Pale Skin - Is it really that bad?

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Replies

  • Sugarhoneyicedtea
    Sugarhoneyicedtea Posts: 76
    Ivory skin here. You know, pale with that faint yellow hint? Yup. Medium-brown to dark-brown hair. Sure, I turn red as a beet when I exercise at all, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. When my face isn't all red from running around like a mad woman, or exercising, my skin is creamy and I love it. I'm mostly Swedish, but there's some Native American back a few generations. My mom had the beige skin tone, along with the hair and eyes. I ended up an odd little mix of everything, I guess.

    Also, I've always LOVED red heads. I loved dying my hair red!

    You can tell from my user name that I like being pale. :)
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
    Meh... I tan fairly well... when I actually do... I haven't sat in the sun long enough in ages to do it though... but I believe that I have some mediterranean blood in me... along with the brown haired, blue eyed Anglo Saxon blood (be it from Germany, Sweden or Britian)... I tan even when I'm not trying to tan...

    Personally though, I feel that when people start pointing out someone elses "flaws" (well what THEY see as flaws)... it's just reflective of how they feel about themselves... so if you love your "pale" skin, then by all means embrace it and own it.
  • fromaquasar
    fromaquasar Posts: 811 Member
    I have Irish colouring, Dark hair, blue eyes, pale skin. I once had a boyfriend tell me I would be hotter with a tan (he wasn't my boyfriend much longer!) but other than that most people like it, some of my friends call me the living doll but in a nice way, not a creepy one haha
  • Strawberrypop
    Strawberrypop Posts: 33 Member
    I hear ya! I actually am from Scotland - red hair, pale skin. Used to hate it when I was wee, but really that was just cos kids could be cruel and tease me for my paleness/"ginger" hair. Now? I love my paleness! My hair is a lovely shade of auburney brown and I wouldn't change it for anything! :)

    I don't suit a tan, so why would I fake it like I'm expected to when I have my legs out? IT LOOKS STUPID. ;)
  • starboardzor
    starboardzor Posts: 312
    I'm a ginger!! I've been hearing that BS for years! I tell them I can't. Because I really can't tan. My skin won't!

    And spray on tan sounds like a disaster so no thanks. And anyway there's a fetish out there for pale girls with red head. We are a unique breed.
  • kim_mc
    kim_mc Posts: 321 Member
    Pale as you can get right here!!! I'm self conscious about it but as I've gotten older I've realized it's not going to change.
    Tanning = burn. Spray tan = orange. Not an option for me.

    I'm so sick of hearing people comment on it. "Don't you go tanning or stay out in the sun??" Geee I never thought of that!!! I also hate hearing- "Are you feeling ok??? You look really pale!!!" I am ALWAYS really pale! Feeling just fine thanks!!!
  • FuneralDiner
    FuneralDiner Posts: 438 Member
    Nope. I love being pale and in fact I wear a very light foundation to make myself look even paler. :P

    I've never been given any grief for it. I actually get lots of compliments and questions about how to get really pale. It's not difficult. Just stay out the sun, lol.
  • kansasbelle
    kansasbelle Posts: 264 Member
    <
    see how pink I am and where 50 sunscreen everyday. I am Scottish, Welsh, and French. There is not pray for dark skin in my life. I have accepted it. I was called Casper in highschool. But you know what? Do I look 41? Nope, not even close. That's cause of this pretty white skin. Learn to love it.

    :bigsmile:
  • Pspetal
    Pspetal Posts: 426 Member
    I have the opposite problem. I'm brown and I hate being told to use fairness creams and bleach my skin. I don't give flying f*** about my skin colour but it seems to bother a lot of people that I don't use fairness creams.
  • rammsteinsoldier
    rammsteinsoldier Posts: 1,552 Member
    I embrace my pale skin. I call it porcelin skin by the way. I try not to tan.
  • marycmeadows
    marycmeadows Posts: 1,691 Member
    haha... I'm pale too, redhead, freckles! the whole 9. (both my parents and my brother are too!) I tan a little bit in the summer but usually burn (always wear sunscreen) just from being outside! But I've come to accept my pale skin. People that sunbathe a lot and tan in the beds -- ugh.not a good look. Unfortunately they think they look awesome.
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    I get picked on for being on the pale side, MOSTLY BY MY OWN MOTHER! UGH! She got her mother's darker Italian skin and I didn't. She constantly says stuff like, "get a tan" or "you look like a ghost!" Or she puts her arm up next to mine and shows it to everyone. I don't mind if/when I get a little bit of color if I am outside a lot in the summertime, but I have never made it a point to try to tan to make anyone else happy. My skin will be awesome when I am old and I am happy about that!
  • galaxiegal
    galaxiegal Posts: 90
    I love being pale, and I love my freckles too!!! I get that a lot myself, but I just wouldn't look right tan :laugh:
  • annahiven
    annahiven Posts: 177 Member
    I am pale. I don't want to tan. I don't want to get wrinkles and cancer, dammit.

    But I guess there is a difference between being that Victorian pretty-pale, and looking like you're sick. If you get comments that you are too pale, perhaps what people mean is that you don't look healthy?
  • beccag28
    beccag28 Posts: 43 Member
    Thank you for speaking up on this! My whole life I've had "Oh... you're so pale" "You look like a ghost" "Why do you put sunscreen on, you wont tan that way" etc etc

    I hate it, I honestly love being pale. It's a bit unique and it's beautiful.
  • My1985Freckles
    My1985Freckles Posts: 1,039 Member
    Pale red heads unite!!

    Woohoo!!!! Pale Here! Auburn hair!
  • em435
    em435 Posts: 210 Member
    I''ve never understood why people feel the need to tan but each to their own I guess..

    I just enjoy the looks I get when I walk into a tanning salon to ask for a top up! ..almost makes me sad how many of the fake bake attendants actually take me seriously..
  • alexbusnello
    alexbusnello Posts: 1,010 Member
    I have naturally brown hair but dye it black. I'm Scottish, Irish, Italian backgrounds but I'm Canadian. Im very pale, I can't tan, I only burn. I'm fine with that because pale is more beautiful and healthy in my opinion.
  • Kityngirl
    Kityngirl Posts: 14,304 Member
    I come from a long line of redheads....I just inherited black hair with the super pale, freckle laden skin.

    I don't mind at all. I've been told I kind of glow in a ghostly way in pale moonlight. oooOOOOOoooo. :laugh:
  • guapogringo
    guapogringo Posts: 201
    I take baths in SPF50.
  • Sasssy69
    Sasssy69 Posts: 547 Member
    I have very fair skin and I'm not a red head, but I also get a lot of comments about how "white" I am. People are stupid - I've been told that people need to wear their sun glasses around me because I'm so "bright." Someone once asked me if I were battery operated because I'm so fair.

    When I tell people, "I don't tan. I burn, peel, and then turn white again," their response is, "You're not tanning right." Huh?

    Now I just say, "You may think my white skin looks ridiculous. But you know what's ridiculous? Melanoma."

    I'm 39 years old, and I don't look it. I protect my face and skin with sunscreen. And I never "lay out" unprotected - never have. Now, at the age I am, I am seeing that pay off. Both my daughters are fair skinned, and their step-mother told them they "needed to be tan." I told them they needed to NOT have skin cancer and that they were beautiful just the way they are (They are 9 and 7 years old).

    Like I said - People are stupid.
  • Rosa1213
    Rosa1213 Posts: 456 Member
    I :heart: ALL THE SKINS!!!

    I love to draw and paint people, and I find them quite lovely, so I always tell people "Your skin is so fair, it's so beautiful!"
    Or "Your skin is so dark and beautiful!"

    I'm a huge creep :)

    Edited to add: My mother does a similar thing to be, but because I'm the brownest person in my family. She calls me and my boyfriend "cafe con leche" (coffee with milk) because he's really fair-skinned.
  • LovingLisa2012
    LovingLisa2012 Posts: 775 Member
    I just tell them I'm proud to be a white girl! That usually stops them.
    my niece (19) tries to get me tan and even made the comment that she thought her child was white till, she saw her next to me ..

    I told her I wont risk getting cancer (to many family members died of cancer) ..so she says to get a fake tan (spray on or lotion)

    I finally said Tiffany, I am proud to be white .. she finally shut up (she has darker skin tone*and is often mistaken for being spanish/mexican and her daughter is part Mexican , so she also is darker
  • haylz247
    haylz247 Posts: 435
    i'm pale and don't tan at all. i don't mind but i hate the few freckles on my face and the ones
    pretty much covering my arms! i have thought about spray tans but i can't be bothered with the streaking!
  • porcelain_doll
    porcelain_doll Posts: 1,005 Member
    It took me a long time to not feel extremely self-conscious every summer because of how fair I am. I honestly believed for a long time that my paleness was deterring males from being attracted to me. I'll admit, every once in a while I will still feel that way. But now that I am 32 and don't have a single wrinkle on my face and have clear, shiny, smooth skin all over my body, I am slowly falling in love with it. I don't mean to brag, but I don't even have to put on body lotion for my skin to feel soft except for a few rough spots on the backs of my upper arms. When I see light reflecting off my shoulders, I wouldn't ever trade that in for a tan. Ok, yeah.... I'm bragging a little now. :laugh:

    <
    In fact, I even chose my username with my paleness in mind. :wink:
  • southofmadness
    southofmadness Posts: 316 Member
    Nothing is hotter than pale skin. Delicious!
  • SandraD89
    SandraD89 Posts: 809
    we gingers do NOT look good with a tan. sun can kill us if we use it long enough to "tan" - and by that i mean our freckles merge. and fake-and-bake looks TERRIBLE with our hair/eyes. we gingers are meant to be a pale ppl.
    This I actually tanned this year and hate it, it makes me feel like i look older then i am. I also get white spots when i do tan which looks horrible too. I am irish and german btw. I use tons of Sunscreen too like SPF 50 or more.
  • _VoV
    _VoV Posts: 1,494 Member
    I have always had very pale skin, despite having dark hair and eyes. Even when I was younger and people were using reflective mirrors and buttering themselves with iodine and baby oil for deep tans, I embraced the whiteness of my skin. I don't know why I felt this way at a time when only certain looks were popular, but I have always enjoyed diverse good looks, including a wide range of coloring combinations.

    Ginger with porcelain white skin sounds lovely! Take good care of that beautiful skin, and don't risk sun damage. Who needs that?
  • Cindy311
    Cindy311 Posts: 780 Member
    I am pale and I know that some people like to point that out. I'd like to point out to them my Dad who has had several places removed from his face and arms because he was constantly out in the sun without any protection (and my coloring is exactly like his). Everyone has a different idea of beauty so I don't mind if they don't like my pale skin, lol!
  • ClareWantsProgress
    ClareWantsProgress Posts: 173 Member
    I'm extremely pale - always have been called Snow White due to my dark hair, red lips, and white skin. I agree with the OP that I get lots of grief over it! I'm like, "Hey, I'm Irish. Deal with it."

    I'd much rather be healthy and pale than tan and cancerous.

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