Breaking Out Of A Skin Lightening Plateau

A plateau in skin lightening is when you have reached a certain shade or look from skin lighteners or skin brighteners, and no matter how much you try to enhance the efficacy of the lightener or your regimen - your skin tone remains the same.

Now being in a stagnant spot in skin lightening is often times intentional. For example, in my case, I am pretty much at a point where my skin tone is at my goal, and the products I use do not make drastic changes. They work definitley since they are maintaining my complexion, but they don't break that plateau. And I am fine with this, since at this time I don't desire to go any lighter 'in shades'.

The main point of this article is not for people who are intentionally in a stable spot in skin lightening. Breaking out of a stagnant skin lightening state is done by re-examining your regimen and replacing products within your regimen. The first place to start is always with sunscreen. I feel like I cannot express the significance of this point completley, but the higher the PPD of a sunscreen, the less chance of tanning, darkening or re-pigmentation is to occur.

PPD (persistent pigment darkening) plays a huge role in breaking out of a skin lightening rut. If you find your acne marks constantly going darker, your skin tone constantly tanning or the pigmentation issues you are having now remain the same - bumping up to a higher PPD sunscreen will drastically change things. Trust me, it doesn't sound like much but switching from a moderate PPD level (PPD of 8-12) sunscreen to a higher level PPD sunscreen may be the extra push you need.  UVA/UVB damage is something you need to minimize as much as possible.

If you are following the tips that I have mentioned throughout the blog about increasing the efficacy of your lightener, and still aren't getting the results you want - perhaps it's time to look elsewhere. I usually give a product 4-6 weeks, but by the 4th week I should see some change (no matter how minimal it is). A stronger skin lightener can be the answer in finally fading those stubborn acne marks, or freckles or get you one shade lighter. Trust me, I've gone through many skin lighteners and found  there are lots of strong products out there that can break you out of a plateau.

The main reason I started the Featured Ingredients section earlier this year was to spotlight on common, effective skin lightening ingredients and help people select products with these ingredients in them. Certain ingredients work better than others. It's all subjective, but the only way to know is to try. I've learned over the years my skin responds very well to bearberry extract, mulberry extract, kojic acid, niacinamide, arbutin and rumex extract. Sepiwhite, licorice extract and many others don't do much for me. This is something I've learned by trying products with these ingredients.

It's a fact every skin lightener has a threshold. Depending on it's strength of active ingredients, it can only lighten so much. Eventually you will hit the lighest that particular product can make you and it will remain (granted that you are maintaining usage of it and protecting your skin with sunscreen daily). If you want to change things up and go further in your pigmentation goals, look for something stronger. Perhaps a lightener with similar ingredients but a stronger potency. The best way to find is by either contacting the company directly for this information or seeing where the ingredient lies within the ingredient list as a whole. The higher to the top it is, the more concentrated it is.

;)