I Have Pigmentation. What To Do?

I have pigmentation. What to do? Can i DIY something? 

Hi good morning. Today ill be talking about pigmentation.

Many people asked us if we have any diy treatment that they could make for their pigmentation and my answer is always the same: no;( not until now:) 

Now before we get into detail about why; lets talk about the how.

How does pigmentation occur?

Hyperpigmentation occurs usually because of excess melanin. Now if you have read about our whitening products and how it works before; you will know that melanin is the ‘thing’ that darkens your face.

Unfortunately; in the case of hyperpigmentation; the melanin distribution on face is not even (usually caused by aging) and so you will tend to get spots of pigments instead of ‘evenly’ distributed darker face. Those spots; can be called as pigments; or at times freckles.

What causes it?

There are various reasons why this happens; but most commonly its caused by hormone (hence you get it most during pregnancy) or due to aging. At times inflammatory diseases such as acne can cause it too (the scars). If you have used mercury or hydroquinone based ingredients before; this can cause it too. 

What to do?

Just like whitening products; if your pigmentation is due to overdrive of melanin; you will have to apply those ‘whitening’ ingredients. Commonly used ingredients are hydroquinone, kojic acid or mercury. 

If you seek help from medical professionals; they will usually prescribe hydroquinone. If you are given that; use it! A medicine that contains hydroquinone is controlled whereby it only contains 2-4% of hydroquinone. Dont use the ones sold outside as they are usually adultrated with hydroquinone up to 30-40% (to give fast results) and hence those products causes ‘burning’ etc.

If you wanted to ‘DIY’, then you could use ‘milder’ cosmeceuticals like niacinamide (up to 4%) and gluthathione (up to 2%). 

What is cosmeceuticals?

Cosmeceuticals are cosmetic ingredients that has ‘pharmaceutical’ like effect. They are all tested clinically and known about the dose that you can use. If use too little; no effect, if use too much; got side effects. So always ask your supplier how much to use when you add these cosmeceuticals. 

How To Make? 

Since most of SoapLab’s clients have dry skin; i do not reccomend to use these cosmeceutical on whole face. It doesnt make sense anyway because you only have few ‘pigments’, why apply on whole face? 

So instead; do a ‘spot treatment’ instead. Add these cosemceutical into gel base or cream base and apply only to the pigment areas.

General recipe;

1. 98g soaplab’s aloe vera gel base (10X concentration) 
2. 2g gluthathione / 4g niacinamide
3. Scent or essential oil as desired

How To Use?

When needed; apply a serum on whole face (i love soaplab’s hyaluronic acid serum because its suitable for aging and dry skin, the. apply these on the pigmentation area. 

After that; if its morning, dont forget to apply sun protection (prefabaly spf 50 above) done! 

Apply it daily and every 8-10 weeks you will see 1-2 shades lighter. Dont expect it to go off immediately as skin usually regenerates 21-28 days and it needs that long to reduce the pigmentation (at safe dose). 

Can i Mix?

No! You shouldnt mix the treatements. Not advicable for DIY unless you are professionally trained to do test and interactions between these ingredients.

Why cant i add the ingredients into my face cream or serum?

One of the reason i dont suggest you add into these products is becaude you will be applying these on your whole face. If you want to get rid of the pigmentation; you will be adding the cosmeceuticals at the ‘highest’ dose; and these usually causes excess drying on skin. So my suggestion is to make it into spot treatment (just like how we used to use the acne medications like oxy etc) where you only apply to the ‘problematic’ areas. 

Hope you find this article useful. Dont forget to share if you have any friends who has this problem:)

Let me know if you have any questions and thank you for reading;

Nisha