Asian Skincare - Your guide to Whitening, Lightening and Brightening

As a result of the prevalent white skin beauty ideal in South-East Asia, it can sometimes be difficult to find skincare products -even shower gels and deodorants- that aren’t advertised as ‘whitening’. Until recently, I would stay away as far as I could from these products. Any substance that is labelled ‘White Perfect’, ‘Blanc Expert’ or that mentions ‘whitening’ or ‘brightening’, imposes an image of a repulsive white-greyish Michael-Jackson-like complexion on me. No thanks, I love my healthy tan. However, even in products that aren’t necessarily advertised as whitening, the same active substances can be found as in those who are. How do we make informed choices of what we apply to our skin? And is a translucent ghost-like skin with all pigment bleached out of it, a realistic expectancy when we use a product that claims to be whitening? 

Don't touch my tan!

It happened to me too many times when browsing a Singaporean drugstore or cosmetics department. I would stay away from explicitly whitening Asian skincare, as these products are culturally not my cup of tea. Instead, I would head to a counter or shelf with Western brands that I trust and that I‘m familiar with. I would pick a face cleanser or moisturizer, which would initially appear perfectly ‘normal’ to my Western frame of mind. On first sight, the package would ‘just’ say moisturizing or cleansing or firming or whatever I would be looking for in particular. However, when turning around the pack to study the detailed description and ingredients, words like “brightening” and “lightening” would all of a sudden be bombarded at me. Not what I’m looking for!!! I would, frustrated that I wasted my time yet again, put the product back on the shelf and continue my browse, and the same would happen again.

Not as Black & White

Frustrated by this cycle, overwhelmed by the huge amount of lightening skincare products available and stunned by the observation that even established Western companies offer whitening skincare lines in Asia, I decided to do some thorough research on Asia’s most thriving category of skincare. In addition, I really wanted to try out a face mask with pearl powder in it, however pearl powder is at times advertised to be whitening, so before trying any remotely whitening substance on my skin I needed to know I wouldn’t set off any depigmentation in my healthy sun-kissed skin.

Questions I wanted to find an answer to were amongst others: Is there a difference between “whitening” and “lightening” products? Am I right to resolutely reject a product, because it says “lightening” or “illuminating”? Is a translucent ghost-like skin with all pigment bleached out of it, a realistic expectancy when using these products? Will I turn into MJ instantly?

Remarkably, the category of skincare products that are advertised as whitening and lightening proves to be not as black & white as I –and many with me, I dare say- presumed. First of all, a broad distinction should be made between the following type of products: (1)Whitening, (2) Lightening and (3) Brightening/Illuminating. 

Understanding the difference between these products, their ingredients and their promises provides a solid ground to make informed choices on what products to drop and what not; and in the latter case, to actually benefit from skin care that we otherwise would have rejected.

(1) Skin Whitening Products: Dangerous

Extreme measures; now we are talking Michael Jackson, who underwent skin depigmentation treatment with monobenzone for years. Skin whitening treatments are typically a lot harsher than brightening or lightening the skin, as it concerns actual bleaching of the skin. Bleaching agents strip all or most of the pigment out of the skin which severely irritates and damages the skin. Other whitening agents inhibit the production of melanin, the chemical in our cells that turns skin darker in the short term.

Whitening Ingredients: a.o. Toxic mercury chloride (banned in most countries), Hydroquinone (banned in a.o. Europe, Japan, Australia – only available upon medical prescription), Monobenzone (restricted, only available for treatment of vitiligo). 

Watch this video from Huffington Post on Whitening Skincare in the US: very interesting and informative.

(2) Skin Lightening Products: Caution

The goal of skin lightening products is, as the name already says, to lighten the skin several shades. Most skin lightening products contain chemicals called tyrosinase inhibitors, which stops enzymes in the skin from producing melanin - without melanin, skin won’t darken in sunlight. Melanin actually protects our skin from sunburn, so when melanin is no longer produced, skin is no longer protected from sun and exposure to sun thus leads to severe sun damage and often random, uneven pigmentation patches. Note that this is one of the reasons why many Asians walk around with an umbrella outside; not just to prevent themselves from a tan, but also to protect their lightened skin from serious cell damage and pigment blotching.

Lightening Ingredients: Kojic Acid or Kojic dipalmitate (a by-product in the fermentation process of malting rice for use in the manufacturing of sake), Tretinoin, Arbutin (natural sources of hydroquinone – mulberry, bearberry, cranberry, blueberry), Azelaic acid, licorice extract (specifically glabridin) and Niacinamide or Nicotinamide.

(3) Skin Brightening & Illuminating Products: Safe!

Unlike skin whitening and lightening, the goal of skin brightening agents is not necessarily to whiten the skin. Instead, the goal is to reinstate natural clarity, a beaming glow or vivid radiance to the skin. Our skin, as an organ, continuously renews itself. New skin cells are formed and old, dead skin cells are shed from the upper layer of our skin. When old skin cells remain on the surface of our skin, this can make our skin look dull and tired. What skin brighteners or illuminators do is basically the same as what products we know as exfoliants or scrubs do for our skin: getting rid of the dead skin cells that obstruct the upper layer, so that newer cells can take their place.

These products are safe to use and won’t “lighten” or “whiten” the shade of your skin; sun tan will come off to some extent though, as the tanned dead skin cells will be removed. Do be careful and don’t use an exfoliant more than twice a week, as this can cause skin irritation.

Brightening or Illuminating Ingredients:

Mechanical Exfoliants (i.e. physically scrubbing the skin with an abrasive): Micro-beads, Crushed apricot kernel, Almond shells, Sugar or Salt crystals, Rice bran and Date seed powder.

Chemical Exfoliants (i.e. act to loosen the glue-like substance that holds the cells together, allowing them to ease away, or normalizing cell turnover in the upper layer of the skin): Ammonium glycolate, Sodium bicarbonate, alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs – such as Glycolic acid, Lactic acid, Citric acid, Mandelic acid, Malic acid and Tartaric acid), beta hydroxy acids (BHAs - salicylic acid), polyhydroxy acids (PHAs – such as gluconolactone and lactobionic acid), natural enzymes from a.o. Papaya (Papain) and Ananas (Bromelain) and urea.

Confusing Marketing Methods

Although most Asian skincare brands promote their products to be “whitening” or name them ‘White Perfection’, ‘Blanc Expert’ etc, this is not truly the case for the actual products; in theory, most products should be labelled “lightening” or “brightening” instead, depending on their ingredients and whether they lighten the skin a few shades or just brighten the complexion through exfoliation. 

Misleadingly, this is not the case: adhering to the Asian beauty ideal, sought-after white skin is promised through products named “White” or labelled as “Whitening” for utter marketing purposes. Unless of course you are dealing with a prescribed topical cream to treat dark spots like melasma’s, or an illegal black market cream with (high levels) of hydroquinine – that you should stay far away from!

In addition, unfortunately the three categories as described above aren’t used uniformly throughout the industry, which can cause some additional confusion. Some products that are labelled “Brightening” might nonetheless contain Kojic Acid or Arbutin, whereas some products that are called “Lightening” may be limited to above mentioned “Brightening” ingredients, and not contain any actual lightening ingredients at all. 

When a product says to be whitening, lightening, brightening or illuminating, best thing is to just check the ingredients based on above ingredient indications, and judge whether it is suitable for your skin and for what you aim. If you want to stay away from “lightening”, pay attention to the presence of Arbutin (natural source of hydroquinine) and Kojic Acid in particular, as these are most used in Asian skincare with Lightening properties.