When you get any form of micropigmentation, your results will look quite dark for a few days after the treatment. Up to a week in some cases! Understandably, this triggers panic!
But panic mode seems to be the most intense with permanent freckles; they can look quite scary if you’re not expecting them to turn out so dark! You might worry that your healed freckle tattoos will look like this forever, or seek out removal options immediately.
Rest assured – this is just temporary. Let’s see what the freckle tattoo healing process is like, and what they look like when they’re finally healed.
Do Healed Freckle Tattoos Lighten Up?
Yes, they do.
At the end of their healing process, your permanent freckles will look 40-60% lighter than they look right after the treatment.
Faux freckles are done by opening up the skin with either a PMU machine or a handheld needle (the so-called stick&poke method), and then depositing pigments into the punctures. During that process, the pigments come into contact with air and oxidize. As a result, they look dark at first.
There’s also the fact that your skin secretes lymph and some blood when opened up, and when these clot on the surface of the skin, they make freckles look even darker.
Image source: Instagram @btweddle
When?
You can consider your freckles fully healed and having attained their final color around 6 weeks after application.
When skin grows over the pigments and those scabs peel away, your freckles will look much lighter. This should happen around day 7 after your treatment.
What’s crucial is you don’t touch your freckles any more than necessary for proper cleaning, and you don’t pick at the scabs and the peeling skin – you’ll pull out too much of the pigment and you risk damaging your skin.
After the peeling ends, you may feel like your freckles are now too light! But this too is temporary. The scabs leave new, milky white skin behind, and it takes some time for it to blend with its surroundings.
Over the next 2-3 weeks, the pigments will darken back up a bit, but they’ll never be as dark as they were right after application.
Image source: Instagram @kellymclean.pmu
What Will They Look Like Healed?
Lighter, nicely blended into the skin, and very natural! Provided you found an artist with a great technique and they chose the right shade for your skin tone, of course.
As we’ve already mentioned, pigments implemented into the skin lighten up 40-60% during their healing process.
All micropigmentation is done bearing in mind the fact that the skin doesn’t retain all of the pigment implemented. A portion of it gets taken away with the scabs, so your artist will intentionally make them dark at first, knowing they’ll fade to a point and give you the most natural shade possible.
If you feel like your healed freckle tattoos look too light, you should go back in for a touch up. Your artist will go over them once again, adding more pigment. Afterwards, your freckles will go the full circle – too dark, too light, and finally perfect!
Image source: Instagram @browcasso
And How Long Will They Last?
For most clients, freckle tattoos last between 1 and 3 years.
You probably know this already, but it doesn’t hurt to repeat the fact that freckle tattoos are usually done with pigments, and not tattoo inks, which means the body will break down the foreign substance and gradually fade the freckles.
Some artists still do freckle tattoos with tattoo inks, though, and while these will also fade due to facial skin exfoliation, they will last longer.
It’s important to note that, if you get the treatment done with tattoo inks, your healed freckle tattoos won’t lighten as significantly as those done with pigments, although some fading will happen anyway.
You can find more information on the longevity of permanent freckles in our guide.
NOTE
Although they’re not forever, tattoo freckles last a relatively long time, so you should be 100% sure you’ll want them months or years down the line. If you’re not sure, you can try more temporary options first. Namely, henna freckles!
Henna is a natural dye that’s been used for temporary tattoos for centuries. Henna freckles will last you for a couple of weeks, and you can test-drive the look of faux freckles before you get them tattooed on.
If you’re interested, we have a whole guide through henna freckles. Hint – you can do them yourself!
Image source: Instagram @btweddle
To Prolong Your Healed Freckle Tattoos, Do This:
Wear SPF! Sunlight in general fades colors, and since your face is exposed to it more or less whenever you’re outside, you should protect your faux freckles. Wearing SPF daily won’t only prolong the lifespan of your freckle tattoos, but it’ll also provide benefits for your skin overall. Wearing SPF regularly slows down the aging process and prevents hyperpigmentation.
Just make sure to find a non-clogging formula!
Cover image source: Freepik
