13 Sep Dangers of Hydroquinone
In recent times, we have had the media portray a certain idea of beauty, long straight hair, skinny toned bodies, and fair skin and because of this, women all over the world that don’t have long straight hair or fair skin have experienced some type of insecurity because of the colour of their skin or the texture of their hair.
source; dreamstimes.com
source;pinterest.com
The most common of them all have to be the situation of fair skin that has had millions of black women purchase all kinds of skin brightening creams, lotion and oils just to look like an idea. The problem here isn’t that there is little appreciation for the melanin saturated skin or the process of purchasing and using these kin brightening items, but the problem really is, the kind of products being used.
Most of the creams that are being used contain HYDROQUINONE as one of their primary ingredients. We could go into the chemical compounds and that make up this ingredient but that could get a little boring, but what you need to know is that Hydroquinone isn’t great for your skin, especially in the amount that is needed to fully brighten your skin.
Here are 5 reasons why bleaching/brightening your skin with Hydroquinone is a bad idea
- Hydroquinone stunts the development of melanin skin pigment which we must say is the best sunscreen known to man, and all hydroquinone does is destroy its existence in the skin.
- It simply whitens your skin by killing your skin pigment cells.
- Have you ever noticed the unhealthy chalky and pasty look that these hydroquinone brightening creams give? They are defeating the very purpose of using them. People who use these creams want, fair, radiant, glowing skin but that is never the case with hydroquinone.
- The sun and Hydroquinone aren’t best of friends; our weather in Nigeria COULD BE REALLY HOT, using these creams make your skin extra sensitive to sunlight which could cause serious cases of sunburns.
- You could smell really bad. Products with hydroquinone have a very weird smell to them and cause intense body heat and sweating. Sometimes, some users even try to mask the smell by using perfumes which makes it worse.
- It ages your skin; prolonged use of hydroquinone products could be really bad, especially as the skin ages and falls apart. The outer layer of the skin could thin out and become wrinkly and frail which isn’t what you want a once beautiful skin to become. Have a rethink and age gracefully without regrets.
There are many more reasons hydroquinone is a bad idea but, hopefully, these few are enough.
There are other options to have radiant glowing and healthy skin and here are a few;
- Use products rich in vitamin C
- Cod liver oil which is great for treating dull skin and acne
- And as usual, exercise, keep fit, and stay healthy.
source; healthline, medical news today.
Written by Folashade Akintunde for Bel fiore Medical.