Tartaric acid, also known as ‘kojic acid’ or ‘kojic acid’, is a microbial fermentation product found in soy sauce, soya bean paste, wine brewing, and can be detected in many fermented products fermented by Aspergillus.
The earliest scientists found that the hands of brewery women workers are particularly white. After the study of fermentation products, it was found that not only has a good role in preserving the freshness of the curvilinear acid. It also has a good whitening and brightening effect. Even,skin tone is not a concern. Many European and American dermatologists use 2 to 4% of kojic acid to treat chloasma in their patients with good effects.
Kojic acid can inhibit the activity of tyrosinase and stop the production of melanin. Kojic acid at a concentration of 20 μg/ml can inhibit the activity of many tyrosinase enzymes by 70%-80%. In cosmetics, it is recommended to add 0.5%-2% of tretinoin, which can inhibit the production of melanin and achieve the effect of whitening and light spots.
In addition to its whitening effect, kojic acid has free radical scavenging and antioxidant properties. It can help astringent skin, promote protein aggregation and tighten skin. It not only has certain antibacterial properties, but also has certain moisturising ability and can even be used as a preservative for food and cosmetics. Kkojic acid can inhibit the activity of hyaluronidase, so that it can also inhibit allergies.
Kojic acid, similar to VC, binds to copper ions and inactivates tyrosinase.
Kojic acid also inhibits the production of melanin oxidation intermediates. Kojic acid is oxidised by the intermediate dopaquinone, thus reducing the chain reaction substrate and inhibiting the conversion of the melanin intermediate from the dopaquinone form to the final melanin. Lower concentrations are able to achieve good results for its violent effect . It is also because its effect is so rigid that can lead to skin redness and contact dermatitis. Consequently, that’s why most whitening products have lower additions.
The advantages of kojic acid are high transdermal absorption, good tyrosinase inhibition and no cytotoxic effect. It can be used for whitening, blemish removal, skin tone improvement, etc.; and it can additionally serve to retain water and increase skin elasticity.
When using kojic acid, it is best to pay attention to the following points.
First, kojic acid will fail in bright light or strong acidic environments and instead increase melanin.Therefore,it is recommended that kojic acid products are best used alone at night.
Second, avoiding the use of salicylic acid, fruit acids, high concentration of VC and other ingredients. It’s easy to over-stimulate the skin and roll over and destroy the barrier by stacking more potent ingredients that are more irritating.Third, need to do strong hydration, pay attention to sunscreen to prevent anti-black.
Although kojic acid is the ace in the hole in the whitening world, it needs to be used in a careful way and used properly so that it can play a key role.
Post time: Jun-08-2024
