Saturday, May 30, 2009

To Remove Freckles....

If you have even a single freckle you will probably relate to this post. If you have red hair or fair skin, I know you will REALLY relate to this post. As a red head, fair skin and freckles come with the territory, there is no way around it. As a young person I was called "freckle face" or people would say, "Can I play connect the dots on your face?" These comments made me ashamed of my freckles (very sensitive person). My mom (fair skinned blonde) told me the story of how she tried to rid of her freckles with lemon juice when she was a teenager. Of course it didn't work, but as a stubborn teenager I still had great faith in the lemon juice and just knew it would fade my freckles away. Well, once again the lemon juice didn't work; but now that I am 39 years old I love my freckles and my red hair!


I haven't thought about my freckles for a long time until just today. I received this very fun book "The Herb and Spice Book for Kids" by Alice Siegel and Margo McLoone. It's an old library book from 1978 which I found through one of Amazon's private sellers. I kid you not, the first recipe I opened to was titled "To Remove Freckles." I read it to my mom and we both had a good laugh; I guess we were missing some important ingredients to mix with the lemon juice!


Here's exactly what it says:

Ingredients
1/2 C watercress leaves
1 pint white vinegar
juice of 1 lemon
lots of freckles

Tools
large bowl
strainer
wide-mouth jar

What You Do
1. Mix all ingredients in bowl.
2. Set bowl uncovered in the sun for 3 days.
3. Pour mixture through strainer into jar.
4. Wash freckled area with mixture daily. Keep out of eyes.
5. Hope for freckles to disappear in 5 days. If not, try something else. (HA! Love it!)



Well, this is a little on the crazy side and I would never in the world want the freckles on my lovely Fauna's face to disappear. I cherish each and every "chocolate pixie kiss" she has received! So I don't think we will be trying this recipe anytime soon. We'll stick with the sunscreen and try to prevent more from appearing. But just in case she wants a freckle removal recipe when she is a teenager, she will know the book to get it from. ;)

Freckles are called many different things all over the world, here's a few: (from cafebabel.com): France: taches (stains); Germany: sommersprossen (summer stains); Spanish: pecas from picar (to make holes); Polish: piegi (delicately sprinkled by chocolate drops); Italy: lentiggini (lentils)

Freckles By Amber Peacock

Freckles, freckles everywhere,

Tannish brownish spots,

Some people don't have any freckles.

I have lots of dots!

I used to scrub with lemon juice,

Wishing them away.

What a silly waste of time,

These pals are here to stay.

Though they never say good-bye,

In winter they may fade.

But in the yellow summer sun,

They come back out to play.

My freckles are like favorite friends.

They make me look like me.

They're pretty, fun, and unique,

The way I want to be!

I will leave you with a very sweet story from frecklecheek.com:
An elderly woman and her little grandson, whose face was sprinkled with bright freckles, spent the day at the zoo. Lots of children were waiting in line to get their cheeks painted by a local artist who was decorating them with tiger paws.“You’ve got so many freckles, there’s no place to paint!” A girl in the line said to the little fella. Embarrassed, the little boy dropped his head. His grandmother knelt down next to him. “I love your freckles. When I was a little girl I always wanted freckles,” she said, while tracing her finger across the child’s cheek. “Freckles are beautiful!”
The boy looked up, “Really?”
“Of course,” said the grandmother. “Why, just name me one thing that’s prettier than freckles.”
The little boy thought for a moment, peered intensely into his grandma’s face, and softly whispered, “Wrinkles.”

And if you have a freckle story or call freckles something else, I would love for you to leave a comment telling me. Have a lovely weekend!

39 comments:

Joy said...

That fascinating. I don't have freckles, although I do have fair hair and skin, but my dark-haired, dark-skinned, 1/4 Japanese daughter has quite a few. It's funny how melanin and genes work like that. I'd never want her to get rid of a single one! But thanks for the recipe, just in case. ;)

Pussnae said...

I have freckles and I remember not liking them as a child either. Now I love my freckles too! Thank goodness we grow out of these stages. Cute post!

Holly said...

Cute post! We call them angel kisses. Holly

Tara said...

My Nana was a fair skinned, red haired, freckled beauty and I sadly only got a few freckles across the bridge of my nose growing up.
I just think red hair and freckles are so gorgeous!!

I love the part where the boys tells his grandmother that wrinkles are more beautiful than freckles.... those, I've got !!

FrontierDreams said...

what a great post! i too have red hair fair skin and am COVERED in freckles. my 3 yo just started getting hers <3 my favorite name for freckles is 'painted pepper sunlight' but i am partial to janes addiction so that explains it ;)

dongdong said...

LOl. The freckles thing is a cultural thing. Where I'm from, fair skin is prized and when we have fair skin, usually the freckles comes along for the ride too but they are not prized.

However, when I came to US and hear everyone says they are cute. I was for a long time when I was little like are you crazy? But I'm glad its liked here in the US. :) I wonder what other European country think.

Stephanie said...

I'm crazy about the ones on my son's nose. The last couple of days a few times I've thought I've seen some finally appearing on Maddie's.... but alas, it was just Play. :)

The Magic Onions said...

Such a sweet story (indeed... a wetting of the eyes here!)
To those of us who don't have freckles, they are cuteness incarnate! I think this is a lovely post, Lisa... I think we should all do a post where we talk about what we struggled with as youngsters. what we were teased about, and how we feel about that very thing now... will help us with our children who may have very different struggles from what we had. I am 5 foot tall, as a youngster, I was called 'Tiny Tot' and so on... I hated it... now I can't imagine why? I wouldn't choose anything different as this is who I am, I wouldn't be me if I was even 5 foot and a half!... some things about growing up aren't that bad after all!
I love what the Polish call freckles!

pink and green mama MaryLea said...

I love my freckles and I kiss the freckles on the Frog Princess' nose daily. Love them!!

Anonymous said...

What a fun book! :-) While I was self-conscious about my freckles, it was my dimples that really disturbed me. I would do exercises, puffing out my cheeks to try to get rid of them (LOL). DS has two gorgeous dimples and matching number of freckles on his nose. I'm so glad I could pass them on to him! Love the freckle/wrinkle story!!

Gingerbread Mommy said...

Coming from a fellow freckle-face, I loved your post! I didn't like them as a child, and I am indifferent about them now (although my hubby loves them!). However, I absolutely love watching them appear on the noses of my three little boys!

momandkiddo said...

I always loved the few freckles I had as a kid, I even wanted more! I have been enjoying your posts lately, especially about making rosewater but it always seems as if the days are too nice to spend inside on the computer and by nightfall I am too tired to do much blog reading and commenting... you know how it goes!

Erin said...

I think that freckles are adorable! I love when I get a scattering of them across my nose in the summertime. :)

eidolons said...

My mother had so many freckles. I loved each and every one of them - coveted them, really. When I was small I wanted freckles more than anything. My mother died when I was 12. Every freckle I have (which has turned out to be a considerable amount) and every one I find on my two little boys fills me with happiness.

Freckles are love. (:

Wendy said...

There are a lot of freckles around my house! My husband and I are pretty well covered with them and my little one is getting them across her nose and cheeks now. We tell her that the sun has been giving her kisses. She loves her freckles and always wants me to count them to see if she's gotten more. I hope she keeps her love of them!

Shady Lady said...

My very best friend and both her children are ever so freckled...and they are all beautiful!! She has even named her blog that way. http://suchlovelyfreckles.blogspot.com/ She's a homeschooling momma, too!

christine said...

I remember doing that, this is me when i was 10 or 11:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/notcatherinezeta/8907295/
And i'm still almost that freckled now, all over my arms and legs - everywhere!
And I hated them! My sisters had none and they made fun and my friends made fun, I seriously cried over those freckles, wish i could go back in time and tell myself that they looked awesome! But I tried the lemon juice and when I was older, instead of normal make up, i wore varicose vein cover up cream on my face. I must have looked awful! Now, I show my freckles off and I love seeing freckles on my kiddos!

MamaWestWind said...

Oh, love the story! How sweet! (teary) I always wanted freckles as a kid too. I thought they were so unique and special. So funny that as kids often what makes us special and different is the one thing we dislike.

Becca

MamaWestWind said...

Oh, my, how funny! From your blog I went to Soulemama's blog http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/ and she's having a giveaway of an adorable freckled doll. This adorable doll reminds me of your girls.

Jenell said...

There's another song (besides the beautiful one mentioned by Nicole) by Natasha Bedingfield, called "Freckles." She sings:

"'Cause a face without freckles
Is like the sky without the stars.
Why waste a second
Not loving who you are."

What a beautiful post! And I loved all the freckly comments. Sweet!

Lisa said...

Christine said her sisters called them "little fly poops" and the Scots call them "ferntickles."

Thanks for everyones' comments, I have really enjoyed reading them!

-Lisa :)

Amanda said...

We had a friend of the family who I consider one of the most glamorous women I had ever met when I was a little girl. She had wild curly red hair, was a true free spirit with a hearty bell-like laugh, and she was covered in freckles. So, I grew up loving my freckles. It suprised me to no end when I turned 8 or 9 and discovered how many books about kids hating their freckles were out there. I couldn't relate!

My favorite nickname for freckles came from another friend of the family: sun umbrellas.

Oh, and another cute story: I mentioned to my 2-year-old son that he had a freckle on his leg. When he asked what a freckle was, I explained that all the brown spots on mama's skin were freckles. His eyes got bigger than saucers and with a horrified look on his face he said, "Mama, I don't want freckles!"

Sara said...

I am one of those red headed fair skinned girls... and yes, I have freckles. I have grown to love them. Thanks for this very cute post.

thea said...

I'm sure you must have heard the phrase that a face without freckles is like a sky without stars...

that always made me feel much better about mine!!

thea.
xx


www.forthevisionaries.tumblr.com

Willo said...

Just want to let you know that I think freckles in general and every freckle on the face of you lovely ladies is beautiful!!!

Jess said...

I have freckles. Lots of freckles. I never liked them, but I love the tiny ones that are sprinkled across my kids noses.
I always loved the lengths Anne Shirley would go to to remove her freckles in the Anne of Green Gables books.
Those were enough of a cautionary tale for me that I never tried to get rid of my own.

jane said...

hey lisa- great fun post. hey, do you think it would work for age spots?...:) happy sunday!

Mary said...

I have auburn hair and freckles and every summer I would reply to people who would ask if I "ever got a tan" that I spent the sunshine collecting freckles. Now that I am much older I have so many freckles that I look tan.

sarah in the woods said...

I love the Polish translation. I'm going to start saying that. I'm a freckle face and so is my blond-haired daughter. I remember a neighbor lady actually connecting the dots on my leg with a pen to form "the big dipper." I never minded my freckles though. A couple weeks ago, my little girl was closely examining the freckles on her nose in the mirror. Finally she said, "I wonder when these freckles are going to get any bigger!" She's obviously never been teased about them!

Beth said...

well i will never think of freckles the same way again!

Lisa said...

I LOVE freckles! Binky has the little dipper in freckles on the side of his adorable face!

Tammy said...

That is such a sweet freckles and wrinkles story. :)

My face doesn't have freckles, but my arms are loaded with them. lol!

sunnymama said...

Oh that is such a cute story about the little boy studying his grandmother's face and saying wrinkles are prettier than freckles. So sweet :)

KC @The Wonder Years said...

Aw! My daughter has red hair, blue eyes and FRECKLES! I love them and so does she. She gets excited when she sees new ones!

Felt-o-rama said...

What a funny post! As a kid, I did not embrace my freckles, but have grown to love them as an adult. Remeber the book Pickle Juice by Judy Blume?! I think this book also contained a 'freckle-removal' recipe :)

Erin said...

My daughter's favorite part in Pippi Longstocking is when Pippi goes into a shop where the sign in the window says "Do You Suffer From Freckles?", and Pippi tells the woman in the shop: "I don't suffer from freckles! I love them!!"

Sam said...

Wonderful. I am also 39 and have so many dark freckles that they are almost blended into one.

I remember the lemon juice trick for freckle removal and I remember sitting in the sun on the weekends as a tween, with the juice on my face. It burned, but beauty hurts, right. It didn't work, but I might have thought they faded a bit?

knofje said...

:) haha!

I'm a redheaded freckleface too, and I can relate to this story too!
My brother tried to remove his freckles with a rasor once (as a kid). It didn't work of course..
As an adult I m realy content with my freckles, I would miss them if otherwise.

Kirsten said...

What a wonderful post! Thanks for making me smile. :)

From,

Another freckled girl