Dangerous? How could a skin lightening cream be dangerous?

If you’ve read our site you’ll know that we warn extensively of the risks of dangerous ingredients in cosmetics and skin care products. Skin lightening creams are no exception, and are, if anything, worse.

The main issue is the skin lightening creams mode of action.  To lighten the pigment of your skin a bleaching cream has to use some pretty powerful ingredients. Some, in particular one called hydroquinone, have been found to be dangerous.

Hydroquinone is linked to cancer, as well as a condition called ochronosis which results in skin disfigurement. It is a toxic chemical used in photo processing and the manufacture of rubber, and in skin bleaching products. It’s use in skin bleaching is banned in Europe.

The other dangerous ingredient used in skin bleaching is mercury in the form of mercury chloride & ammoniated mercury. It too is dangerous (after all, it’s mercury!!)

Both, if purchased outright, come with warnings of toxicity on the label. You don’t want to be putting them on your face. They can also cause skin pigmentation variation and premature aging as well as skin cancer.

The risks of what are called skin bleaching creams, or lightening face creams, are such that the FDA has now issued a warning “that over-the-counter (OTC) skin bleaching drug products are not generally recognized as safe and effective”.

In other words skin whitening creams are dangerous to your health.

So, if you really want to lighten the color of your skin can you safely do so or do you take your health in your hands attempting skin lightening?

Good question. One that I hope we can answer for you in the affirmative today.

You see there are effective skin lightening cremes available that do not use the harmful ingredients that have led to all the negative publicity about skin bleaching. They use natural and known safe ingredients and, as well, they work to lighten the color of your skin.

And as well it has excellent anti aging properties as well.

Lets have a look at the Xtend Life Natural Whitening Day Cream.

Xtend Life is a niche skin care company that concentrates on making top shelf skin care products using only known safe, and effective, natural ingredients. Their natural skin care products are already considered to be some of the best skin care products in the world, period. Now they have a skin lightening cream as well.

In keeping with their philosophy of using only known safe, natural, effective ingredients they have used a safe, natural and effective ingredient as the functional ingredient in their lightening face cream.

It’s Extrapone Nutgrass. What it does is to inhibit the action of melanin. Melanin is a skin pigment responsible for skin color. The color of a persons skin is primarily determined by the amount of melanin in the skin. The more melanin, the blacker the skin.

Extrapone Nutgrass was originally discovered to reduce skin irritation, but it was soon found that those who were using it also experienced a lightening of the skin color. Attention was turned to finding out why, and it was found that Extrapone Nutgrass reduced the amount of melanin in the skin.

Nutgrass is a plant, sometimes known as sedge. It’s botanical name is cyperus rotundus. Studies have shown that when applied topically to the skin it results in skin whitening in a relatively short time, with no dangerous side effects.

But Xtend Life are not content to just produce a skin lightening creme. They have a commitment to product quality and so also include in their Natural Whitening Day Cream the range of ingredients used in their excellent natural skin care products.

So as well as getting the effect of lightening cream on the skin you’re also getting the right ingredients for combating the skin effects of aging generally. Read the rest of this entry

Did you know that hundreds of women search “Japanese skin care” on the net every day?

Yes it’s true. The word “Japanese skin care” is very popular and searched regularly on the internet every day. And if you didn’t know why then you may be a little mystified about why so many women search this word.

After all, they don’t search “Finnish skin care” or “Scottish skin care” or skin care related to any other country.

So what is it about “Japanese skin care” that excites so many women? Lets find out.

The Japanese, or more specifically Japanese women, are known worldwide for their great skin right into old age. They have a lower incidence of wrinkles, for example, as they get older. And their skin just looks great.

Why? What is it about Japan that seems to result in Japanese women having such good skin?

Of course the Japanese have a good diet. They eat plenty of fish, which provides omega 3 oils, known to be good for your skin, they eat plenty of vegetables and rice and overall their diet is very healthy.

And as we have said here before, a good healthy diet is a great foundation for good skin, as healthy skin is found on a healthy body.

But is there more than just the Japanese diet to account for the great skin that seems so common to Japanese women? After all, there’s plenty of other countries where the people have great diets.

Yes there is another factor, and it’s only relatively recently that science has discovered one specific reason why Japanese women have such good skin. It’s related to one specific area of the Japanese diet.

What has been discovered is that there is a seaweed that is a big part of the Japanese diet that has all sorts of properties that contribute to healthy great looking skin. It’s a seaweed called Phytessence Wakame.

And the Japanese have eaten Phytessence Wakame for centuries, both fresh and dried. You’ve probably heard about how the Japanese eat seaweed, well this is it.

What is so good about Phytessence Wakame for the skin?

Phytessence Wakame is packed with such ingredients as calcium (15 times more than milk), a whole stack of minerals like sodium, iron, potassium, and a lot of the B group vitamins. It has antioxidants too, all important to the skin. And all of these are highly beneficial to the skin.

But there is one other thing about Phytessence Wakame that is very important to the skin. The most important benefit of eating seaweed to the Japanese skin.

You see there is an acid in the skin called hyaluronic acid. Hyaluronic acid is absolutely essential to the ability of the skin to retain it’s elasticity and suppleness. And if you’ve done any research into skin care you’ll know that maintaining suppleness and elasticity is one of the essential goals of good skin care.

And there is also an enzyme in the skin called hyaluronidase, which breaks down hyaluronic acid. So Hyaluronidase is reducing the effects of that good acid.

And Phytessence Wakame slows up the effects of hyaluronidase, thereby allowing your skin to retain more hyaluronic acid, more elasticity and more suppleness.

There’s the secret of Japanese skin care, only recently discovered.

The really good news is that there is a company at the cutting edge of skin care research that now makes a skin care line with the essential ingredients of Phytessence Wakame included. And studies have shown that these products work extremely well at reducing the incidence of wrinkles and fine lines on the skin.

Just like Japanese women find by eating it.

Now of course if you could find the right type of seaweed and eat lots of it you’d probably be able to get the same effects. But really, who wants to eat seaweed (apart from the Japanese)?

So if you’ve wondered about the secrets of Japanese skin care, and why so many Japanese women have such great skin, now you know why.

And now you too can benefit from the advantages of modern science which has allowed us too to benefit from the same seaweed that the Japanese eat, and get great skin care products that give you the benefits of eating Phytessence Wakame without actually eating it.

It’s probably pretty chewy anyway. Read the rest of this entry