The Un-Tan: Mad Scientist Edition...Skin Lightening Cream

I'm not a tanner. I don't bake in the sun or visit tanning beds.

Not in the last few years anyway.

I also stay pretty covered up when I go outside. I wear a baseball cap and try to stay out of direct sunlight. Sunscreen really only factors in when I'm trying to avoid getting a burn. I didn't really use it to avoid getting any tan at all.

Now I have an end of summer weird tan thing going on with my chest and arms. It bothers me in pictures so I'm doing something about it. I already use a tinted moisturizer with SPF 15 so my face doesn't have much color. Then again, SPF 15 is not a dark room so I'm probably a little darker on my face and chest than on my arms and stomach. 

I need to get rid of this farmer tan weirdness before fall kicks in so I've concocted a few treatments with what I had at the house. The Internet has a lot of weird skin bleaching creams and I don't want to go anywhere near those bad boys. 

The skin lightening cream isn't something I thought I'd try but I happened to have most of the ingredients handy. It actually called for lime juice and I have big plans for my limes so I wanted to use lemon juice. Since lemon juice is also a skin lightener I did some research into citric acid as a skin lightener and it turns out that the powdered lemonade mix will work and probably make the process less sticky. 

Just another thing you can use unsweetened lemonade drink mix for! They say you can scrub problem areas with lemon juice and salt. I'm thinking I'll make a solution with a little pinch of this leftover packet and see what happens. 

And I get to keep my lemons and limes for eating.

Yippy Skippy!

Skin Lightener Cream:

1/4 cup of Greek Yogurt
1 Tbsp Turmeric
1 tsp Unsweetened powdered lemonade mix (Kool Aid or generic)

Stir to combine and store in a wide mouth jar in your refrigerator. Make sure you label it! The mix is the same color as French's Yellow Mustard. 

Not mustard! I put it in a recycled (maybe Bruschetta) jar that was washed well and the label removed. I used a wide mouth so I can easily dip my fingers into it. Remember: it goes in the fridge! My yogurt was actually a day past the sell by date. So long as your yogurt still looks and smells like yogurt it's probably safe to use since you're only using it topically.

I tried a test area of this patch and left it on for about 30 minutes. Maybe 45. Who knows, I was cleaning bathtubs.

I actually saw a little results. I don't think I'd want to try this on my face. There was quite a tingle when I put it on my chest.

I just smeared some with my finger in a horizontal line across my chest.
It's not a big difference, especially with an iPhone photo, but I can see very mild lightening. 

Here are other uses for the lemonade powdered drink mix. I always keep it on hand for household chores and I can find the store brand for about $.15 a packet. 

Pantry Confidential and Uses for Powdered Drink Mixes

A little area in my pantry is dedicated to drink mixes. You know, Kool-Aid, Crystal Light, those nifty instant coffees from Starbucks that I keep in case zombies stop by for coffee?

I used the Kool-Aid brand for this. You can use any brand of unsweetened  lemonade. You'll find the unsweetened kind in the tiny packets, not in the big packets or tubs.

I finally got around to trying a cool trick using Lemonade powdered drink mix to clean the dishwasher. Don't try grape or any other flavor. It's got to be plain unsweetened lemonade. It's the citric acid that does the trick.


Step #1: Pour powered Lemonade drink mix into door.


Step #2: Start the dishwasher and make sure the drying cycle is engaged.


Important: No dirty dishes or soap. Run this through an empty dish washer. The citric acid neutralizes soap scum and soap in general, so adding washing soap and trying to wash a load of dishes at the same time will just be like washing them in lemony smelling water. No bueno.


I haven't tried this method with a load of already washed plastic storage containers (they sometimes absorb odors) or a load of (washed and clean) soap spotted glasses. I did empty a packet into a load of hot water in my washing machine. It was too diluted and didn't really do anything. Instead of trying it again with even more lemonade I will use it to clean out my coolers. I hate opening a cooler and smelling bleach. Bleh!


I've mentioned before how I have to get my pantry under control for when we move. I'm all about planning for emergencies and having enough food to feed us for a few weeks in case of the zombie apocalypse or (even more unlikely) a snow storm in Atlanta.


I'm all about emergency preparedness. 


Until it's time to move and I have to deal with it all.


Where's a zombie or snow storm when I need one?


In addition to all of the other projects that need to happen, I'm trying to use the stuff in my pantry instead of making a ridiculous donation of capers, artichoke hearts and seven kinds of gourmet vinegar to the local food bank. (They'll get the more practical canned goods if there are any left.)

I have issues...and capers for days.