How to Get Lighter Skin at Home

Lightening your skin doesn't have to involve expensive trips to a dermatologist or drugstore for the latest creams and lotions. Whether you want to even out your skin tone or lighten areas affected by too much time in the sun, you can effectively lighten your skin with a few tried and true ingredients that have been used for centuries. The best part is most of these ingredients are probably in your refrigerator right now. Read on to learn how to get lighter skin at home.

Things You'll Need

• One lemon
• One papaya
• Yogurt
• Buttermilk
• Oatmeal

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Instructions

• 1

  Understand that lemon juice has been used since ancient times to lighten and brighten skin. The citric acid in lemon juice promotes skin lightening and it's a natural antioxidant. Use a clean cotton ball to dab the juice of a fresh lemon on your skin in the evening or just before bed. Avoid going out in the sun immediately after applying lemon juice as it can make your skin more sensitive to the suns rays causing more damage. If you have very sensitive skin, try diluting the lemon juice with water. If the lemon juice is drying to your skin, apply a moisturizer immediately after.

• 2

  Know that papaya is another useful skin lightening ingredient. Papain, a natural enzyme found in papaya naturally exfoliates the skin helping speed up the skin renewal process, resulting in a more even skin tone and smoother skin. Make a mask by mashing one papaya and applying it directly on your skin. Leave the mask on for 10 to 20 minutes and rinse off. Apply a gentle moisturizer to retain skin softness.

• 3

  Keep in mind that lactic acid, found in milk products helps renew skin cells, resulting in lighter and brighter skin. You may have bought skin products with lactic acid in the past. Why not try the source? Yogurt can be applied directly to the face as a mask for 10 minutes to half an hour. Rinse and apply your favorite moisturizer. Buttermilk is another source of lactic acid. Mix half a cup of buttermilk with a couple of tbsp. of oatmeal and use as a facial mask or gentle scrub.

• 4

  Apply sunscreen ever day to any part of your body that will be exposed to sunlight. The single most common cause of skin discoloration and darkening is the sun. Sun exposure without proper protection can quickly reverse the results of a skin lightening regime. It's recommended you use a sunscreen with at least SPF 15 and higher SPF protection is even better. Reapply sunscreen throughout the day for maximum protection.