Black skin care

Human skin color is directly influenced by the amount of a substance called melanin. Melanin is responsible for protecting our skin from the harsh rays of the sun. Due to tens of thousands of years of evolution in a certain geographical area some people have very dark skin while others have very light skin.

It has to be mentioned that darker skin is indeed protected to a considerable higher degree from sunlight than other skin types, but this does not mean that it doesn’t need some basic protection steps to be taken in order to assure that it stays healthy.

All human beings are capable of producing more melanin and this can be easily tested during a sunny day at the beach where the sun causes certain cells in our skin to create more melanin which results in people getting tanned. A tan can quickly turn into sunburn, especially if you are not using the proper cream, anyone can be affected by sunburn. The sun is at its most powerful between 12 and 3 PM and you only need to spend a few minutes without protection and you might get sunburn. This is why everyone should search for a type of product which can stop UV radiation, no matter if they have darker or lighter skin.

There are obviously general factors that apply to all skin colors, but there are also certain variables which affect only dark skin.

Melanin slows down the aging of the skin and this is why people with black skin look younger than those with lighter skin. On the flip side of the coin, dark skin does not have the same elasticity of pale skin.

In a similar vein, studies have shown that black skin slows down the evaporation process of water and this means that black skin is normally better moisturized. This is good news, but the same barrier that holds in the water molecules does not allow for most skin care products to penetrate deep into the skin and this is why specific black skin care products are necessary. It’s possible that one might need heavier skin care oil that can penetrate dark skin without making it too oily. This doesn’t mean that you need more; it means that you need a specific type of oil, one with smaller molecules.

When it comes to what a dark skinned individual should avoid in regards to products he or she should use, it all comes down to the fact that skin is skin and regardless of the amount of pigment it contains all skin colors will react unfavorably to the same ingredients. In this case it would be a good idea to avoid any skin care products that contain any kind of paraben, those that are petroleum-based and especially those that contain chemical bleaching agents.

One other important factor in black skin care is that of controlling the color nuance of the complexion. When a person is trying to maintain a consistent color, he or she needs to use certain skin lighteners. You just need to make sure that these products do not contain steroids as these can damage the areas on which they are applied as well as damage the blood vessels that supply the skin. Ideally when choosing this route one should opt for black skin care products that work to decrease the production of melanin in a natural way.

Black skin care isn’t that much different from any other kind of skin care because ultimately skin is skin, but as we’ve seen, there are certain factors which need to be taken into consideration when looking for black skin care products.

Last updated on May 26th, 2010 and filed under Skin Care. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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