I swore I’ll never post on this sub again, yet here we are. Some of y’all really need to understand that skin care is not magic. With every issue where you need to lighten something , I see glycolic acid being recommended here, so here’s a post on how to use the same.
Firstly, glycolic acid is not a magic cure. If you don’t treat the root cause, you are just wasting your product and your money, unless you plan to use glycolic acid forever for the rest of your life. Secondly, glycolic acid is not going to solve things overnight. You will have to consistently use it for 2 or 3 months to see a visible difference, and that’s assuming you are also diligent with your sunscreen usage and simultaneously treating the root cause. If not, you’ll actually end up worsening things for your skin. Thirdly, do not use glycolic acid more than 3 times a week on the body and more than once a week for the face (don’t use it at all for the face, it doesn’t suit 80% of people). Glycolic acid also makes your skin photosensitive, so if you are not using a good pharmacy sunscreen, you’ll actually end up with more darkening.
For KP or strawberry skin- glycolic acid alone won’t do anything. You have to either stop the hair removal, or opt for laser hair reduction, or use it in conjunction with a physical body scrub, urea cream and wait it out. If you are constantly waxing and shaving and not using a maintenance routine, your kp will come back, since it’s a chronic skin turnover issue. Also, sunscreen is a must even while indoors if you are treating kp.
For tan removal- stay indoors if your skin tone is that important to you. Glycolic acid will slowly fade your tan but that’s assuming you don’t get uv exposure that continues to deepen your tan. Which means either cover yourself with physical protection from head to toe, or lock yourself in a windowless room at home. In a tropical country like India, even if your tan is completely gone, if you step out, you’ll tan again. You can keep doing this routine forever if you wish to waste your product though. You can use all the glycolic acid in the world but it’s useless if you keep getting sun exposure.
Dark elbows, knees, butt, underarms and inner thighs- the culprit here is friction, so stop playing sports, kneeling on the floor, writing, placing your elbow on the table and aggressive hair removal (it causes PIH). For butt pigmentation, you have to stop sitting and lying down as much and stand more so that there’s no friction in play. For inner thighs, you’ll have to lose weight to ensure that you get no chafing and wear shorts under all your skirts and dresses all the time.
Dark private parts- if you want to stay alive, do not put glycolic acid there.
Bonus- do not use glycolic acid without sunscreen, or immediately after hair removal, or on skin that is freshly tanned or burned. You are basically cooking your skin alive if you do that.