Featured Ingredient: Kojic Acid

To help weed out through the tons and tons of skin lightening products out there, I decided to do this weekly thing where I make a blog post focusing on one ingredient. I've researched so much, and with all this plethora of knowledge I feel like this is the best way to share it and actually help people.

With skin lightening, certain ingredients work better on different people than others. For example, I know for me, my skin really responds well with Uva Ursi Extract (bearberry extract) which is found in Skinceuticals Phyto+. I know this from experience with other products with bearberry extract (i.e. Makari, Neostrata Spot Lightener etc.) as well.

Some people may have significant skin lightening with arbutin, rumex extract, or licorice extract. The list goes on. I think starting a weekly spotlight on a specific ingredient can really help with elucidating on the mechanisms of that ingredient as well as recommending effective products that contain the ingredient.

You will be suprised, there are a lot of skin lightening/skin whitening ingredients out there that you may not have heard of. Trying them out is the only way, but if you already know which ingredients work well with your skin without irritation and actually results, then these posts will help you find out a little more. I will update throughout the week on these 'featured ingredients' post and you can always check the side of my blog, where the 'tags' are if you want to reference back to an ingredient that was featured awhile ago.

I will post these on Tuesday mornings. This week the featured ingredient is Kojic Acid.

Kojic Acid is derived from a fungus, and inhibits the enzyme activity of tyronaise (producer of melanin (skin color)). It is commonly used in Japanese skin care products that target skin whitening and skin bleaching, as well as in their diets.

When skin is exposed to kojic acid, the skin cells slowly become nondendritic with much lower melanin content. Kojic acid also has a minor antioxidant ability, by scavenging oxygen radicals produced by the skin (in response to external enviornment). Typically a concentration ranging from 1-4% is found in most Kojic acid products. 2% is the correct, minimum concentration to produce any form of pigmentation reduction though.

Kojic acid can be irritating to some people, especially those who experience intense irritation from alpha hydroxy acids (similar forms of irritation). I use Kojic Acid (it's in Skinceuticals Phyto+) and I get no irritation whatsoever. I even mix it with my Retin-A gel and experience no adverse reactions. Again, it varies from person to person and there are some people that don't sit well with kojic acid (usually these are the skin types that cannot tolerate acids like AHAs, or BHAs).

Also, depending on the packaging, kojic acid (much like L-ascorbic acid - vitamin C) is highly unstable. Most companies work around this problem with solid packaging, like an air-tight pump or amber tinted bottle to protect against excessive sun light. There is also a variation form of kojic acid - kojic dipalmitate (found in the DermaDoctor's Total NonScents Ultra Gentle Brightening Antiperspirant) which is more stable yet a little less effective since it's not in a pure form (much like how ascorbyl glucoside and magnesium ascorbyl phosphate are much more stable forms of L-ascorbic acid).

Interesting Articles/Studies to read:

Additional background information on Kojic Acid, and it's skin lightening properties

Kojic Acid on Melasma Skin

Recommended products that contain Kojic Acid:

DDF Brightening Cleanser

La Roche Posay Mela-D SPF 15/PPD 11

C.Booth, Derma M 36, Kojic Acid Skin Brightening Fluid

Dr. Michelle Copeland AHA Body Smoothing Lotion

Skinceuticals Phyto+ or Cosmetic Skin Solutions Phyto+ Gel for a cheaper price

DDF Holistic Lightener

Dermaline Papaya Kojic Acid Soap

Palmer's Skin Success Eventone Ultra Fade Serum (without hydroquinone)

DermaQuest Skin Therapy Skin Lightening Serum


Make sure to to check every Tuesday morning for the next featured ingredient.

Mileena
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