Aunty was all excited to share her age spot busting discovery (thanks to Pal Cookie/Lee) in the inexpensive pink plastic Be Be Cream from Cambodia. Truly, it worked! Aunty’s age spots faded to the point of wonderful – and people who got up close and touchy (face massage, hair dresser, etc.) would tell Aunty that she had beautiful skin, woo hoo!
HOWEVER, a comment from reader Yuko on a recent post about morning stretches warned about the dangers of mercury in this Be Be Cream. She tested it and found that it contained mercury, so Aunty ordered test strips from Home-Health-Chemistry.com; it arrived from Israel (!) today, and with trepidation, Aunty tested 2 containers of Be Be Cream – one that was from an older shipment, and one that was from a new shipment – slight packaging differences and slightly different color.
Such a bummer. Both creams tested positive for mercury in the 50 ppm range (or slightly lower since it wasn’t as dark a purple as the comparison color chart that was provided. So sad.
FDA cosmetic regulations on mercury were as follows: Mercury compounds. Mercury compounds are readily absorbed through the skin on topical application and tend to accumulate in the body. They may cause allergic reactions, skin irritation, or neurotoxic problems. The use of mercury compounds in cosmetics is limited to eye area products at no more than 65 parts per million (0.0065 percent) of mercury calculated as the metal and is permitted only if no other effective and safe preservative is available. All other cosmetics containing mercury are adulterated and subject to regulatory action unless it occurs in a trace amount of less than 1 part per million (0.0001 percent) calculated as the metal and its presence is unavoidable under conditions of good manufacturing practice (21 CFR 700.13) What does that mean – eye are products are okay at 65 ppm, but all else is 1 ppm?
More about Mercury poisoning
The FDA also has a page about Mercury in skin care products. It is easily absorbed into the body by the skin and an absolute no-no for pregnant women or children. Signs and Symptoms of Mercury Poisoning include:
- irritability
- shyness
- tremors
- changes in vision or hearing
- memory problems
- depression
- numbness and tingling in hands, feet or around mouth
An international watchdog also seized products that were being sold as skin whitening from various stores in the Philippines and some of these had shockingly high ppm numbers (parts per million) ranging in the thousands!
Let the Buyer Beware
Aunty remembers playing with liquid mercury as a child in science class. The silver colored element was fascinating, breaking into little balls that could be joined together into a bigger blob that gleamed and rolled around in our hands. Aunty also eats a LOT of raw fish and has a silver filling that is covered with a gold crown that will be soon replaced. Flu vaccines for adults supposedly have a form of mercury used as a preservative.
Some readers have decided to purchase Be Be Cream online and have loved the results. Aunty also loves the results and is now in a dilemma. Stop using and get back the age spots on her face? Or, continue to use and do heavy metal elimination every so often? What do you think?
How to detox mercury
Reader Yuko did a natural detox method over a period of 40 days of morning shakes.
Aunty will do EDTA chelation at her doctor’s office (Dr. Takemoto-Gentile), though not solely because of the Be Be Cream.
Google searching health websites about mercury detoxification mentioned cilantro as a natural agent (also known as Chinese parsley). Here is a rather good article about what to do: How to Detox from Heavy Metals and Mercury.
Ah, the things we do for beauty
Yuko’s comment was a wake up call that Aunty really didn’t want. Apologies to readers that got as excited as Aunty and purchased this wonder cream. and Mahalo to Yuko.
The price we pay for beauty can be very high. It’s just too bad that old faces with splotchy age spots aren’t “in”. Aunty has some thinking to do.
Oh my gosh! I’ll have to tell my cousin. Yikes! Thank you for letting us know.
Meanwhile, eat cilantro – known to help detox mercury. Sorry.
Aieyaaah! Good thing I stopped. Never worked for me anyways. I used it for two months straight, morning and night like you and no change 🙁 I wonder if it’s be cause the spot on my face was already treated by a dermatologist. She CO2’d it. It’s lighter but still there. Makes me wonder if it was even worth it!
Oh, so sorry Leslie – but in a way, good thing it didn’t work for you so you won’t miss it. Still, sorry for the post about how good it was earlier and then you went to the trouble and expense to order it.
Me, I am in a big dilemma. Chance’em and use it, or try something else and watch the brown spots and marks come back if it doesn’t work. For now, I am trying a “brown spot remover” cream that I got at the Homeo Health store in Ala Moana between Curry House and Aja. Smells good but not sure about if it works. I tested it and it doesn’t have mercury.
Freezing hurts and looks real ugly for a while, right? If it was just one spot, maybe. Mine was like a mask on one side and tons of medium to small patches on the other.
Aaargh! I am now paying the price for the sun worshiping when I was young and would put on coconut oil and try to get as dark as I could. I never thought I would get old, wrinkled, and full of age spots. Until I got old, wrinkled, and spotted.
Good thing it was dirt cheap so I never lost too much money ;). But me too, i’ve tried many different creams and nothing worked. I thought the dermatologist would work but no, still there. It was a little sore, not too bad.
I played soccer practically everyday from age six to 30-something and I don’t remember my mom smothering me in sunscreen like the parents today. I’m guess i’m lucky I don’t have more spots! :-O
Funny that you only have one spot, after years of soccer, and not on your upper cheeks where the sun would have hit more than the side. And also that the CO2 treatments didn’t zap it for good. I think the treatment that I had for a large dark round spot that started coming out 20 years ago was laser. I could smell the skin burning, and the doctor had to go round and round and she kinda stayed inside the dark spot so after I had a very thin outline of the spot in some places. Hurt like crazy even though she numbed my skin with some kind of cream first. And then, it was like an open wound – the slightest breeze or movement if I walked fast would hurt like a burn for about a week. Then a really horrible looking big scab that I was told to leave alone and let it fall off on its own.
But, after that, the spot was forever gone, almost like a faint faint white scar circle, with the really thin outline line of the parts she didn’t get. The Be Be Cream took care of that and the other stuff. Still so sad that it has mercury. Really sad.
Awww, too bad, Aunty. I think I would stop.
Oh, we fossils still here in east Honolulu, just the youngest faction of our ohana, R,S,K,M, relocated to Austin, happy in new job, new school, big home on the lake, wearing cowboy hats, but farther now for Tutu & Papa to visit. You may be interested in real estate property in this fast growing community, now called the 2nd Silicon Valley, with a whopping160 younger techie families moving to it everyday. Maybe KFG, who will be reinstating her website, may discuss the investment possibilities. Send me a personal email if you wish to have their personal info, address. i know they would love to hear from you. :o)
Aunty, as a Clinique user for as long as I’ve been retired when age spots got prominent, discovered their hypoallergenic creams seem to work in fading or lessening the dark spots or areas plus twice a year visits to the dermatologist to freeze stubborn spots. With daily SPF-15 base coverage, the spots aren’t as noticeable anymore. Clinique with its bonus offers of sample or travel sizes is another plus to ordering online with free shipment. I too was warned about the effects of mercury, even had fillings changed. A belated hauoli makahiki hou to you from Tutu. PS: our ohana now residing in Austin, TX send their best.
Aloha Tutu!
I was just thinking about you, wondering how you were, and now so glad that you reached out to me again! Austin Texas!?!? Hope it is a good place for you. Please tell the family hello from Aunty.
Alas, my age spots and dark mask were so stubborn. I used to get laser zapped but it was so painful and it was more than just little spots, so I stopped. This Be Be cream was the first one that I ever encountered that really worked. Clinique is an excellent brand, though I never tried it for the dark spots. I tried Shiseido – very expensive and it worked a little, but not to the extent of this inexpensive Cambodian Be Be cream.
I do put sunscreen on my face every day and wear my visor everywhere. I think some people just have better skin than I – they don’t seem to get the dark age spots and they walk around in the sun without a hat! I now have gone back to using Nerium at night and still use Be Be cream in the day. I wish Nerium would come out with their age spot cream that they used to talk about way back in the beginning. I will monitor my mercury levels more frequently. For now, I am willing to take the risk.
Thanks for follow-up message … Much appreciated!!
The appreciation is mine, mahalo!
Thanks for this information regarding mercury, because I did not know that. However, it is moot because I never use any cosmetics on my face. In fact, I wash my face with Ivory soap and water every other day. No night cream or lotion whatsoever.
Aloha Gigi,
You must have excellent skin and family genes. Congrats on your low maintenance beauty regime!