How fast do skin lighteners work?

Hafsa has a question: I’ve been looking around for some lightening lotions as I have melasma. I came across a skin care range by Diana Stalder. Theres a lot of hype going around saying that Diana Stalder lightens skin within weeks or even a matter of days! The active ingredient is kojic acid. Is it true that it can help lighten skin that fast?

The Right Brain has an answer:

Diana Stalder is credited with starting the first Filipino-owned company offering direct sales of skin care and beauty products. Unfortunately, we can’t confirm if she’s using kojic acid in her whitening formulas or not. There’s only one distribution outlet for her products in the US (in Kentucky for some strange reason!) so it’s hard to find products to look at. And her website includes very little information about the ingredients used in her products.

Krazy for Kojic

We’ve blogged before about other skin lightening products, like Meladerm, that are based on kojic acid. These appear to be viable alternatives to hydroquinone, which is the “gold standard” for skin lightening but which has come under criticism for safety concerns. Kojic acid is not as effective as hydroquinone but it does appear to work. Generally, it takes weeks to see a pronounced effect. (Meladerm claims you’ll see results in 2 weeks.) We’d be surprised if you see results in only a few days but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. If you try this product write back and let us know how it works out for you!

Do you have a favorite skin-whitening product? Leave a comment in the Beauty Brains Forum and help lighten up the rest of the Beauty Brains community!