How To Naturally Get Rid oF Dark Spots & Hyperpigmentation: The 4 Proven methods That WORKS!

When people use the term “complexion”, they mean skin tone. The complexion is the surface color of the skin. A beautiful complexion occurs when the skin is an even tone.

There are two main factors that make a skin tone appear to be even: texture and color.

To achieve even skin tone, you need to smooth the texture, decrease the dark spots, and decrease the redness.

But unfortunately, the body is notorious for making way more pigment faster than it can remove it, so you’ve got to protect your skin to prevent hyperpigmentation.

To get rid of uneven skin tone, you need to smooth the texture, decrease the dark spots, and decrease the redness.

On the other hand, the body is notorious for making way more pigment faster than it can remove it, so you’ve got to protect your skin to prevent pigmentation from returning so quickly.

So just how do we go about doing all of those things? Keep scrolling to read all about it.

Hyper means above. Pigment means color. Together, hyperpigmentation refers to excess production of color.

Hyperpigmentation is an umbrella term used to cover many number of conditions where one patch of skin becomes noticeably darker than the surrounding skin within the same area. It happens when the skin produces excess melanin.

Sunburn, melasma, dark spots, acne scars, freckles, discoloration all fall under this hyperpigmentation umbrella and each one of their causes can all be traced back to over production of melanin.

At the end of the day everything concerning hyperpigmentation comes down to one single common factor - melanin. Darkspots, uneven skin tone and discolourations are all caused by an increase in melanin.

In order to understand how to get rid of Hyperpigmentation using skin lightening ingredients – let’s dig deeper into understanding what melanin is and how melanin is made.

Pay attention carefully, we’d try to break down the whole science in a simple way so you understand not only why melanin is the largest contributor to your skin discolouration but more importantly how to get rid of Hyperpigmentation and sunburn just by following the steps we’d outline shortly:

Melanin is in the epidermis (outer layer of skin) and dermis (middle layer of the skin). This skin pigment is made by cells called melanocytes that are found in the epidermis and the dermis. The process of making melanin requires an enzyme called tyrosinase.

Melanocytes make melanin from tyrosine. The process of making both types of melanin requires an enzyme called tyrosinase. When cysteine is present- pheomelanin is made. In the absence of cysteine, eumelanin is made.

Once melanin is made by melanocytes, it is packed and stored into protective melanosomes from where it begins it’s travel up to the skin cells called keratinocytes (largest part of the skin’s outer layer). The melanosome then passes through a receptor called a protease activator receptor-2 (PAR-2) into the keratinocyte.

The function of melanin is to protect the skin from sun damage by absorbing harmful UVA and UVB radiation. Those with Eumelanin naturally have more protection over the sun than people with pheomelanin.

In any case, when skin is exposed to sun, melanin production shoots up.

So far in this article, we have established that hyperpigmentation, uneven skin tone and discolorations are caused by an increase in melanin.

Next, we’d explore the triggers and circumstances that could make melanin to be produced in excess.

2. Skin Inflammation

The tricky part about inflammation is that it is as necessary as it is destructive.

Inflammation is what signals the body to initiate healing when there is acne, injury or infection. In that context, it’s a good inflammation that plays a critical role in keeping the body healthy but when inflammation is prolonged as the skin undergoes the healing process, our natural protector (melanin produced by melanocytes) gets triggered as a results skin becomes uneven with redness, scars and dark spots.

5. Hormones

Hormonal influences are the main cause of a particular kind of hyperpigmentation known as melasma  or the mask of pregnancy. It’s particularly common among women and is thought to occur when the female sex hormones estrogen and progesterone stimulate the overproduction of melanin when skin is exposed to the sun.

Hormone treatments like Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and oral contraceptives can cause hyperpigmentation, particularly in women. This is because the hormones in these treatments can mimic the hormonal changes that occur during pregnancy.

No matter what type of hyperpigmentation you are struggling with, there are several ways to naturally lighten skin colour and even skin tone and in this section we’re not just going to recommend what products to use but try to breakdown the science behind how the various solutions truly work and the exact ingredients to look out for to tackle your uneven skin tone.

1. Push The Melanin Production Pathway to Make More Pheomelanin Than Eumelanin.

Remember Pheomelanin is lighter than Eumelanin as we discussed earlier right?

So the challenge is, How can you increase the pheomelanin production in your body, while decreasing the eumelanin production? In other words, shifting the balance towards pheomelanin.

This requires cysteine.

L-cysteine is a potent antioxidant that is naturally produced in the body and is one of the key components that make up ‘glutathione, an antioxidant also naturally produced in our bodies.

Glutathione is the mother of all antioxidants and has become a popular and powerful skin‐lightening ingredient after it was discovered that it had the unique superpower ability to safely rig the melanin production election in favour of more production of lighter pheomelanin instead of darker eumelanin, thereby effectively lightening the skin’s dark spots and discolorations in about 12 weeks.

Hence, one sure way to treat hyperpigmentation is to increase the level of glutathione in the body by using skincare with the right glutathione formulation.

Specially made with Rare and important Naturally extracted ingredients like Gluthathione and Arbutin which helps fades sunspots, age spots, prevents freckles, hyperpigmentation and evens out skin tone.

2. Prevent Production of both types of melanin

This is achieved by blocking tyrosinase with the help of tyrosinase inhibitors.

Tyrosinase is an enzyme that is needed to make melanin. Which means if you want to prevent the production of melanin you need to find a way to block this tyrosinase enzyme.

So it’s no surprise the most commonly used melanin inhibitors are tyrosinase inhibitors.

Tyrosinase inhibitors are just one of several categories of skin-lightening ingredients but they are the most commonly used in cosmetics to lighten the skin. Skin lightening products with a tyrosinase inhibitor block the  production of melanin and are one of the most effective ways to treat uneven skin tone

There are many different ingredients in the market that block tyrosinase – a controversial one you probably heard of is hydroquinone, there are many others such as arbutin, kojic acid, Mulberry extract, licorice extract and so on.

But by far the most effective tyrosinase inhibitors ever discovered that is as powerful as hydroquinone but much more safer is Symwhyte 377, an antioxidant and an excellent brightening ingredient naturally derived from the scotch pine bark tree and help promote an even-toned, radiant complexion while brightening and balancing skin's natural tone.

If you’ve ever used Kojic acid and found it effective then you will easily fall in love with symwhite377 because while kojic acid can only treat surface pigmentation (think 3 layer cake…only the icing on the top) many dark spots go deep and that’s where symwhite shines.

What's more? You can’t just get this ingredient anyhow, it’s patented and solely made by a company called symrise .

If you're dealing with an uneven skin tone that bothers you, then you might need this Neutriherbs Lighten Skin Complexion Correcting Face cream to turn off melanin pigment production, lighten dark spots, and even your skin tone using the power of symwhite377 patented technology. This Face cream will not whiten or bleach your skin but gradually lighten the dark spots and discolorations so that your complexion and skin color is the same all over your face and neck.

3. Prevent movement of the melanosomes

After melanin is produced, it is wrapped in some kind of packaging bag called melanosomes from where it begins it’s travel up to the outer layer of the skin (keratinocytes).

For this process to work perfectly, The melanosome has to pass through a receptor called a protease activator receptor-2 (PAR-2) before it can get to the skin cells. This receptors acts like a locked doorway and must be open before melanin can travel to the outer layer of skin.

Hence, one solution to lighten discolouration is to prevent this free movement through the PAR-2 Receptors with the help of PAR-2 Blockers.

How To Block The PAR-2 Receptor To Lighten Skin

Skincare ingredients can be used to block the PAR-2 receptor. These function as locks on the PAR-2 doorway which prevent movement of melanin into skin cells. Using a PAR-2 blocking skincare ingredient will prevent skin pigmentation. PAR-2 blockers do not lighten dark spots fast but prevent further pigmentation so it can take about 30 -60 days to see a difference in skin tone with this class of ingredients.

The most commonly used PAR-2 blocking skincare ingredient is Niacinamide.

Niacinamide blew up as one of the most trending ingredients of 2021. That doesn’t seem to be stopping in 2025.

Niacinamide has many important functions such as decreasing inflammation, reduce the appearance of pores and fade hyperpigmentation by blocking PAR-2. What can’t it do? Here are 6 reasons why niacinamide deserve a place in your routine.

PAR-2 blocking ingredients like niacinamide should be used in combination with  tyrosinase inhibitors which prevent the production of melanin, and exfoliants which help desquamate away old skin cells so they can be replaced with newer less pigmented skin cells. Of course, sun protection must be used to prevent the formation of new melanin.

We love the  Neutriherbs niacinamide serum  because it’s a lightweight serum that contains vitamin B5, hyaluronic acid and of course Niacinamide.

4. Speed Up The Breakdown of  melanosomes Through Exfoliation

In other words, the first step to an even skin tone is to have smoother skin, whether that’s by removing dead skin cells, minimizing pores or evening out fine lines and one of the most effective way to do that is through proper exfoliation.

The top layer of the skin (the epidermis) is mostly dead skin cells that are constantly shedding off and being replaced as new healthy cells make their way to the surface. A complete cell cycle takes about 30 days.

Exfoliation speeds this process, so the melanocytes cannot make pigment fast enough to keep the skin pigmented, revealing brighter, smoother skin sooner. Another benefit of exfoliation? The clearing of dead skin cells and oil from pores, reduces the chances of breakouts and inflammation that could fuel a new cycle of hyper-pigmentation and you know the rest that follows when that happens.

What’s the best way to exfoliate?

You can go for chemical peels, You can also exfoliate physically with scrubs but chemical exfoliation using exfoliating acids is way more effective.

The picture below is a glimpse of what exfoliating acids like AHA (Alpha Hydroxyl Acids such as Glycolic acid, Citric acid, Lactic acid etc) could help your skin achieve. Notice the tighter, clarified and refined pores? AHA helps smoothen texture for even tone skin.

Neutriherbs recommends using a gentle AHA exfoliating serum with Glycolic acid, lactic acid and citric acid to slough off dead cells that block the pores leaving skin renewed, brightened with an almost instant radiance.