Ask Me Help Desk - Honest Review of What and What doesn't work (I'm a skin lightening vet)

Honest Review of What and What doesn't work (I'm a skin lightening vet)

I've been lightening my skin since I was 16. I was on the old Yahoo brightskin forums, and all the other forums way back when

Hydroquinone 4%: Defintely worked. Gave my skin a beautiful glow. Couldn't afford to keep buying it since I don't have insurance that covers dermatology anymore. Considering saving up money and using it since it's the only thing that I know works for sure

Rosance X18/X20: Worked. First it made my skin peel like crazy, then I was several shades lighter. Went from gabrielle union complexion to about meagan goode.(that's light for a dark girl like me) for some reason, after using this product after 6-8 months it just stopped working. My skin became immune to it

Fair and White Whitenizer: It worked very good. The minute I put it on I was getting lighter. It kept me light for about 3-4 months. Now, it doesn't even work on me anymore. I stopped using it for a year and always go back out of desperation and it really does nothing anymore. It may make me a half shade lighter but that is about it. I don't know why my skin becomes immune to this stuff afterawile

BioClaire: Again it kind of worked. NO where near the results I had with Rosance and Fair and White Whitenzier. It made me look ashy. But then I started getting acne on my cheeks and after a few months again I starting getting browner. Wouldn't really recommend. It doesn't moisuture the skin.

Makari: The soap is really nice. But the actual makari cream made me this weird color. It was like the ingredients had something in the cream to give you this weird yellow coating that tricked you into thinking you were lighter. Whenever I didn't use the cream I was dark, but when I put the cream on, suddenly I turned yellow. Just weird. I wouldn't recommend. And it burned my eyes

Herbalinn: I bought this about three years ago. Did absolutely nothing. It was like putting sandpaper on my skin

Hot motive (sp?) This stuff worked IMMEDIATELY, but it had som dangerous stuff in the cream. It would burn my eyes and then it literally burned my cheeks after a few weeks use. I had scarring on my skin for about a year. It took a year for it to fade. I think it has steroids in it. AVOID.

Fair and White Original: Didn't really work that great. Made me ashy. If any results, they are short lived (2 months top)

Obagi: Currently using it. It has 2% hydroquinone. It keeps my skin incredibly clear and nice. But I do not get light from usuing it. The skin care line has a few useless products in there just to take your money (do not buy the exfoderm, or the toner didn't notice any improvement. It works great w/o it.) Maybe if I can get some 4% hydroquinone with it, it will really lighten me up

Lemon cream: it works somewhat. Smells good. But the results are short lived with these over the counter creams. It seems to only work during the Fall/Winter. But during the summer months, its hard to stay light with this cream. Yes, I use sunscreen

55+: Uh, didn't notice any real results either. I used that 4 years ago.

That's all I can think of for now

ETA:
Black and White cream: I used this in high school. It only has 2% hydroquinone. Surprisingly it made me light for about 3 weeks then my skin became immune to it and I got dark again. Also started having an allergic reaction to it; made my lips very dark

That is amazing information, Dark. We are constantly getting questions on how different skin lightening products work. I guess this about covers all of them ! Thank you so much for offering this information to AMHD.

ms. tickle

You're welcome Ms Tickle.

I've jumped on every skin lightening bandwagon. I've been doing this since I was 16. The only thing that defintely works is hydroquinone. I heard that as long as you keep using it you will stay light

But with the over the counter creams, some work very good, but the results are short lived. Some as long as 6-8 months, others as short as 2 months before you go back to your original color or close to it

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkSkinGirl

You're welcome Ms Tickle.

I've jumped on every skin lightening bandwagon. I've been doing this since I was 16. The only thing that defintely works is hydroquinone. I heard that as long as you keep using it you will stay light

But with the over the counter creams, some work very good, but the results are short lived. Some as long as 6-8 months, others as short as 2 months before you go back to your orginal color or close to it

You absolutely have to stick around here, Dark ! We get at least three questions a day regarding these products.

Tick

Aww the 55h+ didn't work? Which one did you use and how long did you use it for?

Thanks Darkskingirl for your reviews from different skin lighteners, you truly are a vet! What are you using, or plan to use, now? What do you think is really in the Makari crème, as I have lightened much from their night crème but I didn't know "natural" ingredients could lighten so much and so quickly? I wouldn';t mind using it again if nothing else worked for me, but still the least curious.

Hi DarkSkin! If you PM me I can give you a link of where I get my tretenoin, they have 4% HQ for cheap if your interested. Do u know where to get higher than 4%?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Klaas

Aww the 55h+ didn't work? Which one did you use and how long did you use it for?

I need to make note that I am a darkskin Black woman; around Gabrielle Union's complexion, maybe a tad darker during the summer. So, since I am so dark, something like 55+ probably wouldn't work on me.

I used it back in 2005, and at first I really thought it was working. I bought the soap, and the lotion, with the cream. When I applied it, I appeared to be getting lighter, but actually the cream was making me ashy which can make you appear lighter at first. It really wasn't lightening my melainin. Once I went outside, and as the day went by, and my skin began to produce oil, I noticed that the cream really wasn't working at all. I kept using it for several months but saw no differnece at all. It may work on a much lighter skin person, but I defintely wouldn't recommend it to anybody who is of Africna ancestry, and that is brown to darkskin. And there is so mething in that cream that makes my eyes burn and itch.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golden_Girl

Thanks Darkskingirl for your reviews from different skin lighteners, you truly are a vet! What are you using, or plan to use, now? What do you think is really in the Makari creme, as I have lightened much from their night creme but I didn't know "natural" ingredients could lighten so much and so quickly? I wouldn';t mind using it again if nothing else worked for me, but still the least curious.

I am planning on going back to hydroquinone 4%. It is the ONLY thing that worked for me consistently. With hydroquinone, I stayed light for as long as I used the cream, and it made my skin glow. I never had a cream to do that to me. All the other creams, worked for 2-8 months and then I was off searching for the next best thing. Every cream I bought, I always thought "how long is this going to keep me light" and I was just always searching for something, jumping on bandwagons and wasting money on creams that didn't work, or only worked for a short period.

I bought the Makari cream and the soap I think two or three years ago.. that was another bandwagon I jumped on. The soap is really nice and smells good but the cream is just weird to me. I'm not sure what is in it, but whenever I put it on, I felt like I was slathering on a mask to give me the illusion that I was lighter. My skin looked yellow. I heard it works best on lighter skin tones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dessaml

hi DarkSkin! If you PM me I can give you a link of where I get my tretenoin, they have 4% HQ for cheap if your interested. Do u know where to get higher than 4%?

Okay, I'll PM you. I don't know where to get higher 4% lol I barely know where to get 4% hydro. I was going to find a dermatologist in my area and shell out some money. My skin is starting to get darker. Currently I am using Fair and White, and Obagi on some days but my skin is immune to the Fair and White now, it doesn't even work that good. But its better than nothing

I think you should try the glycerin... Everyone that has used it so far has seen dramatic results. Though some have broken out. So if your skin is acne prone. I don't recommend it... It is really oily... That's what I hate about it. And it DOES break me out when I use too much of it! So be careful. I can't vouch for the lotion and soaps though. And what complexion are you now?

DarkSkinGirl, if your near Gabriel Union's complexion then I wouldn't consider you as darkskin but brownskin. Hq 4% and tretinoin does work wonders for many. You should try Brown's suggestion and see if it will lighten your skin along with a good exfoliating soap, the darker the tone the longer it may take to lighten too. What amount of spf sunblock do you use?

What are the active ingredients in the Rosance X18/X20? I never heard of this.

I'm using the 55h+ and I'm seeing results on the body but not so lucky for the face

That's interesting, usually it's the other way around. The lotion must be potent, you use it twice a day? What soap are you using for the face?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golden_Girl

DarkSkinGirl, if your near Gabriel Union's complexion then I wouldn't consider you as darkskin but brownskin. Hq 4% and tretinoin does work wonders for many. You should try Brown's suggestion and see if it will lighten your skin along with a good exfoliating soap, the darker the tone the longer it may take to lighten too. What amount of spf sunblock do you use?

What are the active ingredients in the Rosance X18/X20? I never heard of this.

People have called me darkskin AND brownskin so I don't know what I am lol I just know that I am no where near lightskin

I forgot what was in Rosance X18 (kojoic acid, I think? )but it worked excellent for my skin several years ago. Now, it doesn't work on me at all. If you have never used this product before it will probably lighten you up pretty good. But remember that eventually you'll become immune to it and it won't work.

I see. Well whatever you choose keep us updated.

I have tried X18 a while back and at the time I believe it contained HQ but it was not actually stated on the ingredients list. All it did was make me very red and my skin peeled really badly. I think they have a version now that has kojic acid as it's active ingredient, but have not tried that one.

umm DarkSkinGirl, I have a question about the rosance. What rosance products did you use? Did the rosance x20 or 18 make u peel? Did u use any of the soaps?

I was thinking about getting the rosance x20 body lotion and the rosance TCS soap with peeling affect I'm not sure if that's the right name of the soap but its yellow lol but I really want to use what u used of rosance so if u could tell me the rosance products you used that would be great thank you so much!

I used Rosance X18 gel cream and the soap. After the Rosance X18 stopped working, then I started using the X20 (the X20 was okay, it didn't work as good as the X18 but its better than a lot of the crappy stuff out there).

Quote:

I have tried X18 a while back and at the time I believe it contained HQ but it was not actually stated on the ingredients list. All it did was make me very red and my skin peeled really badly. I think they have a version now that has kojic acid as it's active ingredient, but have not tried that one.

Oh, maybe that's why it worked so good. Did the company remove the HQ that was in it? It might be why it stopped working for me after awhile