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 skincare is picking up steam. Anything applied to the skin, be it makeup 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 headaches 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 the production of melanin - the dark pigment that causes dark spots and uneven skin tone.

Secondly, a skin-lightening product exfoliates the skin, with a 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, labeled as calomel, mercuric, or Mercurio.

Natural Skin Lightening

A natural skin lightener, by contrast, uses botanicals and proven ingredients in the natural skincare 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 the 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 skincare industry, beta-glucan promotes healthy turnover of skin cells, stimulates collagen, and promotes the 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, maybe 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.

Illuminatural 6i: Why Do We Get Skin Blemishes?

One of the paradoxes of life is that beauty often has a limited shelf life. When we're young, our skin is thick and plump. It's usually free of blemishes and it radiates health and fertility.

Then it ages. Once young skin develops wrinkles, with sun damage and visible aging. Skin gets older. And notably, we develop blemishes, and scars we'd like to hide.

Skin blemishes are the result of excessive melanin levels. Melanin is the dark skin pigment, and hyperpigmentation is when the skin cells that produce this dark pigment shift into overdrive, with the development of:

• moles
• age spots
• blotchy skin
• sun damage
• uneven complexion
• melasma
• freckles

Skin blemishes may also appear as acne scars, birthmarks, or other signs that skin has been damaged in some form. Though such blemishes are primarily cosmetic, sun damage may elevate the risk of skin cancer.

Hyperpigmentation

Melanin occurs in all humans and determines skin and hair color and even the shade of one's eyes. Levels of melanin fluctuate among ethnic groups; African-Americans and those of Asian descent have higher levels of melanin than Caucasians.

Melanin is produced in the deepest layer of the epidermis – the skin's outermost layer – by the melanocyte skin cells. And hyperpigmentation occurs when the tyrosinase enzyme triggers the melanocyte cells to produce excessive melanin in localized areas.

While birthmarks are produced at birth, hyperpigmentation, and the skin blemishes that develop, as a result, can be triggered by factors including:

• pregnancy
• birth control pills
• hormone replacement therapy
• sun exposure
• acne
• surgery

Skin blemishes tend to form in concentrated patches, as a result of these factors and can make a once smooth complexion look uneven and blotchy.

How to Treat Skin Blemishes

In many cases, it's possible to reduce the chance that dark spots and related issues with complexion will form. Sun exposure, for example, is a common reason why women (and men) develop age spots and blotchy patches that, left unchecked, can often morph into melanoma and forms of skin cancer. Wearing sunscreen, with an SPF of at least 30, can reduce such damage.

As well, hormone replacement therapy is another reason why many women develop dark spots and skin blemishes. And considering that some forms of HRT are linked to a heightened risk of breast cancer, it may be advisable to avoid this treatment completely.

Finally, and perhaps the most popular treatment for dark spots and for a brighter complexion, many women make a skin brightening product part of their daily skin ritual. However, conventional skin brighteners present health risks that warrant a closer inspection.

Guidelines For Choosing a Skin Brightener

A skin brightener is designed to inhibit the tyrosinase enzyme that triggers hyperpigmentation. Besides, it's made to exfoliate dark, dead skin cells from the epidermis to coincide with the skin's 28-day renewal process.

Many skin brighteners, however, are formulated with hydroquinone and steroids. Worse, roughly one in four skin brightening products sold in the United States contain mercury, often labeled as calomel, mercuric, mercurous, or Mercurio.

Mercury is linked to a variety of psychological and neurological issues and can cause kidney problems. In some cases, such skin brighteners can cause mercury poisoning that, in pregnant women, can be passed from mother to her fetus.

As a safer alternative, many consumers pursue natural skin brightening, with a lightening product formulated with gentle exfoliants, plant-based sun filters, and natural ingredients, including niacinamide and beta-glucan.

A natural skin brightener, like Illuminatural6i by the Skinception line of skincare products, performs the same functions as a conventional skin brightener, with a lighter complexion and fading dark spots and blemishes, and may avoid the risks of products with mercury and hydroquinone.

Should you be interested in natural skin brightening, consider Illuminatural6i, as it's created with alpha-arbutin, which is a Chinese study, was 60% more effective for its skin-lightening effects that hydroquinone, and as studies indicate, is much safer.