People love to blame “hippie products” when they don’t live up to the instant gratification of certain chemically-inclined shelf products.

But hold it right there, young lady. Give us “hippies” a chance to explain that you might not be doing it right. Using natural ingredients can make a huge difference – and in a much healthier way – but you can’t always use them the same way you do other products.

Unlike hydroquinone, which bleaches our skin (and can cause cancer by the way), natural ingredients work by preventing melanin (dark pigment) from forming in your skin. This works slower because your skin turns over every 45-60 days. They also really need to be combined with a sunscreen and an exfoliating cleanser.

Bear with me while I geek out for you: imagine you have an old layer of dead skin with hyperpigmentation on top, and a new layer without hyperpigmentation (because melanin production was prevented) underneath. You won't see the new layer of skin unless the old layer comes off. This is where the exfoliating cleanser comes in, to exfoliate pigmented old dead skin.

And sunscreen plays a role because UV rays promotes melanin production. So, if you don't use sunscreen, all the hard work your serum does will go to waste when the sun’s UV rays kick up melanin production, making more dark spots on your face.

This is the reason why you need a full regimen to get rid of hyperpigmentation: each ingredient plays a different role.

And of course, with all the other things that factor into the equation for pigmented skin as well (your ethnicity, skin tone, and whether your skin pigmentation is hormonal), we can help customizing a skin care regimen to take care of those dark spots for you.

Because we’re super skin care dorks, we have an app for that. Ok, not really an app, but we do have statistics to find the best ingredients for your unique skin. Check it out here.