If you'd like to know how to use lemon juice to whiten skin, the instructions aren't difficult. Not only is lemon juice useful for whitening skin and reducing freckles, it's also a time-honored treatment for oily skin. Just keep a few safety precautions in mind and you can try lemon juice to lighten skin coloration.
Whitening Skin with Lemon Juice
Lemon juice is an astringent juice. It has natural bleaching properties. If using lemon juice to whiten skin, know that you cannot drastically alter skin tone using lemons. At best, skin will brighten a few shades lighter. The effects aren't permanent. You can use lemon juice for overall skin brightening, as a freckle treatment, or to treat oily skin. It's very simple to learn how to use lemon juice to whiten skin.
Lemon Selection
Use only fresh lemons, never the bottled lemon juice from the store. Bottled lemon juice is often diluted with water and contains preservatives to maintain freshness. Lemons are fairly inexpensive. Plan to buy one lemon per day for this treatment. A hand juicing device, the kind your grandmother may have used to make fresh orange juice in the morning, is ideal.
Patch Test
Before trying to use lemon juice on your skin, conduct a patch test to make sure it's not too harsh for your skin. A patch test uses a product in a controlled area on the arm so you can see if you're allergic to it.
- Clean the inside of the elbow and rub some lemon juice on the area.
- Wait 24 hours. If the skin feels fine, it's probably okay to use it. If it stings or burns, rinse it off immediately and do not use it on your face or the skin anywhere else on your body.
Preparation
To create a whitening liquid, slice the lemon in half and remove the seeds. Using the manual juicer, juice the lemon until all juice is extracted from it. If you don't have a juicer, hold the lemon over a large bowl and squeeze it as hard as you can, wringing every little bit of juice from it.
Application
Wash your face clean and pat dry. Apply lemon juice to a clean face or to the area you'd like to lighten. If it stings, rinse it off immediately. It may be too harsh for your skin.
Using Lemon Juice for Freckles
Freckles are concentrated clusters of melanin, the pigment that colors human skin. These brown, light brown or reddish marks are most common in fair-haired people, and usually appear on the face, neck and shoulders. If you want to lighten your freckles naturally, you can use lemon juice to do so; the acidic properties of the lemons will lighten your skin, but it does take time to do so and any lightening is only temporary; once you go back into the sun without good sunblock, your freckles will return.
Simple Application
The easiest way to use lemon juice to lighten your freckles is to place fresh lemon juice in a spray bottle and spray it directly onto your skin in the areas you wish to lighten. Alternatively, using the same technique to lighten your skin, you can rub a sliced lemon onto the area, or rub a small portion of ground fruit and rind into your skin. Allow it to sit on your skin for approximately 10 minutes, then wash it off.
Oily Skin Lemon Juice Face Mask
If you wish to make a face mask that will help treat oily skin while lightening your freckles, try the following recipe:
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon fuller's earth
- 2 teaspoons rose water
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Mix the fuller's earth with rose water and lemon juice to form a paste.
- Rub the paste onto the areas of skin you wish to lighten.
- Leave the face mask in place for 10 to 15 minutes, then rinse off.
Dry Skin Lemon Juice Face Mask
The acids in the lemon juice may dry out your skin, particularly if you use it daily for an extended period of time. Try this face mask to help moisturize the skin while lightening your freckles.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Mix the olive oil, honey and lemon juice together to form a thin paste.
- Massage the paste into your skin for two to three minutes.
- Leave in place for 10 to 15 minutes, then rinse off.
Cautions
Lemon juice is a generally safe natural treatment, but as with all herbal remedies, if you've got any serious skin problems or you're allergic to lemons, don't use this treatment. Other cautions to consider include:
- If a rash develops or your skin burns or stings, avoid it too.
- Never go out into the sun with lemon juice on your face. Lemon juice can make your skin photo sensitive, or extra sensitive to sunlight, resulting in the opposite effect - discoloration or burns. Rinse off all traces of lemon juice from the skin before going outside.
- Avoid getting lemon juice near the eyes or on your eyelids as it can burn or sting.
- Because lemon juice has astringent qualities, people with dry skin may find lemon juice too harsh. If skin burns or stings, stop using it. Consult a dermatologist for any lingering skin irritation.
Temporary Solution
Lemon juice may not permanently change the color of your skin, but it can temporarily lighten it and brighten it.
