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How To Get an Even Skin Tone on Your Body
When it comes to complexion concerns, we tend to focus on our faces. It's much easier to hide breakouts or issues with skin tone or texture on your body when you can just cover them up with clothes.
However, especially as we get deep into summer, taking time to think about how you're taking care of your skin all over can positively impact your self-confidence.
If you're looking to get yourself bathing suit-ready but are worried that issues with pigmentation or acne scars will get in the way of your head-to-toe glow, fret no longer! We'll break down what's causing your skin tone issues and discuss how to ensure your skin is clear, even and glowing in no time.
What Causes an Uneven Skin Tone?
While your body skin is effectively the same as the skin on your face, certain aspects of day-to-day life can make your body more prone to dark spots.
For instance, sun exposure is a common cause of dark spots. As your skin is exposed to UV rays, it can become damaged, resulting in dark spots or hyperpigmentation that crop up as your skin cells produce an excess of melanin in reaction to the sun.
While you (hopefully) wear sunscreen daily, it's much easier to reapply sunscreen to your face on long days in the sun than to reapply it all over, so it's pretty common to slack when it comes to full body coverage. This can make your body more vulnerable to hyperpigmentation caused by sun exposure.
Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation is another very common cause of dark spots and marks. It crops up as a result of trauma to the skin. While trauma may sound dramatic, it could be something as simple as a particularly stubborn pimple or even a scratch.
Sometimes, during the healing process, your skin starts to overproduce melanin in these areas. This creates post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation — the dark spots and marks you're dying to get rid of.
Because you're more likely to injure the skin of your body as opposed to the skin on your face, it's an easy way to end up with an uneven skin tone even if you're generally taking good care of your skin and protecting it from environmental factors like the sun!
Pregnancy and hormonal changes can also cause dark spots and hyperpigmentation. Individuals with darker complexions are also more prone to hyperpigmentation than others, so there's a genetic component — but no matter what's causing your skin tone to be less-than-even, there are things you can do to help get your complexion back on track.
What Ingredients Should You Look for To Get an Even Skin Tone?
There are a few different classes of ingredients that can be really helpful in evening out your skin tone. Of course, having a well-rounded skincare regimen for your body and your face is important outside of just these components. But we'll talk more about the full routine in the next section!
Acids
There are too many skincare acids available to list, but the main category you're going to want to embrace to help improve the evenness of your skin tone is something called Alpha Hydroxy Acids or AHAs.
AHAs are chemical exfoliants (not to be confused with physical exfoliants, which we’ll talk about in the next section) which means they're experts at breaking the bonds between the top layers of your skin cells.
This allows old, dull and overly pigmented skin cells to be more easily sloughed away, making way for newer, fresher skin cells to come to the forefront. Chemical exfoliation can help to stimulate skin cell turnover, which is exactly what you want if you're dealing with stubborn hyperpigmentation. Examples of AHAs include Citric Acid, Glycolic Acid, Lactic Acid and Malic Acid.
Exfoliants
The other type of exfoliation is physical exfoliation. Rather than using chemicals to help break the bonds between the layers of your skin, physical exfoliation uses something gentle but abrasive to slough away dead skin cells, dirt and other impurities. Like chemical exfoliants, they can help to refresh your skin and promote skin cell turnover, which can be beneficial if you're trying to even out your skin tone.
Antioxidants
Antioxidants are the real deal when it comes to brightening and evening out your complexion! Antioxidants work by helping to ward off damage-causing free radicals. Free radicals occur naturally, but they can also come from environmental factors like UV rays.
Too much exposure to free radicals without enough antioxidant enrichment to help you fight them can negatively affect your health and skin.
Using antioxidant-rich skincare ingredients such as Vitamin C can help brighten the appearance of your skin, aid with hydration and prevent hyperpigmentation-causing damage from occurring again in the future. Other antioxidant ingredients include everything from Retinol to Niacinamide!
What Does an All-Over Skincare Routine Look Like?
Look, we get it — life gets busy! It can be hard enough to get out the door with everything you need for the day, so the idea of adding a skincare routine in addition to the one you already do for your face may seem daunting.
But taking care of the skin on your body is important, and it doesn't need to be a hassle! W'eve compiled an example all-over skincare routine to help you get started with caring for your whole body.
Think of this body skincare regimen, designed to help you get an even skin tone all over, as a little self-care moment you can practice every day.
Cleanse
Cleansing is the easiest step to add to your full-body skincare routine because it's probably already part of your daily bathing routine! Our Clear and Even Tone Body Cleansing Bar is specifically formulated not just to clean your skin, but to help improve the appearance of your uneven skin tone, too.
With potent, exfoliating Kojic Acid to help address hyperpigmentation, making this single swap in your morning shower can help to even out your complexion while easing blemishes and unclogging pores.
Exfoliate
Exfoliating daily is an important part of any skincare routine designed to even out your skin tone. Our Clear and Even Tone Body Cleansing Bar & Exfoliating Pouch is a great way to physically exfoliate your skin and give your body the head-to-toe refresh it needs to glow properly.
It's also incredibly easy to use because it has an amazing textured pouch that can help turn your daily wash into an exfoliating experience. Just place the cleansing bar in the pouch, wet it and work it into a lather, and then use the pouch to scrub your skin into beautiful, even perfection.
Use gentle pressure when exfoliating so as to avoid irritating or scratching your skin, and move in small circles.
Treat
Using our Even Tone Smoothing Body Treatment after you shower but before you moisturize is the perfect way to give your skin the help it needs to reach its fullest potential.
Our Even Tone Smoothing Body Treatment is formulated with tyrosinase inhibitor Kojic Acid to help regulate your skin's melanin production to restore its best, most even appearance. It also uses powerhouse AHA Glycolic Acid to provide chemical exfoliation, which can help minimize the appearance of blemishes, visible signs of aging and hyperpigmentation by sloughing away dead skin cells and stimulating skin cell turnover.
It also makes use of Retinol and Niacinamide, both of which are potent antioxidants. They work hard to help penetrate into your skin, where they can help neutralize free radicals and prevent dark spot-causing skin damage. Niacinamide can also help to reduce the appearance of discoloration, textural issues and redness — so whatever is causing the skin on your body to appear uneven, this treatment just might be the thing to help!
Hydrate
While moisturizing isn't a step that directly helps hyperpigmentation, keeping your skin hydrated is important for any skincare concern — especially if you've been exfoliating a bunch. This is because moisturizing helps to promote a healthy skin barrier.
And when your skin barrier is healthy, it makes it easier for your skin to retain moisture and stay happy, plump and hydrated.
A healthy skin barrier also helps to keep potentially breakout-causing bacteria and impurities from getting into your pores. Because hyperpigmentation can be caused by acne scars or post-inflammatory issues caused by inflammation or open cuts, keeping your skin barrier strong and avoiding breakouts can help reduce instances of PIH in the future.
Hydration is especially crucial if you have a dry skin type or if you make exfoliation a regular part of your routine. Exfoliation can dry out your complexion by scrubbing away the surface layer of moisture, so proper hydration is key in maintaining a healthy skin barrier and keeping your skin glowy.
Protect
One of the most common causes of dark spots is sun damage. So finishing off your full body skincare routine with sunscreen is a non-negotiable! Not only can a daily SPF help prevent dark spots, but it can also help reduce the appearance of visible signs of aging by supporting your skin during sun exposure. Plus, if you skip the sunscreen and end up sunburnt, well — that's not what we would call an even skin tone.
Our Complexion Protection Moisturizer with SPF 30 is the perfect marriage between your daily moisturizer and a super protective SPF that uses both mineral and chemical actives. If there's one step in your skincare routine you should never skip in pursuit of an even skin tone, your daily SPF slash moisturizer is the one!
In Conclusion
It's time to stop neglecting your body when thinking about skincare! With some minor additions to your daily routine, you can easily even out your complexion and address just about any skincare concern you have. Your glow doesn't have to stop from your neck down — and we're sure you'll love the confidence you feel when you love every inch of your skin.
Engagement Manager
