Let’s be honest – one of the first things that draws people to Caro White cream is its very reasonable price tag. After all, there’s no denying that a lower price for a product can be appealing and $18 for a tub of skin lightening cream is pretty darn good. But a lot of the time, you get what you pay for.
We suspect that is the case for Caro White, a skin lightening cream that contains carrot oil and comes at a modest price. Don’t get too excited about the price, though, considering the lack of information the product provides as well as its potential side effects. Here’s what you need to know…
What’s in Caro White Cream?
If you know anything about skin lightening, you already know that the efficacy of a product comes down to the strength and quality of its ingredients. So it’s only natural to want to know: what’s in Caro White cream?
And that’s the first red flag.
Caro White does not provide a lot of information about its ingredients (or the product in general), but we were still able to find the ingredients, and they are listed below.
Ingredients: Isopropyl myristate, carrot oil, Vit E(0.2%), glycerin, hydroquinone (max 2%), aqua, and fragrance.
Let’s start with the positives, which is that this cream contains a good chunk of vitamin E, which is a natural emollient and is great for counteracting the drying, often irritating effects of harsher skin lightening ingredients. Vitamin E also helps other ingredients penetrate more deeply into your skin, making your skin more likely to absorb skin lightening ingredients.
Which brings us to the next very notable ingredient in Caro White cream – yup, we’re talking hydroquinone. As you may already know, hydroquinone is one of the most effective skin lightening ingredients, shown to consistently lighten skin within 8 to 12 weeks, and as long as it’s at or below 2% concentration, you can find it over the counter, as in the case of Caro White.
But as effective as it is, you should also know that hydroquinone has been a rather controversial skin lightening ingredient although it’s debatable how much of the controversy surrounding the ingredient is due to hydroquinone itself.
What does seem to be clear, however, is that a dosage of 2% or less of hydroquinone is safe for the skin and – and this is crucial – that you must know how to use hydroquinone safely and effectively.
As long as you go in to hydroquinone usage with eyes wide open and a guideline of how to best use the chemical, you should be fine. Just keep in mind that like many skin lightening ingredients, hydroquinone can come with not severe but annoying side effects like dry, easily irritated skin, which is why moisturizing agents like Vitamin E and carrot oil certainly come in handy.
Last note on the carrot oil – it’s packing Vitamin A and B-Carotene, both of which is meant to condition the skin. Still, it’s a somewhat strange ingredient for a skin lightener considering excessive use of carrot oil is known to cause an orange pigmentation.
Its intent in Caro White is to moisturize the skin, though, which is a good quality to have in a skin lightening product. You’ll still want to use a moisturizer and sunblock in combination with Caro White, or any other skin lightener.
Is Caro White Cream Worth It?
Good question. Based on the above information about Caro White cream’s more effective ingredients, Caro White cream is looking not so bad but there is more information you should know about.
The first is concerning for all of you who are acne prone and/or have sensitive skin. Caro White does not claim to be hypoallergenic or for sensitive skin, and unfortunately, it seems you’re likely to have adverse reactions with this product. As you may have noticed, the first listed ingredient in Caro White cream is Isopropyl Myristate, which is an emollient that is easily absorbed by the skin and helps the formula’s ingredients penetrate faster.
Which sounds great, right? Well, not really. ‘Cause as effective as an emollient and absorption carrier Isopropyl Myristate may be, it’s also known to cause clogged pores with repeated use – which is exactly the sort of use you need in order for this cream to lighten your skin. And as the main ingredient in Caro White cream, you can pretty much bet that this comedogenic ingredient will aggravate your acne.
From redness to clogged pores to acne breakouts, the cons outweigh the pros here. We wouldn’t recommend using this product on your face, especially if you’re prone to breakouts, but if you really want to use Caro White, test it on a discrete area and consider using it only on small areas of your body.
The Final Verdict on Caro White Cream
The most tempting thing about Caro White cream is its price tag. But when you consider the likelihood of getting adverse effects with this product, a little money saved is just not worth it.
Clogged pores, after all, lead to acne and acne breakouts lead to acne scars, which leads to you looking for another more effective, non-comedogenic skin lightening cream to fade those scars. Might as well skip the whole acne part altogether, right?
Especially since the most effective ingredient in this product is hydroquinone, which isn’t a rare ingredients to find at all. There are plenty of great hydroquinone products on the market and no, not all hydroquinone creams are made the same.
Instead of opting for a cheap hydroquinone cream like Caro White which contains hydroquinone alongside comedogenic, low-quality ingredients, you want to get a hydroquinone cream that has a safe yet effective dose of hydroquinone – 2% – and has plenty of high quality, natural and complementary ingredients that both boost skin lightening results and leave you skin feeling better than before.
So our final verdict? Skip this one – there’s much better out there.
