How to whiten the skin of your face, hands, body at home

And about why skin whitening has become so popular in Africa, read the longread by historian Alexey Tselunov.

The data presented by the author does not fully prove the harm or benefit of certain drugs, but represents an overview of medical hypotheses, clinical trial results and individual cases.

There are many ways to lighten skin. Some of them relate to medical procedures for the treatment of pigmentation disorders, others are used only in cosmetology, and others are homemade “grandmother’s” recipes or fantasies of beauty bloggers. The first and second can be classified according to the type of impact. Physical ones include laser correction and cryotherapy, and chemical ones include treatment with various reagents or their mixtures that act directly on the molecular mechanisms of pigmentation formation (hydroquinone, tretinoin, glutathione, etc.) or whiten only the surface of the skin due to the oxidation of pigments (hydrogen peroxide , sodium hypochlorite) or leaching (various acids). Here we will focus on chemical approaches, since, unlike physical manipulations, many of the substances used not only act during the procedure, but are also able to penetrate through the skin deep into the body, enter the circulatory system and enter the internal organs, causing long-term consequences.

How to whiten facial skin

At home, ancient recipes are often used, because folk remedies can very quickly and effectively affect any dermis, regardless of its color.

Mash a banana with milk, spread the paste on your face, and leave for 20 minutes. Rinse it with cold water.
Excellent remedies are obtained with warm flower honey . Heat the component, apply to the entire surface of the face and neck, and leave for twenty minutes. Afterwards you need to wipe with a washcloth soaked in cold water.
Another good recipe with honey and egg. Mix a spoonful of natural flower honey and 1 beaten chicken egg. Apply and can be washed off after 15-20 minutes.
Baking soda and lemon juice will help remove signs of dark skin from your face . We combine the ingredients in equal parts, you get an abrasive paste, you need to thoroughly wipe your face with it every two days (if you have dry or sensitive dermis, then less often). Rinse off very carefully, because... the powder can penetrate the pores and disrupt the functioning of the sebaceous glands.
After tanning for the face, papaya will be an indispensable assistant. The fruit needs to be cut in half, remove the core, and rub your face over the entire area. We massage very intensively, after which you need to give your face a little more rest, about 10 minutes. Then rinse with warm water without soap.
Few people know that turmeric powder (a chicken seasoning), despite its orange color, has long been known for its whitening properties. We will need a spoon of turmeric, a spoon of natural orange juice and a water bath. Mix the ingredients thoroughly, stir until smooth, without lumps, heat the paste in a water bath and spread. This will help whiten almost any stain.
Fenugreek herb not only perfectly brightens the skin, but also helps to eliminate pimples, blackheads, and red spots in the mouth and nose area. Mash several leaves into a puree, apply as a solid mass, and leave for 20 minutes. Can be used every day to achieve quick and long-lasting results. The same can be done with the head, this will lighten the hair.

Photo - Face lightening before and after

Video: whitening facial skin from age spots https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PamqrL539wc

Caring for snow-white suede

It's good to dry the couple.
Brush off any dust and minor dirt with a brush, and rub the shiny areas with a special device similar to a rubber band.
Clean heavy stains with a brush soaked in a solution of ammonia (1 tbsp) and warm water (5 tbsp). Then rinse the area treated with the solution with cold water (1 l) and vinegar (1 tsp).
Polish the shoes with a soft, lint-free cloth and hold them over steam for a while to fluff up the suede.
For whitening, apply a solution of hydrogen peroxide and ammonia - 1 tbsp. Take a teaspoon of alcohol and the same amount of peroxide.
Dry dust cleaning is done using talc: sprinkle it on the shoes, then wipe with a suede brush and remove the powder with it.

A proven means of cleaning such products is a mixture of 1 tbsp. l. soda and 1 tbsp. milk. They are thoroughly mixed and a cotton pad is moistened, which is used to wipe the contaminated areas. Rub shiny areas against the lint.

After treatment, the shoes are wiped with a mixture of water (1 tbsp.) and vinegar (1 tsp.) and wiped with a dry cloth.

You can protect suede from the appearance of salt stains using glycerin (after cleaning dry shoes from dirt, wipe them with this product). A solution of 1 tbsp will help remove them. water and 1 tsp. vinegar. You can also remove plaque by holding the suede over steam and then spraying it with a specialized spray for such shoes.

Photo gallery: care products for white suede shoes

Special brushes carefully and thoroughly care for white suede shoes. A cleaner for suede shoes will carefully remove heavy dirt from them. Special paint will restore the impeccable appearance of white suede shoes. Impregnation to protect against moisture and dirt can significantly extend the life of shoes.

Whitening hands and feet

If achieving aristocratic whiteness on the face is not as difficult as it seems, then whitening inflamed skin on the elbows, knees, or even more so, heels, is very difficult. We need to act more comprehensively and more harshly.

Make a paste by mixing mashed banana, warm liquid flower honey, lemon juice and margarine. Apply the mixture and cover them with a breathable natural fabric bandage, say cotton, bandage or gauze. When using on the palms and feet, you can wear cotton work gloves or socks. In the morning, remove the compress, remove the remaining mass with a paper napkin.
Korean women often use cabbage decoction to whiten their heels after wearing leather shoes. According to reviews, the active elements of this vegetable have a very positive effect on rough skin. The layer of dead cells is removed, the upper part of the epidermis is softened. You will need from 5 to 10 leaves per liter of water, steam for about 20 minutes. You can repeat every day, if desired, add citrus juice to the solution, which contains acid that can whiten any rough areas.
Blackened skin on your knees can be quickly whitened and exfoliated by rubbing mango and potato puree over the area. Potatoes contain starch, which is known for its bleaching and astringent properties. Grind one fruit and half a vegetable, mix, if desired, you can add a spoonful of milk. Apply a thick layer overnight and leave until morning.
To remove chafed, brown skin on your heels, elbows, or palms, mix two tablespoons of sugar, lemon juice, and olive oil. The result will be an oily abrasive mixture. Rub intensively over problem areas, then leave the mixture for another 20 minutes.

Photo - Hand whitening before and after

Medicines

When the appearance of the bag is spoiled by obvious dirt, try to get rid of it with the help of medical means.

Hydrogen peroxide

– used for cleaning bags made of leatherette and genuine leather. If the stains are old (including yellowed), add 5-6 drops of ammonia to the peroxide. At the last stage of the procedure, wipe the product with a clean cloth soaked in warm water.

Ethanol

– effectively fights non-specific impurities on the skin. Soak a cotton pad in alcohol and gently, without pressing, rub the problem area. Change the cotton whenever it gets dirty. When the stain has dissolved, rinse the material with water to remove any remaining alcohol. To prevent the skin from becoming hard to the touch, treat it with a flannel cloth soaked in Vaseline, castor oil or edible glycerin.

Body and armpit whitening

In order to whiten the skin in intimate places and not only (armpits, bikini, abdomen) from unnatural color after sunbathing, various improvised products are used at home that contain mild acids that act directly on the middle layers of the epidermis.

You can whiten darkened skin with simple Vaseline. It adheres well to the dermis, is inexpensive and is known for its high effectiveness. But this option is not suitable for girls with oily skin, because... the substance clogs pores and prevents the sebaceous glands from working normally. Repeat no more than 2-3 times a month.
To get rid of pigmentation on the body, you need to regularly perform procedures that scrub the dermis. The product made from corn flour has proven itself well. Mix corn flour with egg white, apply to the décolleté, thighs, abdomen, buttocks. After an hour, the mixture will completely harden and a dense layer will form, which will help you get rid of scars, wrinkles, moles, and acne. Use no more than once a week.
An excellent cream that whitens the skin on the entire body, even from self-tanning, can be prepared using lemon juice, baby moisturizer, glycerin and sugar. Dilute 1 spoon of sugar in lemon juice, stir until dissolved, then mix with three spoons of cream and an ampoule of glycerin (5 grams). Apply to the entire body after a shower, do not rinse. This product will soothe the sensitive dermis, help dry skin get saturated with moisture, and remove dark spots.

Photo - Lightening armpits
To lighten the body in certain areas, you can use citric acid. For a spoonful of powder we will need half a spoonful of mineral water, stir. The result is a very acidic solution, which is what we call dark spots. This method is not suitable for dry skin, but it will be a real boon for combination skin.

Important Notes

Under no circumstances should you thoughtlessly choose the first method you come across to remove dirt. This can only ruin the thing completely. First of all, it is necessary to analyze the situation.

Things to consider:

It is wrong to start basic cleaning right away. First of all, a white leather product must be properly prepared.
It is important to choose the composition for removing stains correctly, that is, in accordance with the degree and nature of the contamination. Otherwise, even dry cleaning will not help correct attempts by an inappropriate method to eliminate the stain.
It is important to understand that using too aggressive chemical compounds on white leather material is unacceptable. You should immediately forget about substances such as gasoline, cleaning powder, and acetone.
After any cleaning procedure, the area of the material on which manipulations were performed must be moistened. Glycerin, baby cream or castor oil are good for this purpose.

Now you can begin practical actions. But we should not forget about preparing the leather accessory for the cleansing procedure.

How to bleach between legs

The skin whitening agent for the inner thighs should be very gentle, but effective. Hydrogen peroxide helps a lot. You need to dilute a spoonful of the drug with camphor oil, apply with a cotton swab, and leave for 40 minutes.

If you suffer from pimples on the buttocks, then you can use a small amount of syntomycin acid, it is known for its ability to remove red spots after acne on the neck, face, thighs, and chest. This method can also effectively get rid of facial wrinkles under the eyes, in the eyelids and mouth.

Photo - Light body skin

Many people recommend rubbing pigmented skin on the thighs with honey and warm milk. In a glass of milk, dilute two tablespoons of honey, dilute it, wipe the desired areas twice a day. You can repeat it every day.

In order to wipe your dignity, it is recommended to use fatty kefir. This solution not only has a great effect on female microflora, it also dries and brightens the skin. You can also add essential oils of orange, grapefruit, lemon or thyme to it, provided there are no allergies.

The Japanese used this recipe differently. To whiten your skin as effectively as possible, you need to add rice, rice extract or rice milk to the milk. Apply, do not rinse. According to representatives of traditional medicine, this method will help not only lighten special areas, but also normalize the condition of combination skin and eliminate the causes of acne and pimples.

Cleaning from common dirt

The biggest drawback of bags made of white leather or faux leather is that they quickly wear out. Usually one week is enough for traces of dust to appear on the surface. The main thing is not to delay cleaning, otherwise you will have to spend more time bringing your favorite accessory back to normal:

The simplest thing is to wipe your handbag with wet wipes and your favorite item will become like new again. The method is only effective if there is not much dust on the skin.
Eraser. Yes, a regular white office eraser can also help out in this situation. Simply rub the area where the dirty stain appears. You just need to work very carefully so as not to spoil the skin.
Regular makeup remover milk will also help clean your white bag. Everything is very simple here - you need to apply the product to a cotton pad, and then walk it over the contaminated skin.
If the previous methods did not work, then you can start wet cleaning. But it is worth remembering that accessories made of genuine leather and its substitutes cannot be soaked and washed in water. It is necessary to make a soap solution: grate laundry or baby soap and mix with water. You can add a couple of drops of ammonia to it. Apply this mixture to the dirt using a soft cloth or cotton pad and rub gently. And so on until the bag is completely clean. After washing, it should be lubricated with glycerin or baby cream. This procedure will help make the skin softer.
Another unusual cleanser is onion. You need to cut it and wipe the dirty item with the cut. Only after treatment, it is better to ventilate the leather product in order to remove the unpleasant odor that could be ingrained into the material. Onion effectively removes ink marks, dust and other contaminants.
Regular warm milk can also help in the fight against dirt on light-colored bags.
You can also clean white leather and leather items with a whipped mixture of 1 cup reduced-fat milk and raw protein. After treatment, the surface of the accessory should be wiped with a damp cloth and wiped dry. The same method will help update a white patent leather bag.
In the case when you need to clean a white leather product, you can use a soft toothbrush and toothpaste with a whitening effect (can be replaced with a mixture of soap and water). If the contamination is strong and has managed to penetrate deeply, then the paste can be left for a while so that the whitening components have time to be absorbed.

Any of these methods will help you quickly and inexpensively clean white bags made of artificial or natural leather. But in order to avoid unpleasant surprises and not spoil the accessory, you should try the chosen product on an inconspicuous area before use.

Special Recipes

To cleanse your face of age spots and freckles, you can use a decoction of bay leaves. Take 10 leaves per 200 grams. For paleness, you need to wash your face with the decoction 2 times a day. The product can be used even during pregnancy.

It will take a lot of time and patience to whiten yellowed nail plates from nicotine. It is best to use salicylic acid. If your nails are brittle, you can buy ointment. Apply the selected product to the yellow side.

Zinc ointment will help whiten the skin around the nails from nicotine stains; it acts as if from the inside on the cells, displacing the resins from them. Lubricate your fingers once a day. Many advice from cosmetologists regarding whitening the dermis after smoking are based on this drug.

Regular parsley will help get rid of burn marks. Grind one bunch into puree. Apply to the damaged area, leave for 30 minutes, repeat every day. This mask will also get rid of red skin on the eyes, blackheads and acne on the lips.

Photo - Whitening against age spots

Many whitening products contain hydroquinone, which is extracted from pink salmon. This composition will be harmful for girls who are allergic to fish, so be careful. To prepare an ointment after injuries, mix pink salmon meat, honey and milk. Spread the paste on your teeth and nails, leave for 20 minutes, use small doses (2-3 grams). It will not only get rid of the unsightly color of the yellowed dermis, but will also speed up the healing process.

Photo - Lemon for lightening

To whiten problematic facial skin, dissolved apple cider vinegar is often used. For a glass of mineral water you will need two tablespoons of vinegar. Wash your face with this solution once a day for oily skin, once every three days for dry skin. If this method is not suitable due to personal intolerance, you can wipe the face with currants or radish juice.

You can use improvised means to whiten your skin after an allergy at any age, for example, lemon. You will need sour cream, lemon and cosmetic essential oils (the forum claims that it is best to use almond or lemon). Mix everything in equal parts, leave for 20 minutes, repeat every three days.

Chamomile flowers have proven themselves well; they whiten not only the skin, but also the hair. Make a decoction: a glass of water + three tablespoons of dried flowers. To enhance the result, blue clay is added to the solution. For one spoon of liquid, two spoons of mineral. Leave until dry.

Washing lining fabric

The condition of the white bag must be impeccable both outside and inside. The lining in such products also gets dirty over time. It cannot be unfastened, and the bag is not suitable for machine washing. The only solution is hand washing. In this case, you need to adhere to certain rules: 4.75

4.75 out of 5 (8 Votes)

Dazzling white stilettos, stylish sneakers or elegant milky ballet flats - white shoes are always in trend. However, caring for it is quite difficult. And yet, cleaning a snow-white pair and keeping it clean today is much easier, because professional foams, sprays and impregnations have successfully complemented folk methods with egg white and milk.

Professional products

If the natural options do not suit you, then doctors can effectively whiten problem skin using iontophoresis. This is a little expensive (in Cheboksary up to 500 rubles per session, and in Moscow - up to 700), but there is a guarantee for a long-lasting effect. Validity period is about a month. Ask cosmetologists in your city how much this procedure costs in their salon. When rinsing off, avoid intense friction; it is better to wet the clay with a washcloth, and then carefully remove the remaining mask.

Often pigment spots are removed using laser peeling, but here a lot depends on the reason for their appearance. Similarly, you can use chemical peeling with fruit acids.

Professional cosmetics will also help you whiten your face. Brands Mary Kay, CS2, Negru produce entire lines for lightening the epidermis. But, of course, the required action can be carried out in the shortest possible time only if an integrated approach is used.

We clean light nubuck with foams and starch or talc powders

The most effective way to clean nubuck is to use specialized cleaning foams.

Apply foam to sponge.
Wipe down your shoes.
Use a brush to remove any remaining substance from the surface.

If the contamination is severe, the shoes should be held over steam for half a minute, and then cleaned with a special brush. To refresh nubuck, wipe it with a solution of 10% ammonia (1 part) and water (4 parts) or vinegar diluted with water in a ratio of 1:20. Grease stains on white nubuck shoes can be removed using starch and talcum powder - they are sprinkled on the dirt, and after 2-3 minutes they are brushed off.

Never clean nubuck shoes with soap solutions, otherwise streaks will remain.

To hide defects and worn areas and refresh the color, use protective and caring spray paints.

Photo gallery: care products for white nubuck shoes

A water-repellent product will protect shoes in bad weather. Gently and thoroughly removes all dirt from nubuck. Special cleaner. Special brushes are used to clean nubuck.

Nutrition

A combination of a teaspoon of honey, the same amount of potato starch and a couple of teaspoons of salt can whiten and remove dead skin particles. All ingredients must be mixed together until smooth.

Honey has a nutritional function. It contains many beneficial elements for the skin. Thanks to it, the skin tone quickly evens out.

Potato starch is designed to brighten the face. In addition, it is often called a substitute for Botox, because it can have a similar effect, only not chemical, but natural.

In this case, it is best to choose sea salt. It is this that has excellent peeling properties. Before combining all the components of the mixture, it must be crushed in a blender.

For those with dry and overly sensitive skin, it is best to add a teaspoon of milk here. Apply the finished mask in a thin layer over the entire face, including the areas around the eyes and lips. As soon as the first layer dries a little, you need to immediately apply the second. In one session it is necessary to use up the entire prepared mixture. Keep the mask on for up to 25 minutes. The lightening course consists of 12 procedures, which should be carried out every other day.

Method 2. Lemon juice

Lemon juice is famous for its lightening properties. Blondes love it because it gives blond hair a beautiful shine and lightens it by 1-2 tones.

It is also good for the skin. It will help both quickly whiten your face and remove unevenness and rashes from it.

You can simply wipe your skin with lemon juice, or you can make masks and scrubs from it.

Lemon-honey whitening

Take:

honey – 1 spoon;
lemon juice – 1 spoon;
olive oil – 1 spoon.

Mix the ingredients. You should get a liquid mass. Apply it to your face using a cotton pad. Massage your skin for a few minutes to improve blood flow and allow the mask to absorb. Remove the remaining mask after a quarter of an hour. Whitening with lemon is very effective and fast.

Mask with glycerin for sensitive skin

Take:

lemon juice – 0.5 tablespoons;
apple juice – 0.5 spoons;
glycerin – 1 spoon.

Mix all ingredients and apply to skin. For the first time, the dose of lemon juice can be reduced to a few drops. If irritation and burning do not occur, next time the amount of lemon juice can be increased.

Lemon whitening for oily skin

Take:

protein – 1 piece;
lemon juice – 1 spoon.

Mix lemon and egg white and apply to face until the mask is completely dry. Rinse off with cool water.

You can also add a little camphor alcohol (5-10 drops) to the mixture for oily skin. But such a mask needs to be applied pointwise - only to pigmented areas.

Parsley tonic or mask

Parsley contains significant amounts of flavonoids, which help brighten and invigorate tired skin. The nutrients and essential oils it contains deeply moisturize, remove dead cells, reduce blemishes and even out skin tone. Parsley can be used to make a whitening tonic or cleansing paste.

Pour the parsley with cool water and let it brew for 12 hours in the refrigerator.
In the morning, pour the prepared tonic, preferably into a bottle with a spray bottle, so that you can use it throughout the day, lightly spraying it on your face.

Another option is to carefully chop the parsley with a knife and grind it with a spoon or mortar. Combined with buttermilk, we get a ready-made cleansing paste that can be used to wash your face in the morning and evening.

Causes of pigmentation

The problem may be hidden in external or internal factors. As a rule, pigmentation develops gradually. The reasons are:

Hormonal changes with age or pregnancy.
Intoxication.
Action of ultraviolet light.
Certain medications.
Lack of vitamins.
Consequences of skin diseases.
Diseases of the nervous system, liver and stomach.

Sometimes you can first try to improve the health of the body, and then take on skin whitening.