Every girl loves to show off her smooth underarms, but this gets just as embarrassing when the underarms start darkening. All’s not lost, we give you an insight into skin darkening; we take a look at how and why of this tender issue so that you can go sleeveless. Let’s go under the surface to scratch the dirt from this unspoken topic in personal care.

Dr. Abhijit Desai a Make Over Expert and Managing Director for Birla Pacific Med Spa Pvt. Ltd. sheds some light on skin darkening, “Dark underarms can be either because of the use of deodorant which has caused some reaction and lead to discolouration. Or it can also be because of a condition called Acanthosis Nigricans which causes darkness on the folds of neck, groin and underarms and is generally seen in overweight people.”

That may be the medical issue, but there are several causes as to why most women have dark underarms. Darkening of the skin occurs mostly around the area with most sweat glands. These could be some issues that are affecting your underarm skin colour:

• You skin may react to deodorants and perfumes hence its advisable to apply anti fungal powder.
• Shaving not only thickens the hair, but also increases skin pigmentation. It’s better to wax the hair off as it plucks the hair from the root as well as strips off the dead cells.
• Accumulation of dead cells in the armpits; this is when proper hygiene is important.
• Friction due to tight clothing darkens the skin, it is advisable to wear lose clothing to minimize friction. During summer it is important to wear clothes that help your skin to breath and absorb sweat.
• Excess sweating only adds to skin darkening.
• Excessive use of hair removal cream, which can also cause infection

Getting back to the burning question: How do we treat dark underarms? Dr. Abhijit Desai discloses the secret to fairer underarms, “Treatment of dark underarms can be by the application of retinoic acid cream like EGA or Demelan to lighten the dark areas." He suggests that one can also opt for laser hair reduction treatments.

Tips from a grandmother’s kitchen: You need three core ingredients for fairer underarms: Yogurt, lime – which is a bleaching agent, and turmeric.  You could also add baking powder for its bleaching effect and gram flour as a base.

*Images courtesy: © Thinkstock photos/ Getty Images