Can you get rid of freckles without surgery or cosmetic
procedures? The short answer is yes.
Freckles… freckles… freckles. People who don’t have freckles and sun spots wish that they did. For those of us who
do 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 overnight. The good news
is that there are things that we can do to make them fade away over time - to the point where
most of them eventually disappear. Here are a few solutions that you can look into to
get rid of those sun kisses.
Ways to get rid of freckles at home
Lemon juice
Lemon juice is very healthy thing to drink regularly. Lemon juice, though, acts very similar to a kind of bleach when it gets into contact
with the skin because it is acidic. Because of its acidity, it works as a mild
exfoliation; removing a small portion of the lop layer of the skin where it is
applied. This removes a part of the dead skin cells from the outer layer of skin and encourages the skin to make more new, younger-looking skin. People use lemon juice to lighten the color tone of their skin and
freckles, and sometimes on other areas like the arms and torso to soften tan lines. Because of
lemon juice’s ability to lighten the skin, it is a great tool to help fade
freckles away. Some freckles will even fade to the point where they are no longer
visible, although some will fade but still stay slightly visible. Unfortunately, this takes time
and will take more than just a few days to work effectively.
Directions and use:
Dab undiluted lemon juice onto 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. If your skin is very sensitive, dilute the lemon juice with water. On your first night, try it out on a small patch of skin to determine how sensitive your skin is and to see whether you have a negative reaction to it. All skin types are different and some people might get burnt from the acidity of too much lemon juice at once.
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 can replace the area.
Directions and use:
Be careful if you are using another exfoliation method while using the lemon juice method mentioned above. DO NOT use another exfoliation method directly before are after the lemon juice method. This will damage your skin. Depending on the sensitivity and tolerance of your skin (which will improve over time), you should wait from 5 days to 1 full day (and night) for using another exfoliation technique.
DO NOT exfoliate more than once in one session and DO NOT
exfoliate for two days in a row. You need to give your skin enough time to rejuvenate and give
the new skin which was recently underneath the removed layer time to adapt to becoming the new outside
layer of skin. DO NOT scrub until your skin starts to go red or pink (this can lead to permanent damage) and DO NOT
scrub until it starts to feel painful. I personally exfoliate until I feel a light tingle. After a good exfoliation, your skin will
look polished and glow. 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 get as healthy and untouched as
possible. This skin needs to look good and rejuvenate into better looking skin, and can only so this when it is healthy enough to do so. DO NOT focus on scrubbing freckles until they disappear or go lighter. This won't happen and you will end up damaging your skin. You will never notice an immediate difference after a single exfoliation. You can only work towards fading freckles in smaller intervals, since freckles are present in many layers of skin.
Just
do a light scrub twice a week with a few days of ‘rest’ in-between sessions. After a few weeks (yes, it does take that long), the speeding up of skin renewal brought on by exfoliation
will lead to the gradual removal of the concentrated melanin formations. Again, you
will not see any differences after the first few exfoliations, but freckles can
fade after a few weeks or disappear in a few 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 like a scrunchy). Rub the skin
all over your body with the lathered gloves in circular motions and rinse when
done. Do not make the water too hot while doing this in the shower or bath, because intense heat can damage your skin.
Another popular method of exfoliation is through the use of
pastes that contain a grainy or sandy substance that can buffer the skin's surface. You
can purchase these pastes at stores or make them at home by using household items. Popular combinations include 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 before rinsing off afterwards.
Some wonder whether exfoliation is a normal or natural process for the skin to go through. The truth is that it is more natural than you would initially think. In the jungle, our skins would naturally brush against trees, leaves, dirt and other things which they are now protected from with clothes and other comforts. Scraping against random things every day paved the way for new skin regeneration.
Increase general skin health
The healthier your skin is, the better it will be able to regenerate itself and the younger it will begin to look in general. This can speed up the methods above and slow down the formation of new freckles. Here are a few things that you should be doing to keep your skin looking as good as possible.
1. Eat a good diet
Eat a healthy diet that is balanced with enough carbohydrates, fats, proteins, fruits and vegetables. Proteins are needed build new skin tissue, fats are needed for proper hormonal function and moisture, carbohydrates ensure that your body has the energy that it needs, and
eating fruit and vegetables gives your skin important vitamins like vitamin C. Make sure that you get enough fiber every day, so that your body can eliminate the toxins that obstruct nutrient flow and other key functions.
2. Sweat
Sweating is great for your skin. It helps nutrients to reach the surface and allows for the elimination of impurities that can get trapped in the skin or just below its surface. It also helps the liver to deal with other functions because it eases its detoxification load. Liver spots can appear on the skin when liver function declines.
3. Exercise
4. Drink enough water
Water will help to keep your entire body well hydrated and eliminate
excess sodium. This will also hydrate your skin, but also ensure that there are fewer toxins that can damage your entire body and more space for nutrients to reach critical places - from the inside out.
5. Get enough sleep
Sleep is where the body recovers from damage and regenerates itself the most. When your body is forced to cope with less sleep than it requires, it focuses on performing functions that it deems most important for survival and is not able to do things which will ensure its best long-term state.
Here are great tips for people who struggle to fall asleep.
6. Stress less
Avoid unnecessary stresses and take the time to do the things that you enjoy. This will help to decrease the amount of stress that your body has to cope with. Stress makes your body think that there is some kind of impending danger and alters its function in order to prepare for the perceived risk. When in a stressed state, the body slows down (and could completely halt) its repair and recovery processes.
The steam room helps me to de-stress, sweat, recover physically and detox at the same time.
7. Avoid smoking and alcohol
8. Avoid sun damage
I love the sun. I believe that we were meant to be in the sun regularly - just like the rest of nature. This doesn't mean, though, that I let me skin get damaged by the sun. This would be counter-productive. Limit sun exposure, depending on your skin type. Do not stay in the sun for so long that your skin gets red (or even pink) - no matter what kind of skin type you have. Skin damage from the sun leads to freckle and spot formation. If you like to suntan (like me), get out of the sun before your skin goes red or pink. This lets me tan more frequently, avoid freckles and allows me to go brown sooner after every session in the sun.
Cosmetic and immediate procedures
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 ask 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 notion 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. It will look
like you have chicken pox with all the red marks. In some cases, scabs can form. After this process your freckles will be no more.
Another method of freckle removal 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 the skin or
make any marks, and actually helps to make the skin look younger.
Well there you have it, who said you couldn’t have the body
you want!? STAY STRONG!
