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A HQ question

8K views 20 replies 6 participants last post by  lightboy 
#1 ·
Earlier this year I used 4 - 5 % HQ. After like 2 weeks or so my skin was peeling off which looked really ugly. Also people would notice and ask me about it so I had to stop. I want to start again after summer, but how to proceed ? Should I use 2% instead or is my body rebelling against HQ in general and I should switch to some other agent ? Has anybody had similar reactions ?

Love, bumi :)
 
#4 ·
HQ by itself isn't really an exfoliant, it can happen, but that's not what it's supposed to do all the time. Maybe your skin is sensitive and is exfoliating easily from it. I understand why you'd want to stop, peeling on the face can look pretty brutal to people who have no idea what you're doing. What is the hq in as in what product you're using? It could be another ingredient that is causing/making the peeling more.
 
#7 ·
@Maizikeen; Good input. Maybe I wasn't giving my skin enough time to adjust when I used 4% daily. I think I'll change to 2% and maybe alternate with skin building every other day. I wasn't using any product just dissolved HQ.
 
#8 ·
@whitemermaid Just used HQ DIY lotion with HQ, H20 and PG. Yes my skin seems to be a little sensitive which is annoying, because I also got a rash from Kojic acid. I'm running out of ingredients that my skin tolerates. All I want is easy lightening, why has everything got to be so complicated :D ?
 
#9 ·
@whitemermaid Just used HQ DIY lotion with HQ, H20 and PG. Yes my skin seems to be a little sensitive which is annoying, because I also got a rash from Kojic acid. I'm running out of ingredients that my skin tolerates. All I want is easy lightening, why has everything got to be so complicated :D ?
@bumi you could try DIY vitamin C serum or DIY niacinamide cream/serum. They are less irritating but results are slower than HQ.
 
#10 ·
Earlier this year I used 4 - 5 % HQ. After like 2 weeks or so my skin was peeling off which looked really ugly. Also people would notice and ask me about it so I had to stop. I want to start again after summer, but how to proceed ? Should I use 2% instead or is my body rebelling against HQ in general and I should switch to some other agent ? Has anybody had similar reactions ?

Love, bumi
Did you exfoliate your skin first before starting with the hq cream? Its best you exfoliate first for about a month before starting your lightening journey especially if youre gon be using hydroquinone. With that, you will hardly notice any exfoliation when you start using hq product cos your dead skin has already been removed and that will make the hq product work super good. One good product that really worked for me before i started lightening was amlactin lotion. I switched to cerave sa cream with my lightener but stopped after the BSS in my neighborhood stopped selling my lightener. I'm back to amlactin lotion now mixed with a 2% hq cream which i noticed worked better than my previous mix.
 
#11 ·
@Mazikeen Do you think Vitamin C and Niacinamide can achieve comparable results ? I fear they're not only slower, but considerably weaker.
@Cute guy No I did not exfoliate. I heard it's not necessarily a good idea to do it during summer, because it can darken you when you spend time in the sun, but yes maybe if I exfoliate right, there will be less dead skin coming off after HQ application. I will try :)
 
#12 · (Edited)
@Mazikeen Do you think Vitamin C and Niacinamide can achieve comparable results ? I fear they're not only slower, but considerably weaker.
@Cute guy No I did not exfoliate. I heard it's not necessarily a good idea to do it during summer, because it can darken you when you spend time in the sun, but yes maybe if I exfoliate right, there will be less dead skin coming off after HQ application. I will try :)
@bumi.. depends on what u are trying to achieve. Drastic lightening, def no but even skintone with a healthy glow.What you could try is mixing your HQ powder with Lactic Acid. @Temarinette had good results with it. lemme look for the post brb.

ETA: This was from the glutathione thread:

@Satan, To be frank i simplified the recipe. The real recipe was 10% HQ, 40% LA and 20% glycolic acid powder, and 30% water. But i feel like it was the lactic acid that was the more active.
HQ dissolves in lactic acid when warmed over a double boiler. After dissolution, i added the glycolic acid powder and the water.
I did it for around 10 days then stopped but i lost 1 shade in this laps of of time. I put just one layer because the mix is pretty sticky do it's hard to put more than 1 layer. I don't have scars so i can't reply to the question related to.
The TCA peel was last year and it worked very well on my dark spots and blemishes. I would say it wiped away 95% of my dark spots and blemishes. But it didn't work on some dermal hyperpigmentation i had on the sides of my forehead (but glutathione lightened these parts though few months after). This is the only medium/deep peel that i've tried , so i'm sorry i have no other point of comparison. Ohh, i remember i used to do a 70% glycolic acid peel on my face bi/weekly but it did nothing for me. After that, i tried the TCA and that's it.
 
#15 ·
@Mazikeen @arrow I tried the HQ peel cause that idea made me a little curious. I did approx. 10% HQ, 8% latic. The rest was mainly propylene glycol and a little bit water. It did it on wednesday morning as a leave-on cure. My skin started to peel on saturday which kind of confused me. I had not used any product in between. I feel comfortable to say that it wasn't the water which did that :D Can it be the latic acid ? From what I read LA doesn't really make the skin peel noticeably, especially not at 8% but should work in a more subtle way. Was that possibly the propylene glycol and should I use water as a solvent instead ? I really would like to start a DIY HQ regimen in fall, but this thing is really annoying, because people do notice that it doesn't look right.
 
#16 ·
10% HQ is way too much. You shouldn't be crossing 3-5% max, unless you're fighting a particularly resistant case of hyperpigmentation. A high concentration of HQ is toxic and often will result in uneven melanocyte cell death, sensitizing the region and resulting in darkening, and in rarer scenarios ochronosis. The goal is to reduce melanogenesis, but you'll ironically end up increasing it if you continue with that formula. In the skin lightening game, slow and steady wins the race. It's just not sustainable to go quickly at this time.
 
#17 ·
@arrow thanks for your input. I was just trying it, because one girl had good results withit. I won't continue. However, the peeling mystery remains unsolved. The peeling also happend when I was using approx. 4%HQ, 80%PG, 16% H20. Maybe my skin just does not tolerate HQ :(

Kojic acid is super expensive where I live also it gave me rashes. Have you any recommendations for an effective lightening ingredient. I really want to handcraft my lotion. Firstly, because I want to know what's init but also it's a little tedious to get hands on otc products here.
 
#19 ·
@Mazikeen Mostly it was flaking with some minor peeling here and there. Ok, good to hear it's normal. I don't worry about it from a medical standpoint it just looked awful and people would comment on it. I'll try your suggestions next time. What kind of DIY lotion do you use ?
 
#20 ·
@Mazikeen Mostly it was flaking with some minor peeling here and there. Ok, good to hear it's normal. I don't worry about it from a medical standpoint it just looked awful and people would comment on it. I'll try your suggestions next time. What kind of DIY lotion do you use ?
IKR! That flaking is no bueno, makes u look dusty & ashy. Just moisturise heavily. For my DIY I just got gold bond lotion & mixed half with appr.30ml 90% LA.
 
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