Natural Whitening Agents

The male eyes never fail to spot a beautiful woman. Men admire beauty in women. Female beauty lies in fair skin, beautiful hair, slim figure, and higher than average stature. Beauty matters most for men. The cosmetic industry has moved into screening for natural sources of ingredients that can make human skin appear fairer. 

The melanin production system (melanogenesis) is buried under the skin, in the dermis. So topical agents will suffice to give fair skin. If black skin can turn to white, there is no stopping at what the cosmetic industry can do for the skin. The core of looking fair or white is the melanin pathway. Knowing how it is constructed and how it functions, gives the researcher a good feel at what to target when making cosmetic products. Tyrosinase is the enzyme responsible for making our skin dark and very dark. Without tyrosinase, we are albinos. So tyrosinase inhibitors are what we are looking for in natural sources. We are looking for regulators or inhibitors of melanin production.

Superoxide dismutase (SOD) is another enzyme that reduce melanin production caused by UV radiation. This is important for people who live in the mountains and have high exposure to UV radiation and thefore develop dark skin.

Chronic UV exposure denatures collagen and elastic fibers in the dermis and induces wrinkles in human skin. In the process of photoaging of human skin, neutrophils play an important role. They infiltrate the skin and release active enzymes such as human leukocyte elastase (HLE), which cleaves the helix structure of type I collagen and then degrades elastic fibers in human skin. Therefore, HLE inhibitors may be useful ingredients for prevention of skin wrinkles.

The ancient Chinese have tabulated over 200 herbal formulas which can make the women's face beautiful. 

Plants from the genus Umbelliferae, Ericaceae, Rubiaceae, Piperaceae and Rutaceae have been screened by Japanese researchers.

Things to look for in herbal extracts (leaves, roots, rhizomes, seeds, stems, fruits, barks, etc):

1. tyrosinase inhibitory activity 
2. anti-oxidant activity 
3. HLE inhibitory activity

Source:

InTech-Melanin_hyperpigmentation_inhibitors_from_natural_resources.pdf

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