Everyone wants a glowing skin. We all want to feel better when they glance at our skin. Everyone wants to look like they’ve got the best skincare routine ever and cosmetologists have taken advantage of this to produce different types of body cream to lighten the skin. While this could give you your desired result, making your skin look as spotless and flawless as a lamb without blemish, it can as well ruin your skin all in a bid to bleach it. You may want to go ahead nonetheless —look lighter, feel better —but if you really do care about your skin and not its superfices, you’d pause a second to know why you shouldn’t bleach your skin.
Skin bleaching occurs when you make use of products such as bleaching creams, soaps, laser therapy, pills, oil, etc., to lighten your complexion or perhaps specific dark areas on your body. It is a trend that has come to stay, encouraged mostly by celebrities and many others in showbiz. It is indubitably true that bleaching your skin makes you look more attractive but this isn’t the case for everyone as some people tend to look horrible with a bleached skin that you’d wonder why they couldn’t stay satisfied with their natural complexion. Some people argue that only those with low self-esteem would go for skin bleaching but whatever rationale precipitates one’s reason to bleach, the fact remains that the pros do not outweigh the cons.
Reasons for Skin Bleaching
Inasmuch as skin bleaching has adverse effects on the skin, its cosmetic benefits cannot be shunned and they include:
Evens Skin Tone
Some people use bleaching creams to even out their skin tone, erase freckles and reduce hyperpigmentation.
Fights Acne Scars
Some bleaching products help fight acne scars and black spots caused by aging, hormonal changes, pimples and sunburn.
Why You Shouldn’t Bleach Your Skin
Skin bleaching has negative effects and they include:
1. It Can Lead to Skin Problems
One reason why you shouldn’t bleach your skin is because you could get skin problems such as dermatitis, stretch marks, steroid acne, exogenous ochronosis, etc.
Dermatitis
Dermatitis is the inflammation of the skin caused by contact with adverse substances. Its symptoms include swelling, itching, dry skin, blisters, skin ulcer, etc. You never can tell the chemicals used in making the cream or soap used to bleach the skin and even if they end up lightening you up, they just may not go down well with your skin.
Stretch Marks
Stretch marks are irregular stripes on the surface of the skin caused by rapid growth of the tissues lying just underneath. Most bleaching substances contain chemicals capable of causing stretch marks on the skin.
Steroid Acne
Corticosteroids in some bleaching creams can cause steroid acne which appears on the back, arm, chest and other parts of the body. Its symptoms are acne scars, painful red scars, black heads, etc.
Exogenous Ochronosis
This is a skin problem that happens as a result of an overuse of bleaching creams that contain hydroquinone. It causes blue-black pigmentation on the skin.
2. The Skin Becomes More Vulnerable
Skin bleaching further exposes the skin to the UV rays of the sun making it more vulnerable. This is as a result of the fact that bleaching thins out the epidermis (upper layer of the skin) which protects the dermis (inner layer that covers the hair follicles, sweat glands and capillaries).
3. It Reduces the Skin’s Ability to Heal Faster
Another reason why you shouldn’t bleach your skin is that it weakens the skin and makes it difficult for the skin to heal itself. You may feel the chemicals in the product you use are doing you good by giving you a glowing skin, but while your skin looks better, its chances of healing itself rapidly from cuts and other injuries is reduced.
4. It Can Lead to Mercury Poisoning
Some bleaching creams contain mercury and if always used, could lead to mercury poisoning which in turn results in kidney failure, fatigue, high blood pressure, tremor and memory loss.
