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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Maintaining A Desired Skin Tone

Out of all the questions about skin lightening, the most common one I get asked about is maintenance. Once you've reached your desired skin tone, what do you do to maintain it?

It's a really good question.

I touched upon this briefy in Re-examining and Understanding Skin Lightening Skin Lightening is just like every other self improvement concept in that you need to keep up with it in order to continue reaping the benefits. Just like being physically fit or taking a certain supplement or medication, once you stop completley (even if the symptoms or problems goes away) the benefits from using that drug or regimen goes away as well.

When you lighten your skin naturally (without all over treatment of hydroquinone or a skin bleaching steroid), there is absolutley no problem or risk with continuing to use that specific skin lightener for life. I don't see what the issue is? Just like acne medication that people use to keep their pores clear, a lightener can be used to maintain a skin tone.

The good thing is, once you reach your desired skin tone, most of the maintenance lies within the strength of your entire regimen as opposed to just a single skin lightener or skin brightener. Sunscreen plays a huge role in preventing re-darkening and hyperpigmentation. If you wear sunscreen daily, it will go a long way in preserving your color.

Continuing to exfoliating gently and consistently also will help remove old, dead melanin filled cells and promote a brighter, lighter more even-toned complexion.

The skin lightener (whichever one it may be) only needs to be used three to four times a week to maintain a certain skin tone. Once your skin has lightened up to a certain shade, cutting down usage of a lightener to 3x a week will work in keeping it that way. That is considering you are wearing sunscreen everyday and keeping up with gentle exfoliation as well.

The reason why this can work is because the melanin load is influenced greatly by skin lighteners, especially once it's already in a compromised state (meaning when it's at it's lightest). If the majority of your pigmentation issues were caused by sun damage, you will find that sunscreen is all you need to maintain your skin tone since your regimen of lighteners + exfoliation + sunscreen = reversed pigmentation induced sun damage.

But if you lightened past your original birth color, 3x a week usage of a skin lightener is all you need to maintain your skin tone.

A lot of people wonder if the skin will continue lightening if you reach your desired complexion and still use skin lighteners. The answer to that is no. Unless you keep upgrading your lightener to something stronger (higher % of active ingredients, or different skin lightening ingredient) you should plateau at a certain skin shade if you maintain usage of the particular lightener that helped you achieve the desired skin tone.
=D

It feels great to be blogging again. I took a break from it and I realized how much I miss and love writing on here. I'm back, and it feels good. <3

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20 Comments:

Blogger Sweet P said...

i missed your posts! I kept wondering when your next post will be :) Great to have you back!

June 22, 2010 at 6:56 PM  
Blogger Mileena said...

=D!

Thanks Sweet P.

June 22, 2010 at 6:59 PM  
Blogger Sweet P said...

oh and I just bought the Active C Eyes from La rosay poche for my dark eye circles. Will keep you updated on how it goes. MUAC lactic acid is working wonders for me! I was just wondering, do you use it on your neck area as well? It seems like since Ive been lightening my neck is now kinda darker than my face! eeks. I'm trying to lighten my neck area as well now to match my face :P

June 22, 2010 at 6:59 PM  
Anonymous Helen said...

Hi Mileena! I was wondering if you're familiar with MAC's foundation shades--they're very popular for comparing skin lightness, I've found. Would you have any idea how difficult it would be to move from one shade to the next? For example, I'm about an NC25/30 (which isn't even considered pale, sadly) and ideally, I'd love to be at least NC20 someday. How intensive of a regimen would I need?

June 22, 2010 at 7:29 PM  
Blogger Mileena said...

I do actually apply the lactic acid solution on my neck. I don't leave it on for a long time on my neck (3-4 minutes) only since my neck is so sensitive (skin on the neck is ultra sensitive).

But it does help getting the same effect there.
I'm glad it's working well for you. And yes, I'm excited to hear how the Active C eyes fares on your skin. Great collagen building in there too. ;)

June 22, 2010 at 7:38 PM  
Blogger Mileena said...

Hi Helen!

Yes I do know a little about MAC shades. Going from an NC25/30 to NC20 can happen. Lightening four to five shades is very possible.

Makari, a very potent yet not very sensitive skin friendly lightening company has a lightener that lightened me almost 3 shades in 2 weeks so, I'm sure it can happen with other products.

An intense regimen would probably involve a strong lightener (something that has a good % of active ingredients) like UNT EX White 2 and some other brightening agent like a 10% vitamin c serum during the day or a 5% niacinamide product like Olay White Radiance serum. Ofcourse limiting sun exposure as best you can, wearing a good UVA protective sunscreen and AHAs/exfoliation can help strengthen those products.

It can be done.

June 22, 2010 at 7:44 PM  
Anonymous Randy said...

Mileena, finally!!!
---

Hey i really3X want to restate it: is it okay to use the same line or single product for a longer period of time than just 2 months? D news is so fabulous and oh goodness its always bombastically published via media, even my trusted fren Prevention! It alarms me and im getting worried. They said we SHOULD (probably not MUST or NEED or HAVE TO) cycle our product/s every 2 mnths. Why? Coz in 2 mnths, d ingredient in d products fit our skin n our skin actually enjoys it. Now, if d skin 'overenjoys' it, d skin will get used to it so cycling products will help to prevent d skin to rely too much on d same things.
Really, i cant if i had to change my ponds line to sumtin like for example olay line. I cant stand olay's products--theyre sumtin my skin cant handle.
Help me n us!!

June 23, 2010 at 12:11 AM  
Anonymous Randy said...

Millie, why should i use vit.c every other day? Teehee i know if dat is intended for fresh l-ascorbic acid in lemons its gonna be fine, but cmooon vit.C supplement is also l-ascorbic so thats ahh...
How about d mg? 50mg is good or what? Or... is d higher d better?
How if i want to use vit.c as daily regimen? Its so stupid waiting for d next day to reuse it again :D
If irritation occurs, oh yes it does, but only when i use lemons. My previous 50mg vit.c is decent enough and not irritating.
Uuh i still wonder about vit.c... *daydreaming*

June 23, 2010 at 4:56 AM  
Blogger Mileena said...

Hey Randy,

I don't know where that's coming from, you most definitley do not need to constantly switch to a different product every 2 months. Depending on how strong the active ingredients are, your skin will lighten to the extent it can with that specific product (or product line's) strength of ingredients.

Resistance usually only occurs with antibacterial (topical antibiotic) products. It can happen with benzoyl peroxide, but not with skin lighteners.

There is no need to switch to Olay products if there's something in them that doesn't sit well with your skin. A lot of people have issues with them, but in the same turn some people love Olay products.

<3

June 23, 2010 at 7:31 AM  
Blogger Mileena said...

Vitamin C doesn't HAVE to be used every other day. I only recommend it (and personally use it this way) because it elimnates risk of irritation. I don't know about you but I hate having irritated skin.

Vitamin C also stays in the stratum corneum for up to 48 hours.

You can use vitamin c everyday, there are benefits to it. More fresh L-ascorbic acid being absorbed, as well as instant brightening and daily free radical protection.

So it's entirely up to you and how much your skin can tolerate. If you can use vitamin c everyday (serum or whatnot) then definitley do it.

Lemons shouldn't be used daily though. Those, as you said can be irritating without a doubt but vitamin c serums can be used daily if your skin can handle it. ;)

June 23, 2010 at 7:35 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for much for this post. I had made the mistake of stopping the use of a lightener that got me to my desired tone. only to go back darker. now i know i have to keep at it but only 3 x a week.

i have a question regarding the CS Solutions Phyto+. I have been using it for about 3 weeks now. it has calmed down my skin. no irritation and i do see some good fading of dark spots that covered my chin area. however i dont see any lightening in overall skin tone.

is it possible that phyto+ is great for breaking up excess melanin (dark spots) but not overrall lightening of face?

June 23, 2010 at 8:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hello there!!

how often should I be exfoliating? 3 x week? i bought BHA 2 %liquid but am clueless on how often i should use. i dont have acne prone skin. it's combination but sensitive.

is using st ives enough?

June 23, 2010 at 8:30 AM  
Blogger Mileena said...

The Phyto+ is a mild lightener, that I find does lighten my overall complexion by a shade or a half a shade over the course of 2 months or so. I've definitley reached the peak of how much I can lighten from it solely but i am so content with it I just continue using it.

You are right though in that it mainly does its work by breaking up the excess pigmentation (acne marks, dark regions) as opposed to 'regular' melanin production. But I find it does work, it just takes longer than a more potent lightener like O'tentika or Makari.

June 23, 2010 at 10:30 AM  
Blogger Mileena said...

Hi!

If you aren't acne prone, exfoliation canbe 2-3 times a week. I exfoliate daily with a retinoid (Retin-A gel) at night, and I get a little from my vitamin c serum. But I have very acne prone skin, and without daily exfoliation my pores can clog easily.

Using the BHA liquid 2-3x a week should help with cleaning up your pores. The St. Ives Scrub, while I don't like personally is an exfoliator that you can use as well. The BHA will exfoliate within your pores, while a manual scrub like St. Ives exfoliates the epidermal layer (top layer of dead skin cells). Both are equally important, so you can use the BHA 2-3x a week and the St. Ives once a week.

June 23, 2010 at 10:34 AM  
Anonymous Randy said...

Hey thanks anonymous! I wanted to bring that exfoliating process too :)

I want to buy like leave-on exfoliator preferably from Ponds. Theres one at d supermarket and its aha. Whats d difference btween aha n bha? Whch one is d strongest? The ponds aha toner-like sumtin contains 2% aha (lactic acid) i wonder if its save to use together with retinoid but its lactic acid whch is mild as u wrote. Then, should i wait to repair (bleh) d ph b4 applying niacinamide? Can i use 0,025 retinoid as an additional penetration enhancer? Logically its gonna be like dis: aha, niacinamide, retinoid.

Thanks :D

June 23, 2010 at 4:16 PM  
Blogger Mileena said...

Hi Randy,

AHAs exfoliate the epidermal layer (top layer of dead skin cells) while BHA exfoliates from within the pore (depletes sebum, keratinocytes, trapped bacteria).

they are both equally important, but lactic acid out of all of them is the best because it not only exfoliates and is the most gentle, but it has skin lightening elements to it. I love using lactic acid.

The waiting period between lactic acid and niacinamide is not as long as a BHA, since it's pH isn't as low as salicylic acid.

A 5 minute wait should suffice. Apply niacinamide on top and retinoid afterwards.

June 23, 2010 at 4:40 PM  
Anonymous Randy said...

Allright! Thanks! Eyyy youre quicker now :D

June 23, 2010 at 6:20 PM  
Blogger Mileena said...

I know, LOL! My passion for writing in general has been rekindled. I hope you can tell ;)

June 23, 2010 at 6:35 PM  
Anonymous Randy said...

Hahaha! Oh, men's articles??

June 23, 2010 at 7:34 PM  
Blogger Mileena said...

lol how is tommorrow?

It'll be up then

June 23, 2010 at 7:41 PM  

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