How to make the skin paler?
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
A person is a being who always wants to improve his appearance. Especially it concerns lovely ladies. Rarely, nature can please all their whims and provide an appearance that they do not want to improve. Women who have fair skin often suffer from their characteristics, and other representations of the fair sex, on the contrary, want to lighten their own, they think, too dark skin. In their opinion, pale skin is a sign of aristocracy and mystery, as well as femininity and sensitivity of the nature of their owners.
To brighten the skin, you can use the cosmetic industry, although there are also home methods to make the skin paler.
Read also: |
There are a number of rules that should be followed by the fair sex, who want to lighten the skin:
- In the period of the greatest brightness of the sun - in the spring and summer months - it is necessary to protect the skin of the face and body from ultraviolet radiation. This can be done with the help of hats with large fields, large sunglasses and spacious clothes with long sleeves, trousers and skirts also with cloaks and pareos.
- In summer, sunscreens with the highest SPF level should be used. The most successful option is a cosmetic with a protective filter from SPF 40 and above. And lubricate the skin of the face and body before each exit to the street.
- The skin is pale, which the woman is constantly taking care of. Therefore, do not ignore the moisturizing procedures, as well as cleansing with scrubs and other exfoliating agents. New skin cells that appear in place of the dead, always have a lighter shade, which is a natural way of making the skin pale.
- You can resort to some tricks and change your appearance. It is noticed that darker clothes and dark hair color make the skin visually lighter. The same applies to nail polish black, dark blue, dark red, dark brown, purple and other similar shades. The use of lacquer can visually lighten the skin of the hands. Of course, such changes need to be resorted to, if darker shades will have a positive impact on appearance, and not vice versa.
At home, the facial skin can be clarified with the following simple and time-tested methods:
- On sale there is a significant amount of bleaching creams. You can purchase one of them and apply in accordance with the instructions. In this case, you need to carefully examine the packaging to ensure that the cream contains no harmful substances that can cause allergic reactions.
- A good means for whitening is the usual lemon. It is necessary to mix the squeezed lemon juice with some water and apply to those areas of the face and body that need to be clarified. This procedure should be done every day three times, and after a while the positive result of the applied efforts will be visible.
- It should be noted that clarification with the help of lemon juice can not be done to all women. Persons with very sensitive skin can experience burning and tingling of the skin, in these cases the use of lemon juice is not recommended.
- Water procedures can also be used to lighten the skin of the body. For example, when bathing you need to pour in the water thirty grams of baking soda, and then lie down in the cooked water for ten minutes. This procedure should be done once a week.
- Bath can also be taken with milk. To do this, add two liters of milk and four glasses of English salt to the warm water of the recruited bath. To achieve the desired effect, the procedure is recommended once a week.
- If there is a desire to lighten the skin of hands, it must be rubbed with oat flakes twice a day. Such a tool not only makes the skin pale, but also gives it softness and velvety.
- Crude potatoes also help to lighten the skin. The potato is cleaned and cut into slices, which are applied to those areas of the skin that need clarification. After a lapse of fifteen minutes, the potatoes can be removed.
When using clarifying procedures, it should be remembered that home remedies do not have an instant effect. They need to be used regularly, and only after a few months you can see a positive result from the procedures.
Fashion on pale skin
Fashion on pale skin has a great past. Pale skin was prized in ancient Japan and China, in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, during the Middle Ages. The ladies from the upper world did not take sunbathing or simply substitute the skin of the face and body with the first spring and scorching summer rays of the sun. Aristocrats preferred to appear on the streets, wrapped from head to foot in light, spacious clothes, which protected them from ultraviolet radiation.
Women have long resorted to special tricks to lighten the skin of the face and body. Notable ladies in ancient Greece used a special powder made from rice flour, pounded beans or dried chamomile flowers. In the middle of the first century AD, Roman women of fashion for bleaching face and body used ordinary chalk as a whitewash. Moreover, this means covered not only the face, but also the neck of the chest, hands and, even, back. In Russia, skin whitening was done using cabbage brine and wheat flour.
To achieve a light skin tone, women of fashion and aristocrats not only protected themselves from the sun, but also applied a special powder to lighten their face and body. Many centuries ago, white powder was created on the basis of lead, which affected the skin of women in the most sad way. Early aging of the skin was the lot of those women who wanted or should have used a lightening powder constantly.
Despite the harm done to health for the sake of beauty, the recipe for white powder with lead did not go out of use until the nineteenth century. A similar cosmetic product was distributed among the Greek and Roman women, as well as Japanese geishas.
In Japan in the past centuries, and to this day, the white complexion and neck remains an indispensable attribute of the traditional national make-up of any woman. Since the Japanese, who have a natural swarthy complexion, pale skin has always been considered a sign of feminine beauty and attractiveness.
In the European fashion of aristocratic circles of the Middle Ages, such a feminine type was very popular - a delicate face with very pale skin, curly golden hair, a face with an elongated oval, huge eyes, a small mouth - all this was a sign of an angelic appearance.
The Italian Renaissance turned to the standards of beauty for Ancient Greece and Rome. Again, light skin, like blond hair, came into fashion among aristocrats.
In the Renaissance and subsequent periods, in the sixteenth - eighteenth centuries, porcelain skin color experienced a real fashion boom in the higher circles. The English Queen Elizabeth I instilled in the aristocracy a fashion for subtle pallor. Elizabeth was a natural possessor of this type of skin, the shade of which tried to make it even lighter with the help of white powder. Also in the course of the English queen were special masks from the egg shell, which had a whitening effect. Elizabeth not only clarified the skin, but also drew blue veins on it, making her face seem even paler. Following her, ladies from aristocratic circles had such a habit. Women used white in large quantities: before they went out, they applied several layers of this cosmetic to their face, neck and chest.
In the eighteenth century, French women of fashion were flattered by pale skin. They used a special light powder, which not only gave the person exquisite pallor, but also concealed skin imperfections. Since women even aristocratic circles were sick with smallpox, their faces could be disfigured by pockmarks, which could be successfully hidden with powder.
Russian women of fashion, for the sake of European trends, also began to lighten the skin of the face and body. Porcelain leather was fashionable until the nineteenth century, inclusive. Another peak of passion for fair skin Russia experienced in the early twentieth century, in the era of decadence. At this time it was considered to be a real chic to have expressive bright eyes, brought in by dark shadows and eyeliner, and also lips, painted with bright lipstick and a very light shade of the skin of the face.
Now pale skin has become a fashion trend. Such changes have occurred thanks to the appearance on the world's screens of the most notorious saga of the "Twilight" vampires. Not only the culture of vampires has become popular among young people, but also the very light skin that distinguishes these creatures of darkness.
Pale skin is a sign of aristocracy
As already mentioned, a very light tone of the face was considered an accessory to the higher world. Pale skin, as a sign of the aristocracy, was valued in all ages. The tanned color of the face and body was associated with heavy physical labor in the open air and was considered the common people's lot. Even the pink healthy skin was not a worthy aristocrat, as peasants who spent a lot of time in movement and in nature had it. Ancient Greeks, for example, possessing natural swarthiness, considered light skin a sign of beauty and aristocracy. In the old days, Japanese and Chinese ladies from the higher world simply had to use a specially brightening powder and whitewash, as an attribute of everyday make-up.
Even in ancient Egypt, cosmetics with whitening effect were produced. It was made by the priests, therefore, such means were available to rich people, and, hence, to the higher society. The most popular procedure was to whiten the face and body. The Egyptians were swarthy, so ladies from the upper circles spent a lot of time and money to achieve the desired effect.
In ancient Rome, the aristocrats whitened their skin in every possible way. For example, the wife of Emperor Nero each day took baths of donkey's milk to preserve the porcelain color of the skin. In Rome, noble women believed so much in the power of milk baths that they washed milk up to seventy times a day.
In the Middle Ages the noblemen received their pale skin color due to the way of life. They spent most of the time in gloomy and huge castles, where the fresh air and sunlight hardly penetrated. Thanks to the constant sitting locked up aristokratki became painful, which affected their skin color. Porcelain skin color showed numerous dysfunctions in the body of beautiful women, but, nevertheless, it spread like a fashionable trend in high society.
In the sixteenth century, the English Queen Elizabeth I extended fashion to porcelain leather not only among her noble subjects, but throughout the European continent. It was from this time that the pale skin of the face and body began to be considered a sign of aristocratism.
If you recall the works of Russian classics of the nineteenth century, you can often find a description of aristocrats who had soft white hands, full white shoulders, lush white breasts and porcelain complexion. In Russia, pallor was also considered a destiny and a distinctive sign of high society.
To give the skin an aristocratic appearance, noble ladies hid faces under veils from dazzling sunlight, and also used more potent means. For example, at that time it was customary to drink vinegar, lemon juice and there are small balls of white paper. In order to lighten the skin, beautiful ladies wore camphor under their armpits, and also limited themselves to eating. During the day, women were constantly sitting indoors, hiding from the ultraviolet, and at night they did not sleep to give the skin of the face an aristocratic pallor.