Black seed oil to combat dark spots?

Theblack seed oil is a natural ingredient derived from the seeds of black cumin. Versatile, it is used for both its gastronomic and cosmetic properties. It can be found in the INCI list of many skin care and hair care products under the name Nigella Sativa Seed Oil due to its numerous virtues: anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, healing, moisturizing... Sometimes, black seed oil is also attributed with a lightening action.

Nevertheless, no scientific study has to date shown that this ingredient has effects on brown spots. On the contrary, there are reasons to believe that black seed oil could instead be useful in cases of hypopigmentation or vitiligo. In an in vitro study, researchers incubated common wall lizard skin in solutions with different concentrations of thymoquinone, one of the active ingredients in black seed oil. This species of lizard was chosen because its pigment response is uniform.

After incubation for about ten minutes, a dispersion of melanophores was observed. Melanophores are cells specific to certain amphibians and birds that can be considered analogous to mammalian melanocytes. However, unlike melanocytes, melanophores do not synthesize melanin, they only store it. Melanophores can be dispersed in the cytoplasm, which then darkens, or be gathered into clusters (clear cytoplasm). Thus, the dispersion of melanophores observed in the study is synonymous with a darkening of the skin.

As of now, black seed oil cannot be considered as a lightening ingredient and, on the contrary, seems to have a potential darkening effect. If you wish to lighten your brown spots, we would rather recommend the vitamin C, the azelaic acid, the arbutin acid, the licorice extract, the tranexamic acid or even the glycolic acid.