Skin Lightening Soaps

For a long time I never really believed in using skin lightening soaps as a way to benefit my skin. I mean, I always assumed since it's going to be rinsed off anyway, what is the point?

Well, now that I know more and I've actually seen visible results, I recommend skin lightening soaps as great ways to help aid and enhance a skin lightening or skin brightening regimen. Particularily with body lightening, since it can be costly to use a skin lightening cream on your body, or any large surface area. There are products designed to lighten body skin, but using a soap with melanin inhibiting actives or even alpha hydroxy acids or exfoliating enzymes can produce results.

With this post I am going to break down certain aspects about using skin lightening soaps, and just try to elucidate on each. Skin lightening soaps do work at lightening skin and making a more uniform skin color, but a lot of times people expect too much (or too fast of results) from them. I think covering these concepts will hopefully clarify how skin lightening soaps work, and how to make the most out of them.

Consistency
The reason why skin lightening soaps actually work are because the skin is most receptive when wet. That is why it is important to towel dry completley before using products with powerful actives like Vitamin C or tretinoin, since the absorption rate is higher, but at the same time, it also means it can create some serious irritation. That is why on the packaging of Retin-A it suggests to wait a full 20 minutes after cleansing and towel drying to make sure skin has no residual external water content.

Anyway when you use a skin lightening soap everyday on your body in the shower - it adds up! The skin lightening effect is cumulative. Most people take a shower everyday (hopefully lol) so when the skin is lathered up with a soap that contains active ingredients that penetrate in the skin and actually have an effect on the melanin production - things happen. The skin eventually does become lighter and more uniform in tone with consistent use. The skin on my body is an example of this. That is how I lightened the sun damage on my body, primarily just through skin lightening cleansers/soaps

3 Minute Rule
In order to actually reap the benefits of a skin lightening soap, you have to lather it up on your body and let it remain there for about 3 minutes. In these 3 minutes, the skin absorbs the actives and going hand in hand with consistent use, eventually begins to correct irregular melanin, or lighten the skin tone.

Time
I have few blog posts about mindset and how vital it is to being successful at skin lightening, and achieving your desired skin tone. A lot of what the right mindset is just having a realistic, timely expectation. Skin lightening is gradual. It is a gradual process that varies from person to person in that spectrum of gradualness.  Particularily with using soaps or skin lightening washes since it is left on the skin for such a limited amount of time, you must expect be patient, and not expect drastic results quickly. It is gradual, cumulative but it does happen. Trust me.

Hydrating Rule
This is a really important rule that is often overlooked. Most of us using body lotions or something that hydrates our skin, especially during the winter months. Hydration is not just for keeping the flakies away, but it's also for maintaining the integrity of the skin, the condition of the skin. When skin is dry it is prone to irritation and inflammation. Excessive irritation and inflammation (if left untreated) eventually becomes pigmentation (post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation). That is why the skin on elbows (which are very dry and prone to exertion and such) and knees and knuckles have more melanin content than other areas of our body.

Hydration can be in the form of any cream or lotion. It can be a skin lightening body lotion or an AHA cream. Anything that will prevent roughness or that taut feeling will benefit you. Generally since the skin is most receptive to products when wet, using your body product right after you come out of the shower is best, when your skin is ever so slightly still damp. Though it could still be used when fully dry, just make sure to use within the 20 minutes of getting out of the shower.


The market for skin lightening soaps is vast, but a lot of those soaps like Blesso and such are just simply regular soaps. It's hard to find one that actually lightens. Personally I don't use a skin lightening soap per se, but a skin lightening, erm, sorry a skin brightening cleanser on my body. I use the DDF Brightening Cleanser. To conserve and make the most of the product, I apply a few pumps to a luffa and work over my body that way. I find this method to be very effective.

There are some soaps that are decent. Some I've even mentioned on this blog, but I'll go over the ones I feel are probably the only decent ones available. If you know any more, or have tried ones that worked and aren't here, feel free to comment about it, I will definitley add it here.

Dermaline/Diane Stadler Kojic Acid/Papaya Soap

Dermaline Black Licorice Soap with Arbutin

Likas Papaya Soap <-- mild and a bit drying but I saw a brightening effect

Fairglow Soap <-- very, very mild and seems to be hit or miss with people. It's active is a mushroom extract that is related to kojic acid. I did see some minimal brightening but that was after a year. I found this one to be tolerable for facial skin, though I usually would never ever put a soap on my face.

=)