Lighten Your Skin Safely

Tuesday, 2012-05-08

One of the most significant signs of skin aging is hyperpigmentation. These are the spots, freckles, and other blemishes caused by too much exposure to the sun.

Hyperpigmentation — melanin deposits such as brown spots, lesions and excessive freckling caused by too much sun — is a significant sign of aging, along with wrinkles and greys, but remains largely hidden from view. Considering that modern UVA/UVB sunscreen was not around until the 1980s, anyone in their 30s and beyond (especially those “beyond”) have soaked up a lot of harmful rays.

In effect, today the look of uneven, spotty and sun-damaged skin has become the new grey hair. And don’t think the cosmetics industry hasn’t noticed. Selling out as fast as wrinkle remedies, products and specialized procedures abound to promise even skin tones, lightened areas and radiant skin.

You probably know already that overexposure to the sun’s rays can damage your skin and cause it to age prematurely. You also probably already know the value of wearing sunscreen daily.

Chances are, however, you didn’t worry about sun protection in your younger years, and you’ve already sustained several years worth of sun damage on your skin. You can’t change the past, but by taking steps to care for your skin, you can reverse some of the effects of sun damage. Interested? Here are a few simple tips:

Smooth it out

The buildup of dead skin cells can make your skin look blotchy and uneven. One of the simplest ways to make your skin appear smoother is by exfoliating. Regular use of an exfoliant like Diana Stalder Facial Scrub removes dead skin cells, leaving skin looking smoother.

An added benefit of exfoliating is that the treatments you apply afterwards work better. When you exfoliate, you apply lotions, creams, and other topical treatments on a fresh layer of skin, and not the layer of dead skin cells that normally stay on top.

One disadvantage of exfoliating, however, is that it can make your skin more susceptible to the elements. This is why our next tip is so important.

Protect your skin

We can’t stress this enough: the best thing you can do for your skin is protect it from the sun. Even (or especially) if you’ve already sustained skin damage from the sun, putting on sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15 like Diana Stalder Sunblock Cream is important. Wearing sunscreen helps prevent further sun damage, and this is especially important after you exfoliate, when your skin is most prone to damage from the elements. This also gives your skin and immune system time to repair some of the damage that has already been done.

Bleach a little

If you’re worried about blotchy skin, dark spots, and other discoloration caused by sun damage, we recommend the Diana Stalder Surely White Body Bleaching Kit. The kit not only includes soap and lotion to treat the blemishes on your skin, but also a two-in-one moisturizer and sunscreen.

Nourish your skin

Vitamin A is great for rejuvenating sun-damaged skin. We recommend using Diana Stalder Vitamin A Beauty Bar regularly to help nurse your skin back to health. As a side benefit, Vitamin A also helps treat acne.

Nourishment, however, shouldn’t just be (pardon the pun) skin deep. What you eat affects your skin’s health, so it’s important to watch your diet too. You want food rich in Vitamins A, C, and E to fight skin damage. Recent research has also shown that lycopene, which is found in tomatoes and other food, does wonders for your skin’s natural UV protection.

Of course, hydration is also important. Your skin needs water to look healthy, and dehydrating yourself doesn’t help with your skin’s repair process. Make sure you drink enough water during the day, and keep a bottle (or a glass) of water by your bedside too.

Do you have any tips or tricks to repair the effects of sun damage? Please share them with us too!

Leave a Comment » | Diana Stalder products, Skin Care 101, SouthGain.com web store | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by pgesmundo

Reversing the Effects of Sun Damage

Tuesday, 2012-02-21

You probably know already that overexposure to the sun’s rays can damage your skin and cause it to age prematurely. You also probably already know the value of wearing sunscreen daily.

Chances are, however, you didn’t worry about sun protection in your younger years, and you’ve already sustained several years worth of sun damage on your skin. You can’t change the past, but by taking steps to care for your skin, you can reverse some of the effects of sun damage. Interested? Here are a few simple tips:

Smooth it out

The buildup of dead skin cells can make your skin look blotchy and uneven. One of the simplest ways to make your skin appear smoother is by exfoliating. Regular use of an exfoliant like Diana Stalder Facial Scrub removes dead skin cells, leaving skin looking smoother.

An added benefit of exfoliating is that the treatments you apply afterwards work better. When you exfoliate, you apply lotions, creams, and other topical treatments on a fresh layer of skin, and not the layer of dead skin cells that normally stay on top.

One disadvantage of exfoliating, however, is that it makes your skin more prone to the elements. This is why our next tip is so important.

Protect your skin

We can’t stress this enough: the best thing you can do for your skin is protect it from the sun. Even (or especially) if you’ve already sustained skin damage from the sun, putting on sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15 like Diana Stalder Sunblock Cream is important. Wearing sunscreen helps prevent further sun damage, and this is especially important after you exfoliate, when your skin is most prone to damage from the elements. This also gives your skin and immune system time to repair some of the damage that has already been done.

Bleach a little

If you’re worried about blotchy skin, dark spots, and other discoloration caused by sun damage, we recommend the Diana Stalder Surely White Body Bleaching Kit. The kit not only includes Papaya Kojic Soap and Surely White SW Body Lotion to treat the blemishes on your skin, but also includes the Diana Stalder Skin Moisturizing Lotion, which works as both a moisturizer and a sunscreen.

Nourish your skin

Vitamin A great for rejuvenating sun-damaged skin. We recommend using Diana Stalder Vitamin A Beauty Bar regularly to help nurse your skin back to health. As a side benefit, Vitamin A also helps treat acne.

Nourishment, however, shouldn’t just be (pardon the pun) skin deep. What you eat affects your skin’s health, so it’s important to watch your diet too. You want food rich in Vitamins A, C, and E to fight skin damage. Recent research has also shown that lycopene, which is found in tomatoes and other food, does wonders for your skin’s natural UV protection.

Of course, hydration is also important. Your skin needs water to look healthy, and dehydrating yourself doesn’t help repair your skin. Make sure you drink enough water during the day, and keep a bottle (or a glass) of water by your bedside too.

Do you have any tips or tricks to repair the effects of sun damage? Please share them with us too!

1 Comment | Diana Stalder products, General ramblings, SouthGain.com web store | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by pgesmundo

Skin Care 101: Sugar and Skin

Friday, 2010-10-01

Too much sugar has a lot of potential long-term harm to the body such as kidney failure, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity, poor eyesight, and weakened immune-system which leads to influenza and other communicable infections, among others. Focusing on the skin, sugar adversely affects our body’s outer covering in two ways: by destroying the protein cells and attacking the white blood cells.

A natural body process called glycation occurs when the glucose or sugar in the bloodstream attaches to the proteins. This process produces AGEs or Advances Glycation End products which damages the nearby proteins. These proteins, such as collagen and elastin protein fibers, are essential in keeping the skin firm and elastic. Such disruption can cause deep wrinkles and skin sagging.

Apart from losing your skin’s suppleness, AGEs also suppress the natural ability of the body to produce antioxidant enzymes. This makes your skin more susceptible to ageing caused by sun damage and free radicals coming from the pollution and microbes in your surroundings.

Vitamin C helps the white blood cells destroy germs. Sugar in the form of glucose decreases the capacity of cells to absorb Vitamin C, thereby restraining the cells’ defense system against viruses and bacteria or even cancer cells! Skin manifestations for such event include itchiness, acne and sores that take longer to heal.

While trusted skin regimens may help reduce the indication of high blood sugar on the outside, it is also imperative to take necessary precautions from within. The key to lessening sugar intake is avoiding foods and drinks with this content. Most sodas, fruit-flavored drink and packaged foods are rich in glucose. Carbohydrates-rich food such as pasta, bread, potatoes and rice can be rapidly converted into huge amounts of sugar as opposed to eating chocolates or candy bars.

Healthy sugar substitutes such as fresh fruits can help tame your urge for sugar dose. Supplementing your diet with vitamins B1, B6, protein and omega-3 rich foods like salmon, mackerel and sardines can reduce the production of AGEs. Eating fiber-rich foods, such as leafy vegetables and oatmeal, and exercising can slow down the body’s glucose grasp rate by promoting better carbohydrate metabolism.

Recommended product: Diana Stalder Surely White Revitalizing Kit, it is formulated to invigorate and restore lost moisture as skin grows older, maintaining skin suppleness and elasticity.  This kit also includes Diana Stalder’s very popular Surely White Lightening Lotion, which is particularly effective at removing the appearance of age spots, hyper-pigmentation and other forms of melasma.  You’ll begin to see results within one week!

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Posted by pgesmundo

The Growing Skin Whitening Industry

Thursday, 2010-02-04

A recent article on GMANews.TV scrutinized the obsession of Pinoys to attain lighter skin complexion.

In the article, journalist Tina Arceo-Dumlao, cited a survey conducted by Synovate, which reveals that “two out of five women in Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines and Taiwan feel they are more attractive with fair complexions.”   The results even highlighted the fact that the Philippines had the highest usage among the countries included in the survey.

From a business standpoint, the growing market is great news for us. But it doesn’t necessarily make things easier!

With so many companies jumping on the bandwagon, it gets harder for the authorities to monitor and keep up with all the products out there, making the hunt for a safe and effective whitening product harder for the average consumer.

Some manufacturers offer cheaper but unsafe alternatives, and to add to it, fly-by-night vendors mislead customers by misrepresenting some known brands and labeling fake products.

As a vendor of products that can lighten skin, we do find the topic very interesting. We’ve had several customers who’ve been victimized one way or another.

Victim or not, we’d love to hear your thoughts too.  Do you know of a product that’s unsafe or mislabeled?

Post your comments and tell us about it!

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Posted by pgesmundo

Unsafe Skin Lightening Products

Saturday, 2010-01-23

In connection to our previous post on the dangers of hydroquinone (HQ) and mercury, here’s further evidence on the importance of using only trusted and regulated products.

Recently, the New York Times published an article about how illegal, unsafe skin lightening creams are easily accessible to the consumers.  Skin lightening creams containing dangerous ingredients like steroids in very strong doses, corticosteroids such as clobetasol propionate, HQ, and even mercury can be purchased online or in beauty product stores.

Numerous stores in cities such as New York, Miami and Chicago are actually aware they are selling items that should either be doctor prescribed or containing illegal substances.  A majority of the victims are women of Hispanic, Indian and African decent, trying to lighten or even out their skin color.

As the article points out, sometimes safe and legal versions of the genuine product are available, however illegal counterfeit versions being sold under the names Fair & White, L’Abidjanaise and Hyprogel can often be found with dangerous, illegal ingredients.  According to dermatologists, these products can present serious side effects from severe acne to more serious problems like damaging the nervous system.

We take your safety very seriously at SouthGain.  This is why we sell only genuine products that do not contain HQ, mercury, steroids or other dangerous ingredients.

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Posted by pgesmundo

The Dangers of Hydroquinone and Mercury

Saturday, 2010-01-16

A wide variety of skin lightening products contains hydroquinone (HQ) and mercury as active ingredients.  The combination of the two is said to slow down the creation of melanin, which causes age spots, freckles, melasma and other types of skin discoloration.

On the downside, these two ingredients are known to have severe side effects.  Mercurcy is especially dangerous, and almost universally outlawed in skin care products because of serious health risks associated with it.  Hydroquinone is a little more controversial, with many countries allowing its use at various concentration levels, but others banning it outright.

Even if you aren’t concerned about the health risks, you will probably find that these ingredients often result in the infamous "rebound effect"—if you stop using the product, your melanin production may actually start progressing much faster and result in more skin pigmentation.

Genuine Diana Stalder Whitening and Lightening Products do NOT use Hydroquinone or Mercurcy

The Diana Stalder Surely White Whitening Regimen Kit and the Diana Stalder Surely White Body Bleaching Kit contain products that use arbutin, which is a more modern skin de-pigmentation and whitening agent.

Arbutin is believed by many experts to be much safer than traditional old-fashioned hydroquinone.  Arbutin is a glycosylated derivative of HQ, and it naturally occurs in the bearberry plant, wheat and pear skins.  The experts believe it is less prone to side effects than traditional HQ because it is more gradually released through hydrolysis.

Arbutin naturally whitens or lightens the skin, infiltrating without affecting the process of cell multiplication.  Arbutin works by effectively inhibiting tyrosinase, which is an enzyme that catalyzes the biosynthesis of melanin, which is the main cause of skin darkening.  Arbutin also protects the skin against damage caused by free radicals.

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Posted by pgesmundo

Halal Certification for Diana Stalder Skin Whitening Products

Wednesday, 2009-11-11

Just a quick note to inform our Muslim customers that we have spoken to the factory about this issue, and they are now planning to acquire halal certification for all Diana Stalder skin whitening and lightening products in 2010. As you know, the certification process can take some time, but we will let you know as soon as we have confirmation that it’s completed. Thanks in advance for your patience!

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Posted by SouthGain

How do Diana Stalder Skin Whitening and Lightening Products Work?

Tuesday, 2009-11-10

This is a question we receive fairly often. We’ve covered it in the FAQ (www.DianaStalder.info), but thought it would be good to address the topic here on the blog as well.

In short, Diana Stalder skin whitening and lightening products work by inhibiting the formation of melanin in various ways. Melanin is the color pigment of the skin. Melanin is synthesized in specialized cytoplasmic organelles called melanosomes. Within the melanosome, the conversion of the amino acid tyrosine to melanin is catalyzed by the enzyme tyrosinase. The melanosomes in darker portions of the skin are more active than those found in other areas of the body. Most of the key ingredients in these products either inhibit the production of tyrosinase or inhibit melanosomal activity. Some of the products also promote exfoliation, removing the outer layers of skin to expose the whiter you, hiding below!

If you have specific questions that we can’t answer directly, we’re always happy to talk with the staff pharmacists, the R&D team, the regulatory compliance manager, or anyone else at the Stalder factory or headquarters and get you an answer.

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Posted by SouthGain

Our Most Popular Diana Stalder Skin Care Products

Friday, 2009-08-14

Since several of you have asked for a list of our most popular Diana Stalder skin care products, here they are, with links directly to the appropriate page at www.SouthGain-Skin-Care.com:

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Posted by SouthGain

Are Diana Stalder Products Safe for Use on the Bikini Line and Genital Area?

Tuesday, 2009-05-12

Despite the sensitive nature of the topic, this is actually one of the more common questions we receive, and we probably should have written a blog post on this topic long before now.  For many customers—both women and men—the bikini line is a particularly problematic area for dark skin tone.  Often, this includes a wider area of the inner thighs, pubic region, anus and generally anywhere around those “private” parts.  So you’re definitely not alone!

Now, what to do about it?  Is it safe to use Diana Stalder skin whitening or skin lightening products in these areas?  What are the best options?

First,  Diana Stalder products can be used externally all over the body.  Generally speaking, the creams are designed for use on the face, while the lotions are designed for use on the rest of the body.  But these are just general guidelines.  Any Diana Stalder product can be used safely anywhere external on the body.  The creams and lotions should not be used internally, particularly on the female genitalia.  It’s O.K. to wash thoroughly with any of the soaps, although many users will find their “private areas” particularly sensitive when using the Papaya Kojic Soap.

There are several good approaches to these problem areas, and the best choice for you depends on your particular skin type, your specific problem areas, your goals, your timeline and your budget.  One good choice is the Surely White Body Bleaching Kit, or at least the Surely White Body Whitening Lotion and one of the whitening soaps (usually either the Papaya Kojic Soap or the Glutathione Soap if your skin is particularly sensitive).

Another option to consider is the Surely White Whitening Cream—it’s normally intended for the face, and expensive to use on large areas, but can be ideal for the inner thighs and bikini area.  Again, for best results, use this in combination with one of the whitening soaps.

Finally, a common “trick” used by many of our customers is to apply the Deo Roll-On around the bikini line area.  After showering, towel dry, apply the Surely White Body Whitening Lotion or Surely White Whitening Cream, wait about 5 minutes, then use the Deo Roll-On.  Give it a try!

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to send an e-mail to us at CustomerService@SouthGain.com.  Don’t worry—no question is too crazy or should be too embarassing to ask.  Rest assured we handle sensitive customer questions like these every day, and we always treat them with complete privacy and the highest level of professionalism.

4 Comments | Diana Stalder products, SouthGain.com web store | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by SouthGain

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