Nothing is more annoying to me than having dark spots on my skin. It doesn’t matter where it is on my body, if it’s dark then I want it gone. My husband tells me that my skin is beautiful no matter what, but being a woman of color, my skin is more prone to dark spots and discolorations due to scars, acne, etc, and to me these spots aren’t very attractive. I have tried many different bleaching creams, and the creams highlighted below are my favorites for various reasons.
Palmer Skin Success Fade Cream – My aunt is only 3 years my senior, and when we were teenagers, we hated our “black knees” as we referred to them as. Our knees (and elbows) were noticeably darker than the rest of our skin, and I must say that my aunt went to extreme measures to quickly lighten her knees. She claims to have used Clorox bleach, but to this day I don’t believe her. Anyway, my knees also got lighter, but at a slower pace than my aunt’s did. I used Palmer Skin Success Fade Cream every single night for 6 months. I also used this cream on other parts of my body, so I know that the reason it took so long to work on my knees is that they were darker than the other dark spots on my body. I didn’t mind buying this product because it was cheap (under $5 at the time) and the smell wasn’t too unpleasant like some of the other products that I’ve tried.
Ambi Skin Discoloration Fade Cream – My aunt and I loved to go shopping at the mall every weekend when we were teens. We would purchase music, clothes and beauty products. One beauty product that we discovered when I was about 15 was Ambi Skin Discoloration Fade Cream, which we discovered was specifically created for women of color. Like Palmer Skin Success Fade Cream, the Ambi Face Cream was economical as well, and it worked great to lighten the unsightly acne scars on our faces. My aunt’s problem areas were her forehead and on the left side of her face, and mine was only my chin. I didn’t think my chin would ever return to its original color, but sure enough, it did after six weeks of use. It worked great for my aunt as well.
Meladerm – this is one of my absolute favorite bleaching creams because it doesn’t have any of the potentially harmful chemicals that many other skin bleaching creams have. I’ve read the many warnings that say not to use the fade creams containing potentially harmful ingredients, and this caused me to search for a safer yet just as effective bleaching cream. My other two favorites are safe if used for short periods of time and on small parts of the body, but after discovering Meladerm, I don’t think I’ll go back. Meladerm doesn’t have any parabens, which has been proven to cause cancer, steroids, mercury or hydroquinone. Although the site says that you can see improvement in as soon as two weeks after using this product, it took more like five for me, but I was happy and will use this product in the future if and when I develop any more dark spots. So if you don’t mind paying a higher price for safety and better results, you can purchase Meldaderm from civantskincare.com for $49.99, for a 1.7 oz container.
Parabens & Cancer Page – http://www.breastcancerfund.org/clear-science/chemicals-glossary/parabens.html
Tyra Show, Dangerous Skin Bleaching – http://tyrashow.warnerbros.com/2009/01/the_dangers_of_skin_bleaching.php
