To tan or not to tan, that is the question

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ChasingSweatandTears
ChasingSweatandTears Posts: 504 Member
in Chit-Chat
So I'm a pretty fair skinned individual. It takes me forever to tan. So this year I decided to give up the tanning bad for good. I really dont want the skin damage anymore. I have heard lots of people say pale people shouldn't wear shorts or bathing suits. I know that's ridiculous and extreme, but my question is more general. Do you guys or girls feel like a woman is more attractive with a tan? Are my legs doomed to forever be deemed as "scary" because they are pale now?

And begin
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Replies

  • Sapporo
    Sapporo Posts: 693 Member
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    Pale skin is beautiful, show that off! :)
    Orange people scare me.
    I don't think tanning is in anymore, at least not around here thankfully. Fake n bake and look leathery, yuck. Also skip the skin cancer risk.

    Your pale legs are not scary, I guarantee you that they look much better than the tanned ones. Okay, not everyone will agree with me but a lot of us think natural is better (dark skin is for naturally dark skinned folks).
  • UrbanRunner81
    UrbanRunner81 Posts: 1,207 Member
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    I am pale and I don't care. I burn easily... I wear sunblock and I get a little color, very little.
    In the end I will have less wrinkles when I am older. :)
  • Jstewartdesigns
    Jstewartdesigns Posts: 51 Member
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    Well, I'm very fair skinned and I've had melanoma. I don't protect myself like I should. I drive a convertible and live in Arizona. I'm very pale and my BF loves tans. Oh well, too bad, so sad, although the fact that I don't have a tan doesn't make him love me any less. He is a boat person and I grew up on the lakes so when we go out, he knows that I NEED shade! Be true to yourself and don't worry about what others think. My sister was a big "tanner" growing up and she has paid with her skin. She has encouraged both of her very pale daughters to tan but thankfully, they have not. I have been so opposed to that. They will be happy with themselves as they age . . . I am!
  • ChasingSweatandTears
    ChasingSweatandTears Posts: 504 Member
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    Well, I'm very fair skinned and I've had melanoma. I don't protect myself like I should. I drive a convertible and live in Arizona. I'm very pale and my BF loves tans. Oh well, too bad, so sad, although the fact that I don't have a tan doesn't make him love me any less. He is a boat person and I grew up on the lakes so when we go out, he knows that I NEED shade! Be true to yourself and don't worry about what others think. My sister was a big "tanner" growing up and she has paid with her skin. She has encouraged both of her very pale daughters to tan but thankfully, they have not. I have been so opposed to that. They will be happy with themselves as they age . . . I am!

    Glad you beat the melanoma! :heart:
  • TinkrBelz
    TinkrBelz Posts: 888 Member
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    <<<~~~This tan makes me feel so pertiful!! I like my hair orange to make my orange skin.


    (for those that will read this after I changed my profile pic...this is a joke)

    On a serious note...some people do tan easily, so I get fussed at by in laws about my skin color...but it is olive so, even with sunblock I do get very dark. I get asked if I tan and I do not....I just have naturally dark skin.
  • SCVSarah
    SCVSarah Posts: 231 Member
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    Don't you know, pale is the new tan? I am extremely fair skinned and have no ability to tan. I've finally come to terms and I love my pale skin.
  • SofaKingRad
    SofaKingRad Posts: 1,592 Member
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    You should tan, because this is f*ckin' hot!

    8645501_600x338.jpg
  • HauteP1nk
    HauteP1nk Posts: 2,139 Member
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    I do find tanned skin more appealing personally especially on myself, but a lot of people have beautiful porcelain skin. While getting a tan every now and again (in moderation) isn't harmful if done correctly/safely I do agree that if you are using the tanning bed too much that you need to stop!


    There are alternatives such as tan in a can and professional spray tans.

    P.S. You are beautiful just the way you are though and you can show off those legs whether they are white or brown!
  • msprouse8
    msprouse8 Posts: 85 Member
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    Girl, you look great without the tan!! Personally, I go to the beach every year and try to get a base tan so I can play on the beach with my son and not get roasted!!! Even with sunblock at the beach......I usually wear 30-60 SPF...I STILL get tanned. Mostly, I just try not to get burned. I think te burning is what is the worst for your skin. My cousin had melanoma and she didn't beat it. Died at age 34. I remember she used to get burned every year. I think it's tit for tat. Some people are for it, some are very against it. It's up to you, but whatever you do, do it safely....wear some sort of sunblock or protection so that you don't get that burn that is supposed to be so bad.

    On the other hand, I do have friends who have excessively tanned and have leathery look to their skin. I don't care who ya are. Nothing attractive about that. Moderation people!!!
  • Briaboo4
    Briaboo4 Posts: 1,080 Member
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    You should tan, because this is f*ckin' hot!

    8645501_600x338.jpg

    I thought of this crazy lady when I saw this thread too! Glad you posted her picture here.
  • andieb75
    andieb75 Posts: 26
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    I have learned as I've gotten older to stay out of the sun so much, I already have sun damage. But i do like a little color, the trick is to find a self tanner that is gentle and will not turn you orange. Luckly I have some olive in my pale skin so most self tanners just bring that out and I dont look like a carrot! But at the pool I'm the girl in the big shades and sun hat!
  • CMmrsfloyd
    CMmrsfloyd Posts: 2,383 Member
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    No tanning for me. I am fair-skinned with blue eyes, freckles, and moles. And I have at least 1 family member who had melanoma or something on his face when I was young enough that I was only vaguely aware of what was going on. I stupidly tried a tanning bed a few times in high school and burned myself to a crisp. It was ridiculous. I don't tan anyway, I burn, peel, turn pink and then turn white with new added freckles. Now I wear SPF 3000 if I'm forced to be outside for more than a few minutes. There are much more exciting ways to die than from skin cancer.
  • MrsSorenson
    MrsSorenson Posts: 450 Member
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    Coming from a fellow pasty pasty woman. I am nervous about the effects, so I just tan a little here and there to make me not so scary. LOL. My husband is mixed black/white and my children are 1/4 black, so even though they are fair, my daughter has darker skin than me at her pastiest! So I tanned because I was jealous of my 5 year old, yes. LOL Sounds crazy, and maybe it is, but Everything in moderation right? Everything seems to give you some type of cancer or health problem now adays. I'm going to live my life.

    PS - The tan woman pic was hilarious! and more SCARY than pasty.
  • morgansmom02
    morgansmom02 Posts: 1,139 Member
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    You should tan, because this is f*ckin' hot!

    8645501_600x338.jpg

    THIS!!
  • PapaverSomniferum
    PapaverSomniferum Posts: 2,677 Member
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    I have been pale my whole life. my skin does NOT tan, and when i was younger i tried

    because most of my life i was ridiculed and told my skin was very unattractive. Men/boys told me i was "gross" and to "get some sun". Girls laughed at me and invited me to tanning beds (which never worked).

    I have NEVER been complimented on my skin tone by Americans.

    However, Asian girls gush over how pretty my skin is, and when I went to Mexico, men followed me around asking to touch me because they'd never seen someone so white.

    culture, man. f^ck it.

    i wear a lot of black and just pretend i'm goth. pale is healthy, anyways. i buy Korean skin products, wear a lot of sunscreen, carry an umbrella, and don't worry about trying to soak up those UVs anymore. It just made my moles/freckles worse.

    edit*

    really...who WOULDN'T want to look like this???

    17975349_7640.jpg

    i look way better than any leather couch woman
  • jmelyan23
    jmelyan23 Posts: 1,664 Member
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    I've been fair my entire life and have tried tanning several times. It NEVER works. I end up burnt, and in some cases, with water blisters too. That, paired with my family history of melanoma has kept me out of the sun in the last few years a lot more (or if I have to be out in the sun, with about 65 layers of sunblock, lol).

    If I had a choice, I think I would prefer to be tan and I know I've always been jealous of my sisters because they both have olive skin tones and tan easily. Not to mention that my husband is 1/2 Mexican and tans like crazy in the summer. But I think that women with fair skin are really pretty. Don't end up like some members of my family with leathery skin when they get older, that's just not attractive at all.
  • morgansmom02
    morgansmom02 Posts: 1,139 Member
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    Please watch this. http://www.tmz.com/2012/05/03/tanning-mom-patricia-krentcil-video/
  • jodycoady
    jodycoady Posts: 598 Member
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    I'm a redhead, and I have the freckles too...I'd suggest a few 15-min sessions in the lie-down, or a few 8-minute in the stand-up. That's enough. those tanning beds wrinkle you! (A little is not bad though) I also like the gradual tanners, the Jergens one smells so nice and it's half the price of all the others.
  • jonnyman41
    jonnyman41 Posts: 1,032 Member
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    I do enjoy a little bit of colour to my skin in the summer as I tend to look quite ill in the winter however I get this naturally through being out walking, enjoying the fresh air and using high factor sun lotion at the same time. I have not burned my skin, deliberately or by accident since I was a silly teenager and I am never that dark anyway since I really could not be bothered with sitting out all day in the sun or using a sun bed (which really ages you anyway)

    I certainly don't want to waste my summer getaways lying round a pool for days on end either but do like the healthy glow I tend to just about get!
  • Charloo1990
    Charloo1990 Posts: 619 Member
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    I've been sun bed free for well over a year now, i used to hammer them but my attitude towards them all wrong and im so glad i finally woke up and smelt the fake tan so to speak ha.
    When people used to go on at me for the bad habbit and say that i could get skin cancer ect, i used to shrug it off with "I could get run over by a bus, theres risks with everything". But then i realised, why put myself at greater risk. Plus i know a few people who are in their 30s/40s who have hammered sunbeds and its seriously aged them. I don't want premature ageing or any risk of skin cancer.
    So i've turned to fake tan and although it can be a pain in the *kitten* with having to exfoliate ect, i'd never look back. I may look a little "tango'd" from time to time but at least i know im tanning the healthy way.

    I do love having a tan though, i feel instantly more toned looking once i've freshly tanned after my shower :)

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