Many of us are searching for the best way to go a shade darker in skin color. But what if you’re someone who actually wants to lighten your skin or remove dark spots? Then skin lightening cream is the solution for you.

What is Skin Lightening Cream?

Skin lightening cream lightens your skin after several weeks of application. You’ll usually see results within the first 2 or 3 weeks, but it varies from person to person. It often reduces or even eliminates freckles, scars, birthmarks, and age spots. I personally used skin lightening cream to remove a pronounced birthmark on my arm. Now my birthmark is completely unnoticeable, and my skin looks completely natural. Many people also use it to lighten their entire complexion. Don’t worry, you won’t turn into Michael Jackson if you follow our advice. 🙂

Speaking of Michael Jackson, there are several surgeries and laser treatments available for brightening your skin. These are highly unnecessary for most people, since a simple cream will do the trick for most people.

Hydroquinone is usually the main ingredient in skin lightening cream. Hydroquinone lightens the pigmentation of your skin by decreasing the melanin level in it. Many creams also include vitamin C along with other ingredients which have shown to brighten your skin. Many creams include exfoliating ingredients to remove some of the darker skin tissue.

Things to Look Out For

Some creams contain mercury, which can be very dangerous to apply to your skin. The United States has banned mercury from products like this. However, it’s still important to be certain that you don’t purchase a product with mercury. To add to the confusion, mercury is sometimes listed under another name such as calomel or mercuric.

In assembling our top 5 list, we already checked the products for you. You can rest assured; all of the products listed below have no mercury.

All skin lightening creams will increase your skin’s sensitivity to the sun. Hence, you should be ready to wear sunscreen to avoid getting burned. In a way, sunscreen is a skin brightener on its own since it keeps your skin from getting darker in the sun. We recommend the Sun Bum Moisturizing Sunscreen Lotion. It has an SPF 30 rating, it’s hypoallergenic, and it contains many antioxidants.

Many products also combine basic skin lightening elements with sunscreen. If you’re interested in this type of product, then check out the Myconos Mild Perfecter Sun Cream. This water-based cream has an SPF 50+ rating, whitening ingredients, and anti-aging ingredients. It’s one of the best all-in-one sunscreens on the market.

Best 5 Products

If you’d like to buy a pure skin lightening product, then you’re in luck! We compiled a list of the best 5 skin lightening products for you.

#1: Admire My Skin Ultra-Potent Brightening Serum

This product is our #1 recommendation to you. This cream is hard to beat.

It contains the maximum dosage of hydroquinone (2%) allowable for an over-the-counter product. It’s also packed with a plethora of skin lightening ingredients, including Salicyclic Acid, Kojic Acid, and Vitamin C.

You’ll see results in a matter of days! We recommend this product for virtually any skin lightening treatment. It works well for melasma, age spots, and hyperpigmentation. Since this product is so potent, we advise you to start gradually by applying it once every few days and working up to once daily. Additionally, you should couple this product with a good moisturizer and sunscreen to achieve best results.

#2: Whitening Labs Dark Spot Corrector Cream

Unlike its competitors, this cream uses natural ingredients instead of hydroquinone. In our opinion, it’s the best product on the market that uses natural ingredients. That’s why we ranked it #2 on our list!

Just as the name implies, this product specializes in removing dark spots. It removes dark spots while maintaining a natural blend with the skin around it. It works great on your face as well as the rest of your body. It’s also organic, vegan, and no animals were harmed in testing it. If those qualities are important to you, then this is the perfect product for you.

#3: Derriere Skin Bleaching Cream

Similar to our #1 pick, this cream is also potent with hydroquinone. It works well with scars, lightening dark underarms, age spots, etc.

However, some folks report a negative experience in the first few days of use. Some report increased acne, and others report an actual darkening of the skin before it begins to lighten. Fortunately, the acne and darkening tend to go away after the first few days of usage, and the product begins to work as intended. If you’re willing to go through a few bad days, we’re confident you’ll be happy with the outcome from this cream.

#4: Carotone DSP10 Combo Set

Many people think that creams don’t work as well as lotions or oils. If you fall in this category, then this could be the right product for you. If you’re unsure of which type of product to try, then you can try three products and see what works best for you.

This product is less potent that most of the others. Depending on your situation, this could be good or bad. If you don’t want any drastic changes and you’d like a more gradual change, then we recommend this product to you.

#5: Maxi Britener Cream

This is another simple cream that does not use hydroquinone. It uses natural skin brighteners instead to do the trick. If you’re wary of hydroquinone and you’re willing to see slower results, then this product could be right for you. Since the results are slower, it’s actually recommended that you apply this cream twice daily instead of once.