# Why do fair skinned people have freckles?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-fair-skinned-people-have-freckles/112512>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 5, 2002, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-fair-skinned-people-have-freckles/112512 "2002-06-05T17:08:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mr\_Creosote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Mr\_Creosote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Creosote)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-fair-skinned-people-have-freckles/112512/1 "2002-06-05T17:08:43Z")

</div>

OK, so people native to equatorial Africa have dark skin. As you move northwards through Africa and Europe, the skin of the indiginous people gets lighter. Presumably this means that it’s unfavourable to have to produce too much melanin if it’s not needed for protection against the sun.

So why do those with the fairest skin (particularly red heads) produce dark patches of melanin (freckles)?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-fair-skinned-people-have-freckles/112512/2 "2002-06-05T17:51:22Z")

</div>

Here is the gist of it:

Fair skinned people have the least protection from UV (hence the fair skin)…so, they are more suscpetible to damage and UV influenced reactions.

Freckles are a UV influenced reaction…melanin is bunched together by reacting with UV.

Now, another thing: While UV protection is minimal in fair skinned people, and they are more susceptible to freckles, you are also more likely to notice the freckels on a fair skinned person because even mild ones will contrast with their fair skin rather well.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-fair-skinned-people-have-freckles/112512/3 "2002-06-06T12:49:51Z")

</div>

This thread has a response (as I write this) but shows 0 responses.