The Chinese use one of the components in pearl clarification, which makes it more expensive.
For a long time, readers have asked me to talk about what helps in getting rid of age spots and post-acne. If you can still live with freckles and love them, then we are not happy with red spots after acne.
Today's material will only be about the components that help to cope with pigmentation. If you are interested in specific products - let me know in the comments, I will make a separate review. Because anti-pigmentation products are divided by skin type, lightening strength, etc. This is a pretty broad topic of conversation.
How pigmentation appears (short and clear)
Our skin color, freckles and red spots are formed by three pigments: melanin, hemoglobin and very little carotenoids. Basically, our skin is "colored" by melanin. It comes in two types: black or brown pigment (eumelanin) and reddish shades (pheomelanin).
It is produced by special pigment cells of the skin - melanocytes. Now let's imagine that melanocytes are a workshop, a kind of production area, and melanin is a product of production. And in order to produce something, we need a special mechanism, let's say - a "tool". Such a "tool" is a special enzyme - tyrosinase. It is he who launches the mechanism for the production of melanin.
As you can imagine, if you "turn off" this mechanism, then our workshop will be empty and will not produce melanin. This is how all the components work in lightening pigmentation and post-acne - they block tyrosinase.
4 ingredients that will whiten skin from pigment
All of these components block tyrosinase, but have different effects.
1. Retinoids
Most often, tretinoin is used from retinoids in the fight against pigmentation; it penetrates the skin deeper than other varieties. It seems like it is forbidden in Russia, but I calmly bought an Indian cream with tretinoin at Ozone, and I had 2 weeks left before the end of the course so that I could tell and show you everything in detail about it.
In short, tretinoin is a pretty strong and unpredictable thing. The first week you can be horrified by the result: severe peeling, redness and pimples become more (as if he pulls out everything that is brewing). The skin will be very dry at first. So prepare moisturizing serums and creams. It is better to apply Tretinoin at night, and preferably in winter, in summer before going outside, SPF is required.
2. Azelaic acid
The only one of the four tyrosinase blockers that rarely causes irritation. But his effect is rather weak, let's be honest. A popular ingredient in advertised acne treatments that work very poorly on many.
We must pay tribute to azelaic acid: it does not bleach or discolor healthy skin.
3. Hydroquinone
A very effective yet daring ingredient. It doesn't just block tyrosinase. It directly replaces it and begins to destroy melanocytes, which is not good, because pigments on the skin are a gift of evolution, they protect us from the negative effects of ultraviolet radiation.
It greatly increases the photosensitivity of the skin, dermatitis appears and the skin may become discolored. Fortunately, cosmetic chemistry does not stand still and has developed safer hydroquinone derivatives that are not so destructive for melanocytes.
4. Kojic acid
A very interesting component, out of the four, it is popular among Asians. Kojic acid is formed during the production of sake ("Japanese vodka"): it is released during the fermentation of rice mash with a special yeast - aspergillus.
With kojic acid, Chinese scientists have succeeded in lightening the shell of an oyster. And after such an experiment, they began to use kojic acid in the purification and clarification of pearls to make them look more expensive. The photo below using the example of oysters, I think, is excellent evidence of how kojic acid suppresses melanin in shellfish.
Kojic acid also blocks tyrosinase by binding copper ions. She, like azelaic acid, is an antioxidant. May dry out and slightly irritate the skin.
Now cosmetics manufacturers face a rather difficult task: to create the MAXIMUM safe product to remove age spots and post-acne, so much so that it still penetrates into the layer of the skin where pigments. Many of them are weak, and working tools are often expensive - there are several types of retinoids at once, coupled with kojic acid, for example, plus moisturizing ingredients.
Hope it was interesting. If you like this heading about ingredients in cosmetics, put your thumbs up and subscribe to the channel!
