You asked do brightening soaps really work?
So we thought let's tackle this question head on to explain exactly how brightening soaps work, how long you'll need to use them for before seeing results and exactly what you should be looking for in a brightening soap.
Fact: not all brightening soaps work. But choose the right brightening soap with the right active ingredients and yours will.
Do Brightening Soaps Really Work?
There are 2 ways in which a brightening soap can help lighten your skin, one of these ways works from the very first time you use a brightening soap and the second takes time to build;
- Brightening soaps work by exfoliating your skin
- Brightening soaps work by using whitening actives e.g. kojic acid, arbutin
The best brightening soaps use a combination of 1 and 2 to help even your skin tone in weeks and lighten your skin tone in months. Best results mean using a brightening soap which can multi-task both exfoliating and brightening.
How Brightening Soaps Work: Exfoliating
The first way any effective brightening soap works is by helping your skin exfoliate faster. Naturally all skin types exfoliate themselves every day (it's a huge cause of house dust!) but as you age your skin's exfoliating rate can slow. It can also become uneven. Both changes mean your skin tone can look dull, rough, textured and uneven.
Brightening soaps can help brighten your skin tone by increasing your skin's natural rate of exfoliation. As old and dull skin cells are released, new, fresh, bright and healthy skin cells are revealed.
Brightening soaps can help exfoliate your skin either with exfoliating granules - like in a face scrub or with exfoliating enzymes - perfect for treating skin sensitively as they work without scrubbing. You can find papaya exfoliating enzymes in our Kojic Acid & Papaya Skin Brightening Soap
How Brightening Soaps Work: Brightening actives
The second way any effective brightening soap works is by using whitening active ingredients. Ingredients like kojic acid, arbutin and glutathione. When absorbed into your skin these brightening actives work to temporarily reduce your skin's ability to make melanin i.e. the pigment which colors your skin. The more your skin absorbs the better brightening benefits you'll see.
Note: Wash off brightening skincare like brightening soaps can safely use a higher percent of active ingredients than leave on skincare.
For best results we recommend using a combination of both. Why not try pairing our Kojic Acid & Papaya Skin Brightening Soap with our Kojic Acid & Papaya Skin Brightening Body Lotion
Bottom Line: Do Brightening Soaps Really Work?
Yes, brightening soaps can work when you use one with the right active ingredients and you use it regularly. You want to look for a brightening soap which has either a combination of exfoliating actives with a lightening active or a soap which uses a combination of whitening actives e.g. kojic acid and glutathione.
Best results come from using a brightening soap with actives in concentrations which work. Always check your ingredients list.
