Will lemon help in lightening/whitening your skin, or is it just over hyped?

 

You might be wondering why the caption of this article implies certain skepticism towards an ingredient many formulators can not do without in today's skincare formulation trend, well, if you read long enough, you might just see where this skepticism brews from.

When I first started formulating skincare products, I said to myself "I can just get recipes from YouTube and try them out", this I thought was the only thing I needed to do in order to create skincare products that will actually solve various skin issues. Well, I thought wrong. 

Living in a society where most people want to lighten their skin 1,2-3 shades more, I searched for recipes and ingredients that will lighten the skin and voila, LEMON was one of the most hyped ingredients that caught my eyes, you might know what I'm talking about if you also have searched for such. 

I took note of the various recipes and decided to try them out on my skin, I was super excited, that I was going to finally brighten my skin that had suffered from discoloration and a little hyper-pigmentation. My skin used to be very sensitive to sunlight, the slightest exposure and I was back to being discoloured, dull skinned and darker, are you getting the gist?

So, I prepared my first ever black soap following the recipes and instructions I gathered from YouTube and using LEMON as my ultimate lightening ingredient. You might be wondering how it went? I'll tell you exactly how it went, at that time, I wouldn't have admitted to it easily but I could see it all over my skin, the signs were everywhere, it would have ended in premium tears but for my resilience and doggedness towards finding answers.

Lessons Learnt:

1. Never use lemon on your skin without proper guidance or research. 

2. Not every skin type can tolerate lemon, so it is best that you first do a patch test to determine if your skin can tolerate it before use.

3. Never apply raw undiluted lemon directly on your skin without doing a patch test first.

4. Lemon is rich in citric acid and it can lighten your skin, tighten your pores, clear aging spots and reduce breakouts if used properly and in the right quantity.

5. Applying undiluted lemon directly on your skin or applying products that contain lemon on your skin during the day could cause you to develop; dry skin, skin sensitivity to sunlight, skin patches, skin irritation, skin acidity and some other reactions that are not captured in this article.

6. If you must use products that contain lemon, always apply sunscreen especially if you are using such a product during the day.

Apparently, after using the black soap which I made with lemon, my skin became much more sensitive to sunlight and I got some patches on my face as well. I must say, it was a lesson worth being learnt.

My view

- Lemon is not actually a bad skin lightening agent, it has many great benefits for the skin, it just has to be used cautiously.

- If you find out that you react to lemon, there are several other lightening agents you can substitute it with that are really great with minimal side effects.

- I feel lemon is actually over hyped and this has caused for several impatient skincare formulators to make products that end up burning and damaging the skin of their clients.

- Skincare formulators should always indicate that products made with lemon or lime should be used only at night, this will help in ensuring that the consumer of such a product, reaps every benefit possible without having bad reactions.

So, there you have it. Do you also think that lemon as a skin lightening agent is over hyped? Have you have used skincare products with lemon on your skin? Please share your thoughts and experiences with us.

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Additional Resources

You can read more on this subject here, also, find out how you can benefit from lemon without experiencing any side effects here in this video. 

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