Pale Skin - Is it really that bad?

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Replies

  • TLCEsq
    TLCEsq Posts: 413 Member
    It's probably already been said (and I didn't read through all five pages of comments), but I look at being super tanned as unhealthy because a tan is essentially your body's defense mechanism against the sun. Olive-skinned people who are naturally darker are fine but our society is way too obsessed with tanning and all that. I don't get it. I am fair-skinned myself and I embrace it!
  • nofatpants4me
    nofatpants4me Posts: 13
    Well! Finally found a place where I fit in. Thank you all!
  • Missmissy0003
    Missmissy0003 Posts: 250 Member
    Trust me, do not tan - especially if you don't want to. I'm 42 now, and I think I'm pretty lucky that my skin is in the condition it's in at this age. I did tan and burn some growing up, but it was so much work and then it would just fade a few days later. It wasn't worth it then I discovered, and it sure isn't with it now that I'm older and wiser. There are still people my age (especially here in Mississippi) that still go to tanning beds. I just can't relate to it at all but I don't feel pressured like I should either. When I lived in New Orleans in my 20s and 30s, I don't know one person who tanned. I think a lot of it has to do with age, socioeconomic background, culture and education.

    I really Protect my face and neck from the sun. It gets spf 50, a hat and sunglasses. As for the rest of me, if I'm going out in the boat I'll use SPF 8 or 15 all over. I don't use anything for jogging or everyday for my body.
  • porcelain_doll
    porcelain_doll Posts: 1,005 Member
    Do a google image search on "Hollie Cavanagh." That girl is pale and blonde, and very beautiful. She is also a star. It was when my friend showed me pictures of her that I finally started truly embracing my color (or lack thereof).
  • CarleyLovesPets
    CarleyLovesPets Posts: 410 Member
    I think being pale is very feminine.
    I like tanned bodies too, don't get me wrong.
    Tanned bodies can look really sexy.

    But I do find pale women to have that...
    Beautiful and feminine china doll look and it's very pretty!
  • LizRobot
    LizRobot Posts: 19
    I am very pale and have caught flack for it my entire life. I am of Swedish/German descent and I am just very white. I happen to think it suits me well. :)
    In addition, I just can't tan, even if I wanted to. And I don't want to.
  • Rosa1213
    Rosa1213 Posts: 456 Member
    I don't know why someone would tell you that your skin tone is not ok.

    Skin is so pretty!
  • Krizzo87
    Krizzo87 Posts: 14,186 Member
    Nothing is hotter than pale skin. Delicious!

    I knew I liked you!! I'm as pale as it gets!! :wink:
  • Pspetal
    Pspetal Posts: 426 Member
    Its funny how these things work. All my pale friends are always trying to look tanned and all my brown friends are always trying to cover themselves up in the sun so they don't tan and turn darker. :-|
  • abnerner
    abnerner Posts: 452 Member
    I can't believe people would say that to you...okay, maybe I can cause people are rude but....

    whatever makes you feel comfortable, stick with it. me? I prefer to have a little tan, but i am a pasty white girl, i have to take what i can get.
  • deaddivya
    deaddivya Posts: 102
    I'm pretty satisfied with my pale complexion and like my skin that way. Sure, some people have compared me to a dead body or a vampire, but those just are jerks. I would never go for a tan, definitely don't want to increase my risk of getting skin cancer. Laying outside in summer is enough to get my skin a little darker than it usually is (but still way paler than everyone I know, lol).
  • kattbyrd67
    kattbyrd67 Posts: 39 Member
    I tried tanning a couple of times in my teenage years, and I learned two things:

    1) It's boring.
    2) It doesn't work for me. I burn and peel...and I'm still white underneath.

    I've learned to love my pale skin. And, now that I'm in my forties, I really appreciate it more because whenever I run into people I went to school with...you know the girls who couldn't stay out of the tanning bed?...I look a good 10 years younger than they do.

    So there! ;)
  • Pink_Tina
    Pink_Tina Posts: 164
    It's ok. I'm the palest Hawaiian I know. My entire family makes fun of me, because I look like I hiss at the sun. :laugh:
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    I greatly prefer pale skin. The paler, the better. My wife is super pale and I love it.

    Personally I see women tanning and I'm like "WHY ARE YOU RUINING YOUR LOOKS!??!"
  • Libby81
    Libby81 Posts: 734 Member
    Oh yes, I am as pale as a frozen chicken, always have been, always will be. I like being pale, although on odd occasions I get the urge to lightly fake tan. Same as I do to change my hair colour. I have had all hair colours from black, purple black, blonde and now copper and pale looks good with all. I don't let it stop me wearing bright colours at all if I fancy.

    We all have to be individual right? what fun would it be if we were all the same
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
    Anyway, where do people of MFP fall on the spectrum? Do you think being pale truly is bad, or just different?

    Pale-skinned redheads are, to me, drop-dead sexy.

    People who are confident in the way they look are even sexier.

    If you're pale-skinned and love the way you look, well, I'm married, but I'm sure there are other guys who feel the way I do.
  • beccarockslife
    beccarockslife Posts: 816 Member
    I embrace my pale and interesting lol. I'm brunette and english rose type skin, very pale, rarely tan, burn easy and freckles.
  • eduardo_d
    eduardo_d Posts: 85 Member
    Pale is beautiful. And healthy. Always have had a thing for pale women.
  • AllisonMart
    AllisonMart Posts: 155 Member
    I couldn't tan if I wanted to, I go straight from pale to lobster red to peeling to pale again. I once burned just walking to the mailbox and back to the house. The sun is not my friend. I learned a long time ago to embrace my paleness. So my friends call me vampire, and I don't care. I do feel a bit more self-concious this year as I'm wearing shorts and skirts for the first time in ages, but self-tanners look orange on me so I have to just not care.

    Besides, it's only recently that tans became fashionable. It used to be that a tan meant you were poor and had to work out in the sun. I tell my friends I'm trying to bring back the Victorian aesthetic of porcelain skin. So far no one else is jumping on that bandwagon. But I'll be the one laughing when they all have skin cancer and I don't.
  • blytheandbonnie
    blytheandbonnie Posts: 3,275 Member
    A lady once told me I looked like a "porcelain angel". I've felt pretty good about my fair skin ever since. :blushing: Not that I haven't tried tanning in my life. I've got the freckles and age spots now to prove it. Wish I had embraced it more whole-heartedly. Live and learn.
  • Rosa1213
    Rosa1213 Posts: 456 Member
    I greatly prefer pale skin. The paler, the better. My wife is super pale and I love it.

    Personally I see women tanning and I'm like "WHY ARE YOU RUINING YOUR LOOKS!??!"

    Aw. I was born this brown. I can't help it ! :sad:
  • Sarahbara76
    Sarahbara76 Posts: 601 Member
    I am pale and my mother is Italian .. but my daddy is French and Irish ..I am pale with reddish brown hair. :drinker:
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
    There was one girl in my highschool I had a huge crush on. She was crazy pale, blonde, tall, etc.

    After one summer break, she came back to school with a heavy tan. I must say, she looked disgusting with the tan. It didn't match her eyes or hair at all. It looked so unnatural.

    I don't get why girls want to have such dark, tanned skin. They look better pale (unless they're naturally darker).
  • b_fit4life
    b_fit4life Posts: 105 Member
    Nope, there's nothing wrong with being pale! I used to tan as often as I could because I thought a tan made me look more "fit". I nearly never wore sun block and figured it was OK because I would get red and then the burn would fade to tan. I rarely even peeled. However I'm a -bit- older and wiser now and have decided whole heartedly that, while I still love the warmth of the sun on my skin, it's not worth exposing myself to it's harmful UV rays. I'd rather live a full life as a pale white girl who flushes red a lot, than bake in the sun or tanning bed and risk many forms of skin cancer that could prematurely end my life. So now I have a niece who thinks she needs to be tan...the cycle never ends!
  • darlilama
    darlilama Posts: 794 Member
    I'm a brunette with pale skin. My dermatologist looked at me with a "that's kind of strange" look in her eyes and told me "you really have the complexion of a red-head". I hated it when I was younger, but I'm all good with it now. I DOregret not being more knowledgable/regular in my use of sunscreen. When I was a kid, though, it wasn't really something anyone thought about one way or the other. Now, I have emerging sun spots... which are definitely not "cute" like freckles might be. :(
  • RedRunner82
    RedRunner82 Posts: 29
    Pale freckled redhead here! French, Irish, German, and Swiss descent. I've never successfully been "tan", even when lifeguarding for five summers; I just get less white. My (white-as-a-ghost, black-haired) father had a basal cell carcinoma removed from his hairline a few years back so I'm trying to be even more diligent with the sunscreen and hats. Tricky thing with skin cancer is that it shows up 20+ years down the line, so there are no immediate negative consequences to too much sun exposure. If a friend says they're going tanning, I warn them one time that it's dumb/irresponsible/a waste of money/basically like smoking cigarettes/etc. but I try not to harp on them too much. If they don't know all that already, they've got bigger problems!

    One big plus: my husband is color blind so he appreciates the contrast between my hair and my skin, even though he can't tell my hair is red!
  • brendaschmitt1
    brendaschmitt1 Posts: 218
    You know that movie star from True Blood: Deborah Ann Woll. She is pale and very beautiful. I tried to post her pic but was not able to.
  • littlebuddy84
    littlebuddy84 Posts: 995 Member
    I'm irish and very pale but i don't see anything wrong with it. You wouldn't catch me using a sunbed or anything.
  • demery12371
    demery12371 Posts: 253 Member
    Pale red heads unite!!

    Amen :) Add my freckles to that and there you have it :)
    Plus I look at it like this... My non tan skin will be nice and smooth when I'm older rather than rough and leathery.. :)
  • Meggles63
    Meggles63 Posts: 916 Member
    I have fair skin, but live in Florida. I LOVE my tan! I work to make sure it gets nice and bronzed in the summer. I'm also 48 years old, and don't look wrinkly at all. To each his own, I always say!

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