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28.4gm Tube
Chemical Name: HYDROQUINONE WITH SUNSCREEN (HYE-droe-kwin-own with SUN-screen)
Common uses
Alphaquin Hp 4-5-7.5% Cream is a skin bleaching agent used to treat freckles, age spots, and other skin discolorations that may occur due to pregnancy, skin trauma, the use of birth control pills, or hormone replacement therapy. It may also be used to treat other conditions as determined by your doctor. ... drugstore.com info.
Has anyone ever used this before and if so, what were your results?
I am not sure that you can get this without a prescription. It comes with side effects such as itching, burning etc.

Dermatologists will tell you that your skin will revert to looking darker if used with HQ. It takes a while for it to clear up, yes it will clear but who wants to run the risk of looking DARK and then being accused of lightening?

Yeah I forgot about that lol. But I really don't need the proactive anymore, if I do get bad acne I'll use neutrogena.
As of now I'll continue to use St. Ives, that should work right?

If you are using the RA then that should really help with any acne you might have. It is the only thing that helped me. I too used proactiv back in the days and it did help but I would still get break outs. I toss the idea and started RA and obagi and guess what? I've been acne free since! (Well almost if you consider one or two every 3 or 6 months)! Derms will tell you that RA is recommended for bad acne and I have not been more pleased than now! It is a little miracle for acne sufferers. I suffered from acne since my teenage years into adulthood and some! LOL.

I did use obaji too.
It worked but I did not care for the harshness the first two weeks, but it did clear my face and lighten it a bit.

I liked Proactive and have a coupon to post for it soon,had tried it years back but the monthly price is just too much to pay each month to stay clear. The last I used it I gave the rest to my cousin, but it did nothing for her skin.

If I discontinued everything now I know my face would return to bad acne, blemishes, and dark marks all over. I recall one of my friends telling me how her sister has "bad skin" just like me . That's when I knew something had to change.. but the thing is my skin was nice in highschool, but had became gradually became worse. What has helped my acne during different times were the St. Ives apricot scrub, papaya kojic acid soap, neutrogena pink grapefruit scrub, but retin-a has helped me so much with acne and scars, lactic acid is great too. The makari clarifying serum I notice is more of a gentle exfoliator concentrated with glycolic acid and mulberry root extract. More of a skin brightener, anti-aging, and exfoliator, rather than a skin lightener. I am noticing a really pleasant difference with my face as it's giving my skin a glow, but no lightening with it.


Salicylic acid (crushed aspirin) can be used for acne and smoothing the skin, there are a couple of DIY recipe masks for it in the recipe area.

GG aspirin masks are the best. RA in my opinion is the absolute best for acne and scars. I did a few TCA peels (light) on my body and face. My face didn't peel significantly but I had a little peel going on. That helped with the scars. My entire body peeled though like real bad! I used a stronger strength on my body. I have used glycolic peels which were not irritating but gave me a lovely glow.
I have heard horror stories about the makari line, do you get flare ups from using it?

GG,

As you mentioned that you think that the makari clarifying serum is more of a brightener than a lightener, have you been able to maintain your lightening on your face since stopping the HQ ?


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I know now without a doubt that mulberry extract and exfoliation is much milder, 2 of the main ingredients in the makari serum. I haven't darkened, but it seem to have maintained. But, haven't lightened either and not as light as I was back in december, but lighter than my original shade. Last night I decided to start back using nadinola after applying the serum. The instructions did suggest on the makari box to apply the serum and then creme, but I needed to know how well it worked on it's own since they state that it "was created to treat particularly darkened areas such as elbows, knuckles, knees, toes, and acne scars." It has helped with my blemishes and brightening, but I do not plan to use it on my elbows, knees, and other thick areas as I strongly believe that AHA peels, TCA 12% peels, and mequinol/ra is a more preferred choice for those areas.

allure wrote:GG aspirin masks are the best. RA in my opinion is the absolute best for acne and scars. I did a few TCA peels (light) on my body and face. My face didn't peel significantly but I had a little peel going on. That helped with the scars. My entire body peeled though like real bad! I used a stronger strength on my body. I have used glycolic peels which were not irritating but gave me a lovely glow.
I have heard horror stories about the makari line, do you get flare ups from using it?

Yes, the glycolic acid in the serum is giving me a glow so I believe the concentration maybe a 5-10% as I haven't experienced any peeling from it. Well, the serum isn't an oily product, rather a light exfoliaion one so there are no flare ups. But, when I was using the cremes I would get a zit here and there that I am for sure came from their cremes because although rare that I would get one, the size of it was much larger than my actual zit. As long as I didn't tamper with it, it would diminish within a few days and I didn't have an outbreak. But, from some I hear that it had gave them tiny pimples where they had applied though.

I've heard aspirin irritates the skin and only a little should be applied

Thanks GG, that's good to know about the Makari. I looked at it few months back and decided not to try it because 1) way too expensive and 2) people were having a hard time combating acne as a result of using it.

Alizee - I don't think aspirin would irritate your skin in such a way unless you abuse it. When I have used the aspirin masks, I normally moisturize real well. I've also used it for acne break outs (crush the aspirin if I have popped the pimple) and then apply to the area. Next morning my face hardly showed any sign of damage or scar.

Hmm I know my mother did that when she was little lol. She also used ponds cream every morning and night then at night she would put on the night cream.

Alizee oh I see. I asked about the 5% because you mentioned it. I just started with lightening lotions a few months ago to get my skin even toned but nothing much. My main focus was the acne scars I had. I used obagi for almost 2 months and I was really happy with that product...well then again it contains 4%HQ which I mixed with ra .1%. Now on my MQ journey hoping that good things will happen to my scars and evening out everything!

I'll drink to that allure lol.

I'm almost done with the f&w, it worked but I don't care for it. I am thinking trying body bleach, they give a sample and regular cost is 14.95 for 8 oz and that sounds cheap to me

What is body bleach Alizee? Forgive my ignorance but have never heard of that product before. For that cost, its pretty cheaper, I wonder how effective that is?

Hey if anyone's ignorant it's moi lol I've never lightend before.
I found it by typing in "does f&f lighten well" on google or something like that and there was a link for body bleach. It says it's a permanent bleaching and when you achieve your desired conor you stop . I have emailed them for more information and I'll post what they tell me

I agree, only a little uncoated aspirin is needed and can be mixed wth honey to help reduce irritation. Also not letting it sit for long periods of time on the face and to not use it too many times a week.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Do not buy Body Bleach !! It does not work and has been around now for a while trying to get people to spend on a concoction that smells like ashtrays and does absolutely nothing. I promise you, you will find very few, if any, good reviews for this product. Please save your money.

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Maharani, ashtray? hahahaha, for that price I would be skeptical too. I find that there is little or no effect with very cheap creams that touts great result or permanent results. I think the only thing that gives you permanence is depigmentation which I am not about to do. LOL.

Lol if I did maharani it would be the sampple they give.

I have come to the conclusion that products that really work are expensive,pure perfect, and the cheap ones; not so much