Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Sorry in advance for the long review, but this is a big deal for me. I started developing melasma about 10 years ago while on birth control pills and even after I stopped taking them, the dark patches never went away. Years ago I also tried a round of hydroquinone therapy but I was sensitive to the harshness of it and it actually made the condition a little worse rather than better. I’d been working from home the past few years but had to take another job where I had to go somewhere every day again, and the dark patches on my cheeks and my “mustache” that wouldn’t cover with makeup made me self conscious. The past couple of months I started looking into more natural treatment options and thought I’d give them a shot. In my search I came across a ton of clinical trials that mentioned several different compounds that had been scientifically proven to help melasma in a lot of the patients (Niacinamide, azelaic acid, Arbutin, vitamin C, and Kojic acid were the ones mentioned most often, usually used in combination with medium glycolic acid peels to help speed results). I’m a scientist, so seeing that these products had results in an actual scientific study gave me some hope that they might actually work for me, too. I have been using (and love) Cos de BAHA’s peptide serum, so I was confident that their other products would also have the same quality. I ordered the Niacinamide, azelaic acid, and vitamin C serums, and have been applying the C first followed by Niacinamide and azelaic acid mixed together. I skip the vitamin C in the morning but use the mix both morning and night. I also have been doing at-home glycolic peels (30% by Instanatural, but I’ve just bought a 50% from another brand and waiting for it to arrive), and wearing an SPF 30 physical (zinc oxide) sunscreen religiously. It’s only been a few weeks, but I’m starting to see some results. This is a HUGE deal for me. Melasma is notoriously difficult to treat, but if anything works at all, a “combination therapy” of several different approaches at once usually has better results than one product alone, so while I can’t attribute all the results to one product, I’m writing this review so other people suffering from melasma can see what worked for me so that they might can benefit from my little experiment and see results for themselves too.