Beauty trends come and go, but clear, luminous skin is always in. Over the years, the message of brightening in beauty has changed from lightening the skin to clearing up pigmentation and blemishes for a radiant complexion.

Be clear in your journey towards a glow of your own with our handy guide on some common skin brightening facts and myths!

Myth or Fact #3: Brightening products can bleach your skin

Brightening has been a beauty buzzword of late, after all, who wouldn’t want to shine bright like a diamond? In the pursuit for perfect skin, it’s often misunderstood that brightening products can help lighten one’s natural skin tone.

The magic that brightening products do is to reduce pigmentation and reverse the effects of a tan to bring your skin back to its natural shade.

Myth busted: Brightening products can aid in sloughing off dead skin cells that dull your glow and reduce an uneven skin, but changing your natural skin tone is nearly impossible.

 

 

Myth or Fact #2: Tanning is safe if you use sunscreen.

There is no such thing as a safe tan. The bronzed glow you get the morning after a beach day is actually your skin’s way of protecting itself from the damage caused by UV rays!

Sun exposure triggers the skin cells to produce pigment to increase the levels of melanin in your skin as a bid to defend against cell damage. This means that your skin is further protected against sun damage, however, the protection offered is nowhere near that of sunscreen.

Developing a tan when you’ve got sunscreen on usually signals a need to be more religious in slathering on the SPF.

Myth busted: Tanning is never safe, even if you use sunscreen.

 

 

Myth or Fact #3: The higher the SPF, the better the protection

Photo via Into The Gloss

True. The higher the SPF number, the better the protection a sunscreen offers. The number on your sunscreen indicates how long it would take for sun exposure to redden your skin when using it versus the amount of time without any sunscreen. So applying a sunscreen of SPF 50 would extend your ability to be out-and-about in the sun without burning by fifty-fold!

However, to be effective against sun damage, sunscreens need to offer protection from both UVA and UVB. We recommend looking for a broad spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15.

Want more pointers on how to get the skin of your dreams? Get some brightening tips and learn how to achieve it the easy way.