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Upon reviewing and answering so many messages regarding this question, I decided it’s time I put down a detailed answer since many people do not seem to be getting correct answers online. So, if you are a huge fan of K brothers products or you want to join the fandom, and you are worried about hydroquinone in their products, this post is for you.
If you have ever asked or searched the question “does K brothers cream contains hydroquinone”, the simple answer to this is, absolutely yes, the K brothers face cream contains hydroquinone and the manufacturers did not hide this fact. You can find this written as part of the ingredients on the body of the pack and you can also notice that right after using the product on your skin.
In the rest of this post, I will answer some common questions about hydroquinone, the problems associated with using products that contain hydroquinone and the names of some K brothers creams that contain hydroquinone.
What is hydroquinone?
Hydroquinone is a strong skin lightening agent, popularly used alone or as ingredients of skin products, to lighten areas of a darkened skin. It can be used to treat hyperpigmentation left behind after an acne breakout and also clear blemishes like sunspots, dark spots, freckles, age spots, chloasma, certain dark scars and melisma; which can be caused by pregnancy, nursing, birth control pills, hormone medicine or even injury to the skin.
The lightening agent, hydroquinone, is considered as a primary topical ingredient that works well to decrease the formation/production of melanin in the skin, which is responsible for creating dark skin colour. And by working to inhibit the skin’s melanin production, it successfully pauses the dark colour from coming up, and this gives room for a fairer skin to emerge.
Hydroquinone, today, is added to many of our skincare products to help people achieve a lighter, clearer or bleached look. The lightening agent can be found in many soaps, lotions, creams, and other skin products, including some popular K brothers products.
Does hydroquinone lighten skin permanently?
Contrary to what many people chose to believe, hydroquinone DOES NOT permanently lighten the skin. It might give you a good result of lighter skin when you use it continuously; but the moment you stop, your skin would gradually go back to normal.
How effective is hydroquinone for creams?
No doubt, hydroquinone is quite effective in creams when it comes to lightening the skin and fading dark areas. It is by far the most effective skin lightener in the beauty market today. And it works well with other lightening ingredients like vitamin C, Retin A, retinol and alpha-hydroxy acids; as long as one can keep the concentration of hydroquinone as low as possible. But the fact still remains that it leaves more harm than good in the long run after continuous use of the product.
Is hydroquinone harmful to the skin?
Yes, hydroquinone is very harmful to the skin! The lightening agent has unpleasant effects it can leave on the skin. It can expose its users to adverse effects from inhalation exposure; it can remove the top layer of skin, increasing the risk of skin cancer and it can cause fatal liver and kidney damage, thyroid disorder and leukaemia.
Why is hydroquinone not good for the skin?
Hydroquinone is not good for the skin because of the bad side effects and dangerous skin issues it can leave on your skin after continuous, long use.
What are the negative effects of hydroquinone?
Hydroquinone has many negative side effects and they range from mild to severe effects. Their effects on the skin can depend on your skin type, colour, texture and even issues. Some common negative side effects of hydroquinone include:
- Chapped skin
- Skin irritation
- Skin sensitivity like burning and stinging
- Itchiness
- Dryness
- Body odour
- Redness
- Inflammatory reaction
- etc
What are the dangers of using hydroquinone?
Having established that hydroquinone is very harmful to the skin, some of the dangers of using hydroquinone include:
- The appearance of red or green veins beneath the surface of your skin
- Depression of the immune system
- Giving you unpleasant stretch marks
- Making the skin more susceptible to UV damage
- Liver and/or kidney damage
- Increasing the risk of skin cancer
- Causing some diseases like thyroid disorder and leukaemia
- Development of more hyperpigmentation as a result of insufficient sun protection
Can hydroquinone cause skin cancer?
While the lightening agent. hydroquinone, cannot directly cause skin cancer, it can successfully remove the top layer of one’s skin, thereby increasing the risk of skin cancer in the long run.
Who should not use hydroquinone?
EVERYONE SHOULD NOT use hydroquinone. The dangers that come with using the lightning agent, especially in large quantity and for the long term, far outweigh the benefits you might get from it. But if you must use it, it is best you do not use hydroquinone topically on open wounds; dry, chapped or irritated skin; or even the skin that has suffered sunburn or windburn.
What happens if you use hydroquinone for too long?
Long-term use of hydroquinone, and products it is found in, can lead to the degeneration and thinning of the epidermis and dermis; these alone are a manifestation of ageing. What this means is that constant, long use of the lightening agent can cause your skin to age faster than it should in the long run.
Apart from that, your skin can become too sensitive, stubborn dark spots can start to appear and green/red veins can be seen through your skin. Even if you have hydroquinone in small quantity in your skin product, you can still experience all these after long and continuous use of the products.
What happens when you continuously use hydroquinone?
When you use hydroquinone, or products containing it, for long; your skin would end up getting too much hydroquinone and the effects and bad sides of the lightening agent would begin to manifest on the surface of your skin, and even inside your body. Here are some images of what would happen when you get too much hydroquinone into your skin:
I had to be selective with the images I picked. These images aren’t as bad as what I found online because I know many people can feel disgusted when they see certain images. So, I’m going to leave you to go look up the other images that fully depicts the unpleasant effects of using hydroquinone or products that contain hydroquinone, even in the smallest quantity. You can simply google “images of hydroquinone side effects” and you will find so many pictures in the images section.
What happens when I stop using hydroquinone?
The thing with hydroquinone is that, as long as you continue to use it, it will work to reduce the production of melanin to prevent dark colour from appearing on the skin. But unfortunately, when you stop using it, the skin’s natural formation of pigment will no longer be inhibited. When this happens, your skin’s natural pigmentation will gradually return and you would find yourself back to your normal dark-skin colour (or worse, in some cases).
Can hydroquinone make dark spots worse?
A common dangerous side of hydroquinone is that it can cause skin irritation that can lead to post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Once this happens, your dark spots get worse and sometimes, stubborn dark spots begin to appear.
Is hydroquinone banned?
Due to the many side effects and problems that may arise from the long term use of hydroquinone, the lightening agent has been banned for use in cosmetic products in some places around the world. Places like Europe, Japan, Australia and several African states do not allow cosmetic manufacturers to use the lightening agent in their products. But despite this, some companies still make products that contain this and sell to the public online.
Does hydroquinone permanently lightens the skin?
No, hydroquinone is not considered a permanent skin lightener. This is because your dark skin colour can come back when you stop using the product, or when it starts to react with your body or another product you are using on your skin.
List of K brothers Creams That Contain Hydroquinone
It is no secret that some K brothers products, in general, have got hydroquinone in them. And let me shock you, the official K brothers company actually disowned most of these products that are circulating as their products. A good number of these products were made by people not associated with the brand. They simply tried to capitalize on the social rank the company is holding among beauty enthusiasts, and name these products after the famous brand.
But let’s not deviate (check this post to learn more about products that are not owned by K brothers official brand), here are some K brothers face whitening creams that contain hydroquinone, which we may or may not know they have:
- K Brothers Gold Anti Spot Facial Whitening Cream: This cream is a strong facial whitening cream that contains lightening agents, Kojic Acid & SPF 30. The cream may look like your usual face cream, but trust me, it has hydroquinone as one of the main ingredients. It claims to work in 7 days and this is mostly achieved with hydroquinone mixed with other lightening agents in almost high concentrations.
- K Brothers Age Defying Face Cream with Sunscreen, Glutathione & Kojic Acid: This is another strong face whitener which I have used myself and reviewed here. It has hydroquinone and it is boldly written on the pack. It also provides extra sun protection of SPF 30 and that is a little plus for its users. But even at that, the hydroquinone added to it is already a turn off for many, including me.
- K Brothers Gold Anti Spot Facial Cream With Kojic Acid & Carrot Oil: The only good thing I find about this face cream is the carrot oil added to it. The natural ingredient can work fine to lighten the skin up gradually. But they just had to add hydroquinone and make a lot of people flee from it.
- K Brothers Facial B.S.C Cream With Carrot & Kojic Acid: This face cream was made primarily to lighten dark spots. But the makers of the cream tried to cover up and make the hydroquinone look like an insignificant ingredient, by hammering on the fact that it contains carrot and kojic acid to give you that blemish-free and supple face effect. But once people realized that it had hydroquinone, they didn’t look twice.
Apart from their face creams, there are still a lot of their products that have hydroquinone, some of which the brand did not mention it contains. The most important thing is to do the right research on any of the products up are settling for, to be sure you are getting one that is free of hydroquinone. It is always best to settle for products with safe, natural ingredients that would help get your skin glowing naturally.
Conclusion
In conclusion, with all the dangers and side effects of hydroquinone, the last thing you need is to get your skin into some problems later in the future because you are trying to lighten your skin now. It is rare to find a fast-action face cream that doesn’t have hydroquinone. If any cream promises you whitening results in just a few days/weeks, it most probably contains hydroquinone. And it’s just so unfortunate that many of the K brothers creams out there have got this district feature of promising 7-days action results.
If you must lighten your skin, follow a very good routine and use natural ingredients to do that gradually. The results may be slow, but they are natural, permanent, safe and free of future issues.
So, what do you think? Have you been using any cream that contains hydroquinone and you had no idea? Did you know the effects and dangers of hydroquinone before seeing this post? what are your overall thoughts on this? Do you have any question you feel I didn’t answer? I will love to hear your thoughts, feel free to share them in the comment box below.
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Want to see a detailed video I made talking about part of my experience with one of the K brothers cream that contains hydroquinone? You might want to check this out:
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Thanks for this honest answer.
Does their carrot and papaya soap contain hydroquinone
The papaya and carrot K brothers soap doesn’t contain hydroquinone, though some people have made points to show that it does.
It contains other lightening agents that is there to give the skin brightening effect.
You can check out this post to find our more about the K Brothers soap.
I love their product!
I actually loved this product. But I gave up on it when I learnt it contains hydroquinone too.