Most of us are sick of hearing, “I wish I had freckles”, “Your freckles make your look so young!” or “Freckles are what make you so cute”, when it’s from people who don’t have them. Though we are told these things, we still crave that flawless, spotless skin. Unwilling to do anything major, we resort to homemade treatments. But what do you do if all the lemon juice-honey solution for freckles is doing is leaking into your cut? There are five things to do to visible reduce the appearance of your freckles; well-applied sunscreen, anti-aging cream, moisturizing, exfoliation, and ethereal powder.
Well-applied sunscreen
If you’ve ever had braces, you know you can’t simply brush your teeth twice a day like people without braces do. Your orthodontist probably told you to brush four times a day, because if you wanted those beautiful teeth, you had to work harder for them than other people. Same thing with freckles. If you want that beautiful, flawless skin, or as close to it as you can get, you need to go out and get a SPF 50 sunscreen. (USDA says that beyond SPF 50 starts to become ineffective and a waste of money.) And if you are really serious about fading you freckles, optimally you should reapply it every four hours. Be sure to research your sunscreen to be sure it won’t clog the pores on your face and cause pimples, which can be as hard to get rid of as freckles. Be sure to cover well-a good ten minutes will ensure optimum coverage.
Anti-aging cream
Though anti-aging cream is designed for freckles, it works to take care of the skin and repairs damage done on its surface. Freckles are visible signs of sun damage, so the obvious thing to do would be to treat that damage. Even if you are young, invest in a good anti-aging cream, some professionals recommend anti-aging creams with lots of retinol in them. Neutrogena is good in that respect, but many people recommend Olay. Do your research and check several sources. Anti-aging products can be a major scam, but they can also do wonders if you get the right one.
Moisturizing
Though moisturizing may not do too much for freckles, dry skin will make freckles a little darker than they should be and you’d be surprised by the difference that amount of darkness/lightness makes. Also, if you exfoliate as we’ll discuss later and don’t moisturize, your anti-aging cream will have twice as much damage to heal. Moisturizing is a skin care basic, which you should be doing anyway. For extra sun protection coverage, make sure you get a moisturizer with a SPF 15. More would be nice, but don’t pay extra for it. Also, make sure your moisturizer is a facial moisturizer. Moisturizer for your legs and body usually is thick, can clog pores, and cause pimples. Which like I said before, aren’t exactly easy to reverse.
Exfoliation
You can apply sunscreen every five minutes, but without exfoliation the results will be minimal. The more sunscreen you apply, the less damage is going on underneath the already damaged skin. The skin on top is already pigmented that color permanently and thus must slowly be slowed away in increments (moisturizing helps to loosen dead skin cells) to reveal the healthy skin underneath. I don’t recommend exfoliation creams that don’t have some sort of beads or bits in them to roll across your skin. Acidic exfoliation creams don’t do quite as well as rough exfoliation products and cause more damage and irritation. Exfoliation products with rough materials also increase circulation which makes your skin glowy. I recommend getting a facial scrub pad, or brush and getting a cleaner like Noxzema so you can kill two birds with one stone. Keeping your skin clean is important, freckles or not. Also, you’ll want to remove any sunscreen residue. If you want to do a really good job with exfoliating, get an exfoliation cream with beads and scrub it in with a facial scrub pad/ facial brush.
Ethereal Powder
Why ethereal, you ask? A glowing kind of look can visibly lighten the appearance of your freckles because of its light reflecting properties paired with its concealing properties, while a matte powder makes them stand out as even more discoloration of your freckles mixes with the dull yellow or pink pigment of the powder while emphasizing your oh-so-tiny facial hairs. Which would you prefer? A really nice one I like is the Bare Minerals Illuminating Mineral Veil, but there are many others. The key words to finding a mineral powder that gives you that glowy, dewy look and takes emphasis off your freckles are “glowing” “ethereal” “illumination” “dewy” “radiant” “healthy” “bright” and “illuminating. The nice thing about the ethereal powder is it trades the greasy, oily shine of sunscreen for a sophisticated, glowy one, whereas a plain powder makes you look dull and fake, and once it soaks up the sunscreen residue will turn a hideous shade of roasted carrot.
I hope you found this guide helpful and good luck on your way to spotless skin.
