Hi all,
I've been lurking around ont his forum for about 2 days now and have sifted through almost all the posts on skin lightening/whitening.
Now I'm a 20yr Indian girl with a dark skin. ( was born dark but darkened even more from years of sun exposure..so Currently i'm the colour of Bipasha Basu ( indian actress) or your halle berry,,,(Mayb a shade lighter)..

In india it sucks to be dark , coz people judge u for your skin colour all the time. and i've had my "fair" share of garbs on my dark skin as well. No guy wants to a date a dark girl and they're considered a "cause fo tension to parents when it comes to marriage....

Over the years i've tried all the possible options available in India to lighten up my skin - Home-made concoctions of flour/lemon/turmeric, Lightening creams like fair&lovely etc but effects have been superficial and temporary.

But lately I've been doing a lotta research on the net on all the possible skin lightening measures and i have Narrowed my search to L-Glutathione pills , papaya soaps and Bio claire products...
i've already ordered a bottle of Gluta-C from funkymommy and ill start taking it once i buy the recommended VitaminC supplements. do they work?? 45$ for 60 capsules is a lotta money , especially for a non-earning student like me . so i really wanna invest in a worthy product.
iM interested in Bioclaire and papaya soaps now. But shipping to India is bloody expensive. even more than product!
so anyone knows a website/store which can deliver to India for cheap or maybe use USPS first class mail option?

Also is there any Indian on this forum who's had any experience in skin lightening to speak about? share...

post all your experience/progress with skin lightening products and recommendations coz i really DESPERATELY want to lighten up and soemthign which can have me 2-3 shades by New years eve will be a godsend
....i dont need no moral advice on how i should be happy the way i am. coem to India , you'll know!!

thanks...

I've found that Bio Clair creme and lotion worked for me. But you will need to keep using it to to maintain it. Also, use a good sunblock.

Fair&lovely, Vicco, Emami, etc. Do not work.

hey punkchick,,thnks for your answer...
previous posts tell me ur an indian as well...
so if BC worked for u , i wanna know this
1) which colour were u before & after using bc
2) how long have you used it to see that change?
3)from where did you order the product?
4)did u use the oil , cream or lotion or mixture?

hope ull b patient enough to answer!
THanks...

I'm not very dark. I'm olive complexioned. But I have uneven skin. It evened it up but not totally.
I used it for a few weeks. You usually see a difference within 2 weeks or more.
Bought the creme but it broke me out so switched to the lotion which is more suited for my combination skin.
I purchased it from a black beauty shop.

:)thanks punkchick,,your answer's encouraged me to try out both DS n BC products n ill b placing n order soon...
can u gimme ur email id or yahoo messenger id so that we can get in touch n discuss the common issue of skin lightenin more in details , apart frm other things!


thanks.
cheers

Hi, im an indian girl too and I feel your frustration! I used to have dark skin too, once i started lightening it i was finally considered "pretty". its pretty bull that our indian soceity n culture is this way, we cant change their ideas about skin colour, but i've learned to play their game. one has to learn. Ive gone from bipasha basu-ish colour (maybe darker) to a light pale white (sometimes yellowy in tone, as east indians are). Sooo heres what I did, I take 500mg of Glutathione with 1000mg of vitamin C twice a day. As well, evening primrose oil 1000mg three times a day. I take them religiously, part of the key of all of this is doing it regularly. As well, I wash my face with a facewash that was hydroxy acids in it (just look for a facewash with salicyclic acid if ur skin is oily) which exfoliates the skin. after doing this I pat on Apple cidar vinegar straight on to the skin. yes it stinks but it works. After that dries, I use witch hazel on my nose and eyes. After that I put on a minimum of SPF 30 sunscreen (usually 50 or 60) and let it soak in for about 15 mins. in that time get a glass of water and mix in a full tablespoon of apple cidar vinegar and drink it (it gives the skin a healthy glow so u wont be pasty white). Once the sunscreen soaks in, I put on my beloved fair and lovelyy cream lol! i duno what else fair n lovely does, but it contains titanium dixide which is a physical sunscreen, so it protects againsts the darking rays of the sun. thennnn do your makeup (or not). I avoid the sun at all costs, i wear long sleeved tops and hats when in the sun. when ur day is over wash ur face again with a hydroxy cleaner as soon as possible. after that , it is important to physically exfoliate, so i scrub the skin using St.ives scrub or bakingsoda n water. after scrubbing, I apply a mask for 15 mins. The mask i put on with either be one smashed strawberry, dried orange powder with yogurt, lemon juice, tomato or just plain milk. these are all known things to lighten skin. soo after applying one of these things, wash the face with warm water, pat dry and apply vinegar to the face again, let the vinegar sit for a while. after this i put on a retinol cream ( which renews ur skin cells), massage it in and let it soak. the last step is amazing if it suits ur skin, its a super thick cream that looks like glue, its really uncomfortable to wear and will mess up ur pillowcase, but i swear by it. it promises on the package that you will see a diffrence after only a few applications, I did infact see a diffrence after a few days. thismagical cream is called stillmans bleach cream, its a pakistani cream but ive only seen it available here in canada. sooo you put the cream on n go to sleep, you wake up and ur skin is definately paler. wash off the cream again with a hydroxy cleanser. This all worked for me, the trick is doing this every single day.

hi there use papaya soap, bioclaire cream in tub and oil, la roche-posay anthelios fluidine extreme spf 50 sunblock and vitamin c. I went form halley berry's complexion to a beyonce. I have not uses glutathione pills but I might just start..hope this helps

hopeful123, thats a really good sunscreen, i use it too :) did you get any irritation from the papaya soap? also, how long did it take you to get that light?