Why you need full-body skin care routine

Hi Carol,

I love reading your articles and look forward to them every Sunday and I was wondering, how can I get rid of the darker areas on my elbows and knees or is it just normal?

Brian

Brian, normal is sometimes such a vague word. I would say this though. Elbows and knees are usually darker than the rest of your body. There are several reasons for that.

One is our knees darken from the crawling we did as toddlers, and from all the falls we endured. The knees and elbows still hold most of the evidence. But we should be thankful for that too, otherwise we would have no teeth and permanently scarred faces!

Secondly, once we become adults and get desk jobs, our elbows prop us when we are seated. They bear the brunt of your support.

Again, once we are grown, our knees turn darker for all the scars it needed to heal. My brothers are still impressed when they see grown women with scar-less knees. “Where did they grow up?” they ask like they just spotted a unicorn.

Finally, as children, before we learn to fully moisturise, we swiped Vaseline across our bodies, never really rubbing it in, and grew up with ashy knees and elbows. We didn’t know enough to give it a thought.

Over the years I have read about a mix of glycerine and surgical spirit swiped across about five times a day, rubbing lemon or grapefruit slices, cucumbers, potatoes, a mix of lemon and honey, you name it.

There are also products that are said to lighten these areas.

Most men tend to overlook their skin. Don’t be that man. Buy a body scrub from the supermarket and use it on your entire body once or twice a week.

Or, when in the shower, mix half a spoon of sugar with a few drops of lukewarm water and scrub elbows and knees with that paste then rinse.

Then, moisturise. Buy a lotion with shea butter, aloe vera, sandalwood or vitamin E and work it into your arms, from shoulders to fingers and legs, from thighs to feet. Do that twice a day.

The skin may be darker and rougher, but that does not mean you treat it as such. Be kind.

Finally, do you have a desk job? Either lay pressure off your elbow, wear long sleeves or use a padded surface. That’s why executive desks have that soft touch of leather.

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Hi Carol,

My problem is with my inner thighs. They are so dark due to friction. I have tried lotions including a skin lightening cream to no avail.

I can’t even wear a bikini and sometimes they make me lose self-esteem especially when it comes to love making. Please advise if there is a safe cream or lotion that I can use to even them out.

Thanks. J

J, I would suggest you shed some weight. That’s because more often than not, friction between the thighs is as a result of being heavier or curvier than average.

Curvy here is not a substitute for fat. Pear-shaped women tend to be bottom heavy and most Kenyan women are pear shaped. It makes the thighs fleshier lending to friction.

The darker skin results from chaffing. It also means you need to ease off the trousers for a while as well as nylon. Rub a little talcum powder in the morning to minimise sweating. As for bleaching, that is a no-no. Your inner thighs are very delicate.

Second, don’t separate your body into parts. That’s how you end up treating your thighs as the problem. Instead, look at your entire body. Research actually proves that the dividing of body parts for women does not conquer our insecurities. Instead, it compounds them, and we just see ourselves as (imperfect) butt, breasts, tummy.

Treat your entire body as one erogenous zone, which it is, because that is what skin does. It allows us to feel touch and sensation. The same lotion that gives you supple skin all over your body is the one that will work on your thighs.

In fact, once you start looking at your body as one big sensuous source of revelry, your sexual inhibitions will begin to fall off.

Love yourself. I know you think you need to be perfect for that to happen. Nothing could be further from the truth. Resist the impulse to buy into this hype of flawless skin.

Once you start working out your thighs will grow firmer, you’ll gain more confidence in what your body can do, how it feels to be alive and why it is more important that your legs be strong and not only pretty.

Get a body scrub and use it twice a week for about two months, and once a week after that. And buy a loofah and use it daily. It speeds up the shedding process and always gives you a soft, new layer to work with.

Moisturise your body after showering. Use almond, coconut or olive oil on damp skin, pat dry, then layer with a rich, luxuriant lotion. Look out for AHAs, vitamin E and vitamin C, the latter contains lightening ingredients.

Add a few drops of glycerine to your lotion. Too much and it gets sticky. Look out for cocoa or Shea butter. This is not going to be a quick fix because you’re going to need to rebuild your self-confidence from the ground up. That’s much harder work than simply restoring your skin tone.

You need to experience yourself as a sensual, desirable woman, and for that to happen, you need to look beyond your thighs.