Dark Skin

Dark skin is a unique type, often oilier than the usual type of skin. This makes it more difficult to maintain, and is likely to have larger oil glands. This contributes to an unwanted shiny appearance, and on worse cases, these glands become clogged, and thus, becomes acne. Dark skinned people having an oil skin type often find trouble keeping their skin healthy as their skin is likely to have more as well as larger oil glands as compared to Asian or Caucasian skin. The excessive oil glands may lead to an unwanted shiny appearance.

If the oil glands become over-active then they become clogged and lead to acne. Dark skinned people have larger melanosomes (cells which give color to your skin) and these cells contain melanin in greater proportions as compared to the cells present in white skin. Due to this protective effect of melanin, African Americans are at a lower risk of developing premature wrinkling and skin cancer. But, African Americans are prone to dark spots from the inflammation caused due to acne scars, cut, scrapes or bruises. Dark spots generally take a prolonged period of time to fade. Bleaching agents may help in lowering dark spots but may carry adverse affects as well.

Darker skin is better protected against sunburn however, as it contains extra pigment. Also, darker skin has increased epidermal melanin which tends to provide natural sun protection. This does not mean that you should not wear sunscreen however, you should always wear sunscreen to protect your skin, and it just means that darker skin has more of a natural protection than fair skin. Generally dark skin has a natural sun protection factor of around 13, and it can also filter the suns UV rays better than fair skin can. Making an effort to remove dark skin spots will make you look younger and improve your skin’s health, if the product that you choose contains the right ingredients.