Pale Skin - Is it really that bad?

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Replies

  • marketdimlylit
    marketdimlylit Posts: 1,601 Member
    I never tan, I'm 100% redhead and just burn when in the sun :grumble:
    I have like a love/hate relationship with being so pale.

    ...when everyone that's supposedly attractive is tanned (or pays for one) ..
    it leaves you thinking well.. am I some kind of alien o_O
  • Martucha123
    Martucha123 Posts: 1,089 Member
    pale and proud :)
    for a long time I was ashamed and tanning even during the winter
    but nomore
  • Natashaa1991
    Natashaa1991 Posts: 866 Member
    some people are gorgeous with pale skin... especially gingers!
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
    I'm true strawberry blonde with freckles and practically blue skin, and a burn time of about 5 minutes even here in the UK :laugh:

    I use fake tan on my legs or people get snow-blind.
  • Prestissima
    Prestissima Posts: 66 Member
    I'm pale with dark eyes& hair and proud with it. It's my own skin, I don't want to see it tanned.)
  • lizzynewm
    lizzynewm Posts: 199 Member
    i live in a beach town in orange county of southern california, and being as pale as i am definitely makes me sometimes stand out amongst so many pretty tan people, especially when i walk around in a dress and blind everyone with the bright white of my legs. but you know, the dermatologists applaud my "efforts" (ha!) at staying pale, my skin is soft, and i'll wrinkle less when i'm older. so i'm happy! i think pale is gorgeous and i've never understood the appeal of vigorous tanning when you're not naturally tan.

    the only real bummer i can think of about being so pale is you can actually see the hair follicles under my skin on my legs even when i shave.. it's like i'm pale to the point of tissue-papery translucency, and having such light skin makes body hair look a lot darker. but that's not a big deal and it's certainly not enough to make me want to go lay out in the sun for hours on end!
  • Nationalluv
    Nationalluv Posts: 23 Member
    I say LOVE skin your in. My Grandma is Albino almost no pigmentation and she is the most lovely ladies inside and out. Your exactly right everyone don't look good with darker skin. It's about loving yourself and embracing your Natural Beauty. Beauty comes in all skin complexions facial features and hair types. I have a sister lighter than light with blonde hair and blue eyes she is gorgeous and I also have a sister Dark chocolate skin brown eyes and she is just as gorgeous.
  • NocturnalGirl
    NocturnalGirl Posts: 1,762
    No, be happy in your own skin because that's what people look best in. A dark person isn't going to look better lighter and vice versa in most cases. Everyone was born in the skin colour that suits them best in my opinion.
  • Whitezombiegirl
    Whitezombiegirl Posts: 1,042 Member
    I'm NW10 in MAC terms and I'm happy to be pale. I use cosmetics to enhance the paleness too. I can see my blue veins all over my chest and I think its pretty. My SO was saying just last night that he used to think that was unattractive- till he met me. (ahhh, he's sweet!). I don't tend to get hate for being pale (I have in the past though) - older gentlemen tend to prefer it, plus they appreciate my vintage style and the trendy tanned girls at work know my opinion on my aesthetic by now, and accept it.
  • samcee
    samcee Posts: 307
    Asians are obsessed with pale skin. They even have skin whitener cosmetics! I personally prefer tan on me or maybe I'm just feeling a tad rebellious and going against the 'norm' lol. If you're naturally pale, than you're pale and vice versa. Why does it even matter? There are better things to fret about than skin color.
  • fitbabe49
    fitbabe49 Posts: 19 Member
    I'm nearly 50 years old, never tanned, because I burned once very badly.
    Even though I often wished for that golden, sunkissed skin, I never got it and faking it wasn't good either.
    I came to love my white skin.
    But now, being older I reap the benefits from not tanning: Hardly any wrinkles and lovely, fresh skin for my age. Okay, I look after it quite well, which is important. But: NO Botox for me, thank you very much!!
  • Blayzn10Tiffers
    Blayzn10Tiffers Posts: 181
    I grew up in Nor Cal and was always around tan people but I am almost see thru I am so pale. lol.. my legs are usually the same shade as my socks LOL... I say it just brings out the beautiful colors of my tats better :)
  • live2eagle18
    live2eagle18 Posts: 4
    pale is beautiful !!!
  • justgowithit17
    justgowithit17 Posts: 1,392 Member
    i'm pale and i love my skin! i love the contrast between my pale skin, dark brown hair, and green eyes! i think it makes me unique! sadly, people would always make fun of me for wearing shorts. but now i could honestly care less about what some superficial douche thinks about my skin. i live in a very warm place, you better believe i'll be wearing shorts, and if you don't like the view, then you don't have to look :wink:

    anyways, if you have pale skin, rock what you got!
  • maggs155
    maggs155 Posts: 258
    I think a tan looks hot but i think its safer and smarter to stay out of tanning beds when u get older ur skin gets nasty looking.
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
    I happen to like pale skin.
  • SwimFan1981
    SwimFan1981 Posts: 1,430 Member
    I have pale skin, I live in Asia and the amount of skin whitening product here is mind boggling!
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    I would just like to throw this out there - I get a lot of hate for being pale. A /lot/ of people say "Oh, you look so pretty, but a tan would make you look amazing." No, it won't. I'm from Scottish and Norwegian blood, with red hair, and I like being pale. Stop telling me to tan. I wouldn't tell someone from Hispanic or African, or even 'darker' places in Europe like Italy and Greece, to bleach their skin to get paler, so why tell me to tan? I, personally, find pale skin beautiful on /me/. That doesn't mean I'm racist. It doesn't mean I don't find tanner skin ugly. I just don't think it looks the best on me.

    So please, those of you who make fun of people who are paler than normal, don't tell us we look 'unhealthy' or that we should 'get some sun' or, even in some cases, that we're 'ugly'. Just because it isn't the standard of beauty in most places in the Americas and Europe, doesn't mean that we are any less attractive than you are.

    Anyway, where do people of MFP fall on the spectrum? Do you think being pale truly is bad, or just different?

    Couldn't agree with you more!!!! I'm not ginger, but my mum, brother and daughter are, and so my skin is really pale, I get freckles from prolonged sun exposure, but I have brown hair. In the past I used to not like it, thinking I was pasty and ill looking and all the rest...........

    .............well then I went to live in the Arabian Gulf area and teach English as a foreign language. Several of my students, who had the most beautiful olive skin, told me how beautiful my skin colour was and how much they wanted skin like mine. I told them British women wanted skin like theirs and how beautiful olive skin is.

    Women in Arab countries and other parts of Asia buy skin lightening creams with dangerous chemicals in them (i.e. banned in western countries kind of dangerous), meanwhile women in the west have sun beds, go sun bathing and have fake tan. (yeah unfortunatly what you said "you wouldn't tell (add ethnic group here) to lighten their skins" - well there are ads on the TV here all the time that tell Asian women to do just that....)

    That made me wake up and appreciate my skin colour for what it is. All skin colours are beautiful.
  • leantool
    leantool Posts: 365 Member
    snow white didn't tan and did find her prince charming!haters will hate!confirming to prevailing fads may or may not be your cup of tea, that's your choice....
    btw here in India all the cosmetic industry is directed at whitening/lightening/fairness .... etc..so you are not alone......
  • MissMdM
    MissMdM Posts: 124 Member
    If someone doesn't like my skin they don't like my skin )shrugs) not my problem
  • smarston2010
    smarston2010 Posts: 240
    Being from the east cost I hate the fake tan, Jersey shore thing. On the other hand,I work outside and don't use sunblock. I am tan for half the year. Pale girls are always hot. The fake tan is not.
  • SkyPixie
    SkyPixie Posts: 224
    Getting called snow white by my family I totally relate...I'm fine with my pale skin - I love it. Plus I would just turn into a blob of freckle anyways.

    Everyone's always like "but your hair is almost black? shouldn't you be tanner?" It's not just blondes and redheads who are pale. Everyone's BEAUTIFUL.

    My family used to call me Lilly because I'm so pale ! But my family is Irish and I have classic Celtic coloring very dark hair and very white skin and I love it :bigsmile:

    Sun doesn't tan me it turns me a painful purple so its SPF50+ all the way .. on the upside unlike my tanned friends I don't look my age :happy:
  • rob32768
    rob32768 Posts: 505
    Pale is a-ok in my book.
  • Minerva624
    Minerva624 Posts: 577 Member
    Pale skin is beautiful.
  • FinallyDoingMe
    FinallyDoingMe Posts: 84 Member
    I'm a European mutt (german, norwegian, polish, romanian) and I burn before I tan...if I get lucky and tan at all! I am happy with my skin tone and as long as you're happy with yours...forget what others say
  • Drussander
    Drussander Posts: 266 Member
    Nothing wrong with some creamy, milk white pale skin! Unless you sleep during the day and feed on the humans at night. Then you have a problem.
  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,474 Member
    yep, its bad,,, go sit in the sun.
  • castadiva
    castadiva Posts: 2,016 Member
    Pale blonde, of Scottish/Norwegian extraction too. Tan? What tan?! I tried once, as a teenager, and ended up with third degree burns on the backs of my knees. Never again! I occasionally go a faint shade of biscuit if I'm in a mediterranean country in summer for a month or two, but otherwise, not a thing penetrates my SPF 50 (face) and 30 (body), hats and mid-day sun cover-ups. My sister, rather annoyingly, inherited an olive skintone from a distant French ancestor (I assume!), and goes a glorious golden shade as soon as she goes into the sun, even with sunblock on.

    No point in fighting your natural predisposition in the pursuit of fashion - all anyone achieves, whether it's western girls trying to tan, or eastern girls trying to lighten their skin, is damage and exposure to things that might hasten our demise. I can burn in a few minutes of sun in Central Scotland (quite a feat!), so I'll be sticking to a little gradual-tanning lotion to counteract the blue-white of my just-post-winter skin, and enjoy the fact that my skin in my 80's will probably be infinitely better than that of the sun-worshippers.
  • HMToomey
    HMToomey Posts: 276
    I love your dress. I'm a red head too and I couldn't agree more!
  • tubbyelmo
    tubbyelmo Posts: 415 Member
    I'm a Scottish redhead, <<< the pic today was taken my wedding day, I bowed to pressure back then and got a St Tropez tan, every time I look at the photos I laugh because I'm NEVER that colour, I think I look foreign! I'm happy being pale, even though the dazzle off my white legs could cause blindness. People have a joke with me about it but I just shrug, the Scottish weather doesn't allow for many days wearing shorts anyway!

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