Speaking from personal experience, dark underarms are just downright annoying. As a woman of color, I’ve had to deal with an
armpit shadow for my whole adult life. For the most part, I don’t think about it. I mean, they’re hidden 90 percent of the time anyway. Then the moment comes when I’m angling my phone over my head for the perfect summertime selfie , and my pits are on full display. A dark smudge on my photo moment. So, I started to wonder. What causes armpits to darken over time? And what the heck can I do about it?
According to the dermatologist I talked to, I'm definitely not the only person asking these questions. “People come in quite a bit complaining of dark underarms, elbows, and knees,” Carlos Charles, M.D., founder of Derma di Colore , tells SELF. He explains that discoloration often runs in families and can sometimes be associated with medical conditions such as diabetes. Overall, it is more common in patients with darker skin tones. “In darker skin, our cells are better at producing more pigment," he says. Because of that, skin issues that cause hyperpigmentation—the overproduction of pigment, or a darkening of the skin—are "much more obvious and much more common.”
And guess what can lead to hyperpigmentation. Shaving. Today:1
