How to fade freckles??

[wickedwitchoftheweb]

I'm a really freckley person- HATED them growing up. Felt very self conscious and tried to cover them with lots of foundation despite having no trouble with spots etc. I have learned to accept them over the years but all of a sudden at the age of 25 I've started to get new ones?? On my face, ears, chest, hands? I can feel the self loathing creeping back again please if anyone knows any creams or lotions to help fade them I will be forever in your debt

[Kimonolady]

Simply put - no, you can't fade them.
I think freckles are absolutely beautiful, and I think most people feel the same way! You've done such a good job to feel more comfortable about them, but it sounds like there's still some more work to be done. Your time would be much better spent on learning to love what you look like than chasing a miracle product which doesn't exist.
Have you ever read the poem Pied Beauty by Gerald Manley Hopkins? Check it out. Basically the most beautiful take on freckles ever!

[Kimonolady]

Just found it.

Glory be to God for dappled things –
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.

[BlairWaldorfLovesShopping]

I am sure you suit your freckles and that they are lovely :)

My freckles (on face) faded a lot as an unexpected side effect of starting to use prescription retinol. BUT, they were sun damage freckles, not the type that some people seem to be born with, if you know what I mean? Not sure if those could be reversed in the same way.

If you wear SPF50 every day then that should help stop new freckles developing, yes on ears and hands too!

[Mouthfulofquiz]

I'm covered in freckles and I really like them, and have never tried to cover them. Can you switch focus to trying to get your skin as lovely and glowy as possible instead and then just go with the flow? I wear factor 50 most days to avoid sun damage.

[ontherightpath]

SPF 50 every day all the year round will help them to fade & stop new ones appearing. I put lemon juice on mine once or twice a week & I'm sure they've faded over the past several months. Or it might just be consistently applying sun cream..

[DarthMaiden]

Make up artists often add freckles to a models face :-)

Charlotte Tilbury talked about regularly doing this on Kate Moss - she said the pencil they use to do this they call "the youth stick".

Personally I think freckles are beautiful.

I know it's hard to accept our hang ups - but honestly I really think you need to embrace your freckles.

[Want2beme]

I love freckles. I've got brown spot sun damage on the left side of my face & bloody hate them. If they were freckles, I'd love them.

[DeadGood]

"they were sun damage freckles, not the type that some people seem to be born with, if you know what I mean?"

I'm frankly amazed that this myth persists.

Nobody is born with freckles.

[Teardropexplodes]

But some people develop a lot of freckles in childhood.
I seem to be more freckly lately. Just when I spend time in the sun. My foundation is SPF20 and I wear that every day, but I do freckle up a lot.
They don't really show under my makeup though.

[2ducks2ducklings]

Deadgood I'm a freckled person and I honestly never knew that! I can't remember there being a time when I didn't have freckles. I know that in sunny weather more become visible but then fade as winter comes again.

But, op, I don't really even notice mine any more. If anything I do think they make me look a little younger than I actually am and I'm all for that!

[Maudlinmaud]

I have freckles. I like them. I hated them when I was younger and used a cream called fade out to try to get rid of them. It's still available from boots but it didn't work for me. I think some type of laser treatment works on them, if I remember correctly Marian Keys had it. But I imagine the freckles come back after this procedure.
I hope you can learn to love your freckles.

[Maudlinmaud]

@kimonolady thank you for posting GMH poem. Can't beat a bit of sprung rhythm.

[DeadGood]

"But some people develop a lot of freckles in childhood."

Yes, of course they do - I daresay that is when most people (who tend towards freckliness) garner most of their freckles. Children spend more time outside than adults ... by the time most freckly people reach adulthood, their freckles have faded.

TLDR: there is no "sun damage freckles" vs "the type that some people seem to be born with". There is only one type of freckle, and it is cause by sun damage.

[DeadGood]

"Make up artists often add freckles to a models face :-)

Charlotte Tilbury talked about regularly doing this on Kate Moss - she said the pencil they use to do this they call "the youth stick"."

This MUA trick is lovely, and I agree that a sprinkling of freckles over the nose and cheeks looks very flattering and lovely.

But very freckly people have them all over, including less "cute" areas like the chin, temples, forehead, eyelids, arms, hands, legs... it's a totally different look to the "cute supermodel out in the Formentera sunshine" one

[Gingernaut]

After South Park started the myth that gingers have no soul, the retort came back that we acquire a new freckle for every soul we reap.

My Master Satan must be much pleased with me......👿

In my school photos, you can see how they progress through the years as each year, they spread outwards across my face from my nose.

Freckles are caused by sunshine.

[thenightsky]

I've just started a similar thread OP. At the age of 50+ those freckles turn to big blobby age spots

[Reow]

Freckles are beautiful! I'd love some of my own. My face is boring.

[FanDabbyFloozy]

There is only one type of freckle, and it is cause by sun damage.

My child can get freckles on a snowy Christmas day! I do know what you're saying but some people are just predisposed to freckles and they're almost impossible to avoid. I had her smothered in factor 50 every vaguely sunny day for ger early childhoos and still she got them.

Call it sun damage, call it genetics.. Your attitude doesn't reflect the reality of many redheads in this country.

[KatherinaMinola]

Only on Mumsnet would someone reply to this question by posting a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem... and then someone else reply "Can't beat a bit of sprung rhythm" It's definitely a better class of makeup chat.

I think lemon juice fades them, but I agree that freckles are beautiful (I have a sprinkling).

[DeadGood]

"My child can get freckles on a snowy Christmas day! I do know what you're saying but some people are just predisposed to freckles and they're almost impossible to avoid. I had her smothered in factor 50 every vaguely sunny day for ger early childhoos and still she got them.

Call it sun damage, call it genetics.. Your attitude doesn't reflect the reality of many redheads in this country."

Huh???

I am a redhead in this country.

When did I say freckles could be avoided? I wear factor 50. I wear hats and cover up. Every day in summer, I come home with a sunburnt chest and face. I burn through clothes, I burn through sunscreen, I burn when sitting by windows, I burn (via reflected light) when wearing a hat.

I am absolutely covered in freckles. I would have thought that would have been abundantly clear from my last post.

My point is that nobody is born with freckles. It's as simple as that. The people you see with freckles got them from the sun and yes, they are genetically predisposed to do so. I don't know what point you thought I was making, but you definitely missed it.

By the way, do you think that the sun isn't out on Christmas Day? Just because it is cold and grey, sunlight is still there. If you step outside your front door and look around and you can see stuff - ie. it's not pitch black - that's sunlight. So yes, people who are predisposed to freckles can get them on any day of the year.

Has nothing to do with how hot it is, either, though people in this country don't really seem to understand that either

[PacificDogwod]

Yes, freckles are irregular pigmentation due to UV exposure. And of course certain skin types are more susceptible to this.

So, to answer your question, make a good sunblock part of your daily routine, wicked, certainly for your face and back of your hands + any other exposed skin in hot weather.

On top of that, embrace them. To use the very cheesy old chest nut love what you have been given. Don't cover them up, use a light and light-diffusing foundation to even out your skin tone, emphasise whatever you like about yourself (?eyes, ?lips) and rejoice in being a wee bit special.

Love my freckles, hate the age spots on the backs of my hands, personally...

[abbsisspartacus]

Face out cream takes the edge off them

[FanDabbyFloozy]

My dd in bits because well meaning parents say that their kids must wear sun screen or else they'll develop sun damage/freckles/cancer.. Guess I am sensitive as she could no more avoid freckles as she could avoid puberty. It doesn't mean we don't avoid the sun and protect her with factor 50 as much as we can of course.

OP - embrace your freckles. One day you may have a daughter who will look to you as a freckle role model, indeed maybe you do already. The happier you are with yours, the more she will embrace hers.

[BusterGonad]

I've got loads of freckles, I hated them as a child, my family said that they are a sign of beauty, I wasn't sure about that mind you! I actually quite like them now as I think they make me look younger (I can hope) and they make me a bit different from most people. If you don't like them I think some make up artists go up a shade in foundation to blend them in but I'm not sure how that'll work, also maybe Fade Out cream for brown marks and sun damage!

[BusterGonad]

Cream for Liver Spots, I couldn't think of the correct name.