Now that the rainy season is here, those who have been all giddy and carefree this past summer are hit with the consequences.

Tans are fading faster in some areas than others and acne is breaking out on shoulders. There are scars on limbs from extreme sports or a hiking trip gone wrong. There are also stretch marks appearing because of extreme weight loss brought about by crash dieting. There are also marks on the chest and back from too much exposure to the sun. Some of the marks are the result of clogging up by sunblock.

Asians are so prone to brown pigmentation on the underarm, groin, knees, elbows and even neck that it seems an impossible dream to have one even tone from head to toe: The face necessarily always looks lighter and smoother than the rest of the body.

I only have one answer for all these concerns—body-whitening treatment. The right procedure will dry up the acne while fading the marks at the same time. It will make your skin whiter so that the stretch marks blend in and they become invisible. It will also slough off dead skin cells and clear up dull, damaged skin to let the new lighter and softer one emerge.

Evening-out treatment

For evening out skintone and fading a tan quick, use Active White Body Scrub with Bleach (P1,000 per session or a program of 10 sessions with two free). The clinic uses its own Active White salt scrub with honey to gently remove dead, dry or rough skin cells to leave the soft and smooth.

The procedure is followed by the clinic’s own bleaching solution mask, which is to be left on for 25-30 minutes, then rinsed off and topped by a whitening lotion.

The bleaching mask could be very itchy for some but one session alone shows a big difference. Even the brown hairs on my arms lightened to blonde and my knees and elbows went from brown to beige.

It is recommended that one does the full 10 sessions to even out skintone. The process can be done up to three times a week.

Active White products, such as its whitening soap and salt scrub, can be found at Watson’s SM, South and Mercury drugstores.

The Active White clinic is at CTTM Square, 68 Timog Avenue QC. Call 441-1040. It has other reasonably priced treatments such as basic facials (P400) and eyelash extensions (P700).

Coffee to ivory

To drastically change skin tone from coffee to ivory, try Mariko Tokyo’s pure white medical peeling. It is the most reasonably priced one I have stumbled into so far at P19,880 (others range from P60,000-P250,000 for a cycle of full-body intense whitening).

Mariko’s requires dedication as you will have to go to the clinic every day for 10 days straight so the clinic can administer the whitening/peeling solution evenly on every inch of you.

You also cannot wet the treated area of the body for the straight 10 days. All you can wash is your hair and privates with gloves because hands are included in the treatment.

Expect to peel like a huge snake because skin comes off in big maps and falls on the floor or all over the bed while smaller flakes fly in the air so things can really get embarrassing.

After the 10 days you are given medicine to apply on yourself at home first three times a day, then down to twice a day.

Results after about 40 days: Aside from the undeniably whiter-than-the-skin-you-were-born-with skintone, your scars are erased; elbows and knees turn from grayish brown to pink; calluses on feet even fall off for some.

Now you know the secret of those movie stars.

Note: Those who are very dark, though, may require more than one cycle to get the Shalani Soledad skintone of their dreams. Some may also need more medicine than what is included in the package so you need to pay for those, too.

Tip: Please use sunblock SPF 50 or above on exposed areas and reapply generously every three hours when indoors or two hours when outdoors. Unexposed areas will benefit from whitening day lotions with light UV protection, such as Nivea extra whitening inner cell repair body milk and Hortaleza Glutathione Lotion with SPF 15. A skin lightening body lotion, like Nivea Night whitening lotion or Skinstation’s clinic care nano whitening, applied at night helps maintain results.

Call the Pasay branch at 5521402, San Juan at 7259406, Makati at 5532397 and Mandaluyong at 4775736.