Can you get rid of freckles without surgery or cosmetic procedures? Short answer: yes.
Freckles… freckles… freckles. People who don’t have them want them, but for most of us who have them, we’d rather do without these ‘beauty spots’. Freckles are nothing more than concentrated deposits of melanin (the pigment in our skin). The bad news is that the cheaper and most natural freckle removal methods won’t take freckles away over night, but the good news is that there are things that we can do to fade them away, to the point where most of them disappear forever. Here are 2 solutions that you can look into to get rid of those ‘sun kisses’.
Lemon Juice
Lemon juice acts similarly to a bleach when it is contact with the skin because it is acidic. Because of the acidity, it works as a mild exfoliator, removing a small portion of the lop layer of skin onto which it is applied. People use lemon juice to lighten the colour tone of their skin and freckles, and sometimes on areas like the arms to correct tan lines. Because of lemon juice’s ability to lighten the skin, it is a great tool to help fade freckles. Some freckles will even fade to the point where they are no longer visible, although some will fade but still stay. Unfortunately, this takes time and will take more than just a few days to work effectively.
Directions and Use:
Dab undiluted lemon juice on the skin to lighten up tan lines or freckles before going to bed and let it dry out. Wash off in the morning after waking up and repeat every night. The skin should start to lighten and freckles can fade – sometimes to the point of disappearing – after a few weeks.
Exfoliation
Exfoliating the skin removes the outer layer of skin which is made up of dead skin cells. Frequent, thorough exfoliation helps the skin to rejuvenate itself, even to the point where the concentrated melanin deposits (freckles) are removed and new, spot-free skin replaces the area.
Directions and Use:
DO NOT exfoliate more than once in one session and DO NOT exfoliate two days in a row. You need to give your skin time rejuvenate and give the new skin (underneath layers) time to adapt to becoming the new outside layer of skin. DO NOT scrub until your skin starts to go red or pink and DO NOT scrub until it starts to feel painful. After a good exfoliation, your skin will look shiny and polished. DO NOT exfoliate more than twice a week. The reason why you should not exfoliate too much, too often or too hard is because the point of exfoliation is to remove the uppermost layer of skin which consists of dead skin cells and overdoing it will lead to the removal (and damage) of the healthy, living skin layers which you want to be as healthy and untouched as possible to look good and rejuvenate into better looking skin. DO NOT scrub until freckles disappear and DO NOT scrub until freckles appear lighter. Just do a light scrub twice a week with a few days of ‘rest’ in-between sessions and after a few weeks, the speeding up of skin renewal brought on by exfoliation will lead to the gradual removal of the concentrated melanin formations. You will not see any differences after the first few exfoliations but freckles can fade or disappear after a few weeks to months.
One of the most popular exfoliation methods is the use of exfoliation gloves that can be purchased at most supermarkets. These gloves don’t cost too much and can be re-used over and over again. You simply put the gloves on before going into the shower or bath and then lather them with soap and water (which creates a soapy lather similar to a scrunchie). Rub the skin all over your body with the lathered gloves in circular motions and rinse when done.
Another popular method of exfoliation is through the use of pastes that contain a grainy or sandy substance that can buffer the skin. You can purchase these pastes at stores or make them at home by using combinations like baking soda and water, salt (smooth salt only because the larger, coarse salt can hurt the skin) and olive oil or even mud made with clean, treated sand and water. Rub the exfoliating paste onto the skin in circular motions for a few seconds and then rinse off afterwards.
The lemon juice and exfoliation methods are effective, cheap and easy to do. However, they will take a long time before you start seeing a difference in freckle reduction. There are, however, other methods of freckle removal that are more instant, but are more expensive and require the consultation of a professional.
Dermatologists (the skin doctors) offer freckle removal services. If you are interested in this method of freckle removal, ask your doctor for more information and for a referral to a good dermatologist in your area. During a 30 minute to 1 hour session with the dermatologist, he or she will burn off the first (outermost) layers of skin on a freckle to instantly remove it. This does hurt, but the burning off motion takes about a second per freckle and a dermatologist could take off over 50 freckles in a single session. Your skin will need time(usually a few days to two weeks) to heal from this in the areas where the doctor has taken off the freckles and it will look like you have chicken pox with all the red marks (and in some cases, scabs) where the doctor has removed freckles.
Another method of freckle removal is more expensive and uses intensive light pulses which penetrate through to the deepest layers of skin to break up melanin formations. After this light stimulation, the freckles start to break up and disappear after a day or two. This does not damage then skin or make any marks, and actually also helps to keep the skin looking younger.
Well there you have it, who said you couldn’t have the body you want!?
STAY STRONG!
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