Cohorted Cult

At its most basic level, hyperpigmentation is a darkening of your skin when there’s too much melanin being produced. Melanin, as I’m sure you already know, is what gives colour to our eyes, hair and skin.  

Hyperpigmentation comes in a variety of flavours, from freckles to sunspots, melasma to post-spot redness. These are caused by – yes, the sun – but also fluctuations in your hormones and inflammation, normally caused by an acne breakout. When it comes to sunspots and freckles, if you don’t use the proper skincare, they will just keep getting darker and darker over time as your skin soaks up more harmful UV radiation. Unfortunately, we don’t have as much control over the appearance of melasma as this is caused by hormones – often coming from pregnancy or birth control.  

So, I wasn’t entirely wrong about my pale skin. Darker skin tones are, on the whole, more susceptible to hyperpigmentation as they already have a higher level of melanin in their skin. On the other hand, being in my 30s now means that I’m just going to get more and more susceptible to it, as I’m just going to keep soaking up those UV rays.  

Enough doom and gloom though, there is good news! Hyperpigmentation can be reversed (yay!) and some dermatologists even offer treatments to help your skin out. But, as they say, the best defence is a good offence, so it’s better to work on preventing it from happening to start with! 

You must have been living under a rock for the last ten years if you don’t know that suncream with a good SPF factor is pretty much a necessity in your skincare routine. I’ve started wearing it all year round now, since scientists discovered that UV damage can even happen when it’s cloudy. 

As a kid with terrible acne, I was definitely a squeezer (don’t judge me, I was young). It’s actually much better for your skin to leave the spot alone, because the more you play with it, the more likely you’ll end up with a dark mark there.  

There’s a brand that is fantastic for helping you prevent hyperpigmentation, and heal any damage to your skin: Q+A. They have a whole range of products which have the best ingredients for avoiding hyperpigmentation, including niacinamide and azelaic acid.  

Here are a few of my favourites: