The Real Reason You Have All Those Freckles Is Cool AF

Us Irish ladies tend to favour the ‘cover it ALL up’ school of make-up application, masking not only our blemishes but any variation in skin tone whatsoever.

But next time you whip out the heavy-duty concealer to hide those lovely freckles, might we suggest thinking again? As it turns out, there’s a pretty cool scientific reason for all those darker spots – one that might make you appreciate them just a little more.

While sunburn and sun spots are usually a sign of UV damage from the sun’s rays, natural freckles actually serve to protect our skin.

The freckles we’re born with are small areas of skin that contain higher amounts of melanin, the protein that determines our eye, skin and hair colour. Melanin acts as a natural sun blocker in our bodies, protecting our skin from UV rays.

As our skin gets more exposure to sunlight – in the summer months or when we’re on holidays – those spots of melanin get darker, which is why we tend to get even frecklier in good weather.

Our bodies produce two kinds of melanin to help protect us – eumelanin, which causes us to tan, and pheomelanin, which causes us to freckle.

The level of each is controlled by the MCIR gene, which explains why some of us tan far more easily than others, though of course we should all be wearing SPF to make sure we get the best protection possible.

And there you have it. You might not love your freckled face and arms, but they’re serving a very good purpose, so maybe ditch the concealer every once in a while.

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