Have you ever heard of using papaya seed oil for skin lightening? Well, for me it wasn’t news because I already know papaya itself has amazing skin lightening properties!
How Does Papaya Seed Oil Work for Skin Lightening
I’ve talked about the Beauty Benefits of Papaya Seed Oil before. It truly is an incredible oil for promoting beautiful skin. What makes it so special for skin lightening is its main active enzyme: papain. Papain is fruit enzyme naturally found in papaya. It is very beneficial for skin care. That’s why you’ll see many skin care products with papain as one of their ingredients.
The best thing about papain is that it is a natural skin exfoliant. It literally breaks down inactive proteins and eats away dead cells on the skin. This will leave you with fresh, smooth and lighter skin. Papain also has skin lightening & whitening properties, can remove excess facial hair and heals blemishes and acne scars.
What’s more is that papaya contains beta carotene, which gives it its nice orange/red color. Incidentally, carrots are also rich in beta carotene! And I’ve talked about how eating carrots will make your skin glow & applying carrot seed oil will lighten your skin. Read more about it here: How to Get Lighter Brighter Skin using Carrot Seed Oil. In this same way, eating papaya will make your skin lighter, brighter, blemish-free and glowing. Applying papaya seed oil to skin also has the same effect!
Now we know how papaya seed oil works for skin lightening, let’s get onto the fun part: DIY Papaya Seed Oil Skin Lightening Serum!
DIY Papaya Seed Oil Skin Lightening Serum
Apply this DIY papaya seed oil skin lightening serum only at night time. That’s because papaya seed oil naturally exfoliates skin and freshly exfoliated skin is very photosensitive. Also, this recipe contains lemon essential oil, another skin lightening product that is photosensitive. Don’t forget: Apply this only at night time. Don’t think putting it only at night time will not give you faster results like when you also use it in the day time. Nope, it doesn’t work like that! Night time is the best time you can put treatments on your face because this is when the skin actually repairs and rejuvenates itself. So applying products at this time is very beneficial, more than applying at day time.
What you need
This is a 2% dilution rate of essential oils. Meaning for 1 tsp of papaya seed oil, there’s 2 drops of essential oil. Don’t go above this dilution rate. If you have sensitive skin, reduce the dilution rate to 1%. Meaning, instead of using 24 drops as in the recipe below, use just 12 drops. For more about essential oil dilution rates, read: How to Dilute Essential Oils
- ¼ cup of papaya seed oil (where to get it)
- 7 drops lemon oil (where to get it)
- 7 drops carrot seed oil (where to get it)
- 10 drops sandalwood oil (where to get it)
- Small funnel (where to get it)
- 4 oz amber glass dropper bottle (where to get it)
Directions
- Using a small funnel, pour the papaya oil into your 4 oz amber glass dropper bottle.
- Now add the essential oils, drop by drop.
- Close the bottle and shake gently to combine all oils.
- Store in a cool dry place.
- To use, gently massage 2-4 drops all over your clean face & neck right before getting some beauty sleep at night! You can also apply it on your hands, legs and body.
- In the morning, wash your face very well and apply moisturizer: like a pea-sized amount of shea butter.
Where to Get Papaya Seed Essential Oil
In order to experience real skin lightening results, please purchase the right kind of papaya seed oil, it should be 100% pure without any additives. My recommended brand of papaya seed oil is from Botanical Beauty’s 100% Pure Cold Pressed Undiluted Papaya Seed Oil. It comes in a 4 fl.oz dropper bottle.
Take Care
- Do not use this skin lightening serum at day time because it contains papaya seed oil and lemon oil which are photo-sensitive.
- Please do a patch test with papaya seed oil or the above skin lightening serum before using it. This can help you check if you might be allergic to any of the ingredients. To do a patch test, apply 2 drops of the serum on your inner elbow. Watch if your skin reacts to the serum in 1-2 hours. If there’s no irritation, then go ahead and use this serum! If there’s irritation, you must be allergic to it/any of the ingredients so do not use the serum.
