups of yogurt. Leave on the face for 10 minutes. Wash completely with warm water.
Honey and Papaya Mask
Blend 2 tablespoons of honey and a half cup of mashed ripe papaya into a paste, then leave the mixture on your skin for up to 20 minutes.
Expected Results and After Care
Using these masks once a week over a period of several months can results in lighter, tighter and fresher looking skin due the antioxidant effects of vitamin C and mild peeling effects of the milk based ingredients.
As the masks are used and the old skin layers are replaced by new cells the areas of darker pigmentation should lessen in most cases.
It's also important to use sunblock and limit exposure to sunlight to protect the new skin layers and to keep those fresh new skin cells from developing too much pigmentation again.
For serious pigmentation problems or for faster results natural face masks may not be powerful enough. In these cases there are products such as Obagi Clear and Obagi Tretinoin that use chemical solutions to alter pigmentation at the cellular level.
These products can have side effects such as redness and peeling but they're also very effective at quickly resolving stubborn spots or uneven skin tone issues.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Karen_Walpole
