How to fade dark spots on the face: start with which kind
"Dark spot" covers at least five different things, and what helps one is wasted on another. Working out...
Notes on skin, formulation and ritual.
Slow reading on the science, the texture, and the small daily acts that compound into quiet radiance.
Pigmentation in pregnancy: what is normal and what to leave alone
Darkening during pregnancy is common, expected and largely self-resolving. The risk is not the pigmentation, it is what...
Licorice root in skincare: mulethi, glabridin and what they do
Licorice is the gentlest of the well-studied tyrosinase inhibitors, and the one where the gap between a standardised...
Azelaic acid: where it fits for marks and redness
Azelaic acid is selective in a way most pigmentation ingredients are not: it acts on overactive pigment cells...
Dark knuckles: the causes, and when they are worth a doctor's opinion
Knuckles are darker than the hand around them in almost everyone, and that is normal. When they darken...
Tranexamic acid: what it does for pigmentation
Tranexamic acid came to skincare from haematology, where it is used to slow bleeding. The reason it turned...
Dark underarms: the causes, and which ones a product can reach
Underarm darkening has several causes and most of them are mechanical rather than pigmentary. Working out which one...
How to fade a tan, and what makes one linger
A tan is melanin the skin made on purpose, not dirt sitting on the surface. It fades on...
Dark circles: what skincare can and cannot do
Under-eye darkness has at least four causes and only one of them is pigment. Pressing the skin and...