For decades, the Indian obsession with fair skin has been unabashed. In the realm of beauty, years of conditioning have especially led generations to associate fairness with success, confidence, and let’s not forget, being lovely. Over the last few years, however, this archaic narrative has seen a major shift. Skincare terminology no longer promotes whitening or lightening, but rather, has evolved to brightening solutions, creating a paper-thin line between the two terms—one that is often blurred to feed into unrealistic beauty standards.
On the bright side
“‘Brightening’ typically refers to skincare products designed to improve skin radiance, even out tone, and reduce the appearance of dullness, dark spots or pigmentation,” says Dr Anjali Mahto, consultant dermatologist and founder, Self London. “Honestly, it’s a marketing term rather than a medical one. Brightening products usually contain ingredients that target pigmentation, boost exfoliation, and enhance skin radiance.”
This particular category of skincare aims to improve and restore the skin’s glow or clarity. It does not, however, imply a change in the natural skin colour. Breaking it down further, Dr Kiran Sethi, Medical Director and Founder, ISYA Aesthetics, believes that the term ‘brightening’ on labels essentially means achieving four things: Smoother skin, reducing uneven tone and patchiness, improving hydration, boosting skin suppleness, and firmness.
Common active ingredients that help achieve these include antioxidant-rich vitamin C, niacinamide, exfoliating alpha hydroxy acids like glycolic or lactic, liquorice root extract, retinols, peptides, hyaluronic acid and polyglutamic acid that hydrate and moisturise the skin. They help fade post-inflammatory pigmentation, sun spots, and overall skin dullness by interrupting pigment formation or stimulating the shedding of discoloured skin cells.
“They are formulated to make your skin appear radiant, healthy, and even-toned,” says Dr Chytra V Anand, Celebrity Cosmetic Dermatologist and Founder, Kosmoderma Clinics. For example, vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that fights dullness and boosts glow, while niacinamide evens out your skin tone and strengthens the barrier. “These products do not change the skin colour, but instead make it look more refreshed and clear,” she adds.
Shedding light
Skin lightening, on the other hand, entails exactly what one would assume—to change the colour of your complexion. According to Dr Mahto, these products are designed to reduce the skin’s natural melanin levels, often with the aim of achieving a lighter skin tone overall.
“Unlike brightening, lightening targets a broader, more systemic reduction in pigmentation,” she says.
“These are sometimes used for medical purposes such as treating melasma, PIH, or certain pigmentary disorders. But, they are also misused for cosmetic reasons, especially in communities where lighter skin is culturally idealised,” explains Dr Mahto.
Potent ingredients like hydroquinone, corticosteroids, high-strength kojic acid, or even mercury in illegal or unregulated products all contribute towards skin lightening. They act on pigment cells and work by inhibiting tyrosinase, reducing and suppressing melanin production, resulting in lighter skin. Essentially, they change cell activity.
“Skin lightening products can be quite harsh and damaging if misused and must be used on prescription for treating a skin pigment condition, and not for overall skin colour change,” informs Dr Anand. “As opposed to brightening products, they have the potential to cause greater harm and long-term damage due to their potent ingredients and aggressive action on melanin production.” The side effects? Sensitisation, skin-thinning, irritation, permanent discolouration, and may also impact health if absorbed into the body.
“It’s important to note that you can improve cumulative sun damage and tanning, as well as loss of antioxidative protection, but you can’t change your genetically determined skin tone without doing something drastic like prescription medication,” warns Dr Sethi. “It can be dangerous in the long term, and even increase the risk of skin cancer,” warns Dr Sethi.
The big debate
Technically, lightening and brightening are two separate terms that serve distinguishable purposes. The confusion, however, lies in the way they’re marketed to fuel insecurities. Mahto believes that the key differences between the two lie in the intent and the mechanism—many aesthetic clinics use the term ‘skin brightening’ as a euphemism to obscure what they’re actually offering, skin lightening treatments.
Take intravenous glutathione, for example, it’s a controversial method that inhibits melanin production and is often carried out under the guise of achieving a more radiant or glowing complexion, when the underlying intent is often the systemic lightening of skin tone. “This practice is particularly prevalent in regions such as South Asia, where colourism remains deeply rooted and lighter skin is still wrongly associated with beauty, status, and privilege.”
In skincare speak, brightening and lightening are unconnected. The issue, however, arises when the two terms are interchanged with an intention to bolster an obsolete philosophy—one that’s a concoction of unrealistic beauty norms and fear-driven insecurities. And while brightening and lightening serve very different purposes, it’s the mindset and perception that forces the larger question yet again—has it truly evolved?
Lead image: Getty
This article originally appeared in the Harper's Bazaar India June-July print edition.
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