While women care for the skin on their arms and face, the elbow region often gets neglected. However, this lack of attention does not go unnoticed for long, and manifests in the form of leathery dark elbow skin. Come summer, and time to put away all the long-sleeves clothing, dark elbows can become a problem. The most common causes are dry skin, accumulation of dead skin cells, and friction due to constant use. However, with time, care, and home remedies, the problem can almost always be overcome. Scrub to Exfoliate To start with, do what you haven't been doing all this time. Pay attention to your elbows, and use a gentle scrub to exfoliate the skin on your elbows. You can either use a loofah, or any other substance that will take off the dead skin cells. Alternately, you could apply a generous amount of scrub on your elbows, scrub the area for 30 seconds, and then wash it off. Remember that the exfoliating process is a gradual one, and you don't want to do too much on one day and leave your elbows raw. Trying to fix the problem in one day will also worsen it. Moisturize After the gentle exfoliating, moisturize the skin on your elbows. Presuming that your skin has been starved of moisture all this time, use a deep moisturizer, preferably one with ingredients like Shea butter or cocoa butter. Lemon juice is supposed to do wonders when it comes to naturally lightening the skin. In fact, if you squeeze some onto your hair and then go out in the sun, your hair will get a natural bleach. Squeeze some lemon juice in a bowl, dip cotton in it, and then dab it on your elbows. Leave it on for a while before washing it off. Steam Another trick you can try to soften the dry, thick skin on your elbows is to make use of steam. While this method is often used on the face to open up pores, it works pretty well on the elbows too. You can either apply a warm compress to your elbows, or expose them to steam. Ideally, add essential medicinal substances like lavender, lemon peel, ginger mint, or bay leaf to the water which you will use for the steam. Skin Creams If you feel you need a substance stronger than lemon juice to lighten the dark skin on the elbows, you can try special skin creams or lotions meant for this purpose. Scan the market, ask around, and find out which products are the most effective to get rid of dark elbows. Preferable, use one that is hydroquinone-free. The ingredients to look out for are Vitamin C, niacinamide, or azelaic acid. After this, to continue to care for your elbows, always coat them with sunscreen before you go out of the house. Use a good sunscreen with a high SPF, and apply it 10 minutes before you leave the house. Carry it with you, so you can put on a fresh application after a few hours. While the aforementioned process helps treat both dark elbows and knees, there are also some home remedies for you to try.

• Combine 1 tsp. Vitamin E oil with 1 tsp. glycerin, 1 tsp. lemon juice, and 4 tbsp. milk and stir well to make a paste. Apply it to the elbows and wash it off after 15 minutes.
• Or, mix 1 tsp. coconut oil and ½ tsp. lemon juice and apply it to your dark elbows. Wash it off after 15 minutes.
• Applying olive oil everyday also helps.

These remedies will surely help you get rid of the problem, and if they do, take proper skin care not to let the problem recur. Disclaimer: This article is for informative purposes only and does not in any way attempt to replace the advice offered by an expert on the subject.