Tanning??

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michellewong699
michellewong699 Posts: 98 Member
in Chit-Chat
I live in California and I always wondered why most of the young men and women here favor tanned skin so much to the point that they will deliberately lay in the sun for hours. I come from Hong Kong, and in most asian cultures, it is favorable to have pearly white skin. I tan very easily, so when I was younger and I got darker from tennis practice, my family will tell me that I looked "ugly" and asked me why sunscreen never helped me.

Then I have my non-asian girlfriends who tell me all the time how they wanted my skin because it is hard for them to get color, whereas I can be out in the sun for 10 minutes (without sunscreen) and become a shade darker.

I have always wondered this and it seems that no one takes me seriously when I ask this question, hence I can never get a straight answer. Maybe I live under a rock or something, but I wish someone would just tell me already! If you go tanning, why do you do it? What is the appeal with tanned skin?
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Replies

  • _DaniD_
    _DaniD_ Posts: 2,186 Member
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    The pearly white skin look is hard to pull off. I tan because it comes easily for me and it suites me.
  • JaneDough_
    JaneDough_ Posts: 301 Member
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    I'm tan because I was born that way and I'm awesome.
  • catrinaHwechanged
    catrinaHwechanged Posts: 4,907 Member
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    Culture....doesn't everyone want what they don't have?
  • thecanface
    thecanface Posts: 1,180 Member
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    I was born tan, so in order not to look greyish in the winter (i don't literally look grey, i just don't feel like i look healthy), i tan to look a little more bronze.
  • EmilyOfTheSun
    EmilyOfTheSun Posts: 1,548 Member
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    I'm a natural red head with pale skin, so I think I'd look really weird with a tan. I don't care enough to pay to go tanning and find out. I don't tan in the summer....I just freckle. Maybe one day I'll get so many freckles that they'll just merge into one big freckle and it'll look like a tan.
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
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    It's just a cultural thing. For Western Europe and North America, tanning became popular when the legendary designer Chanel took a trip on the French Riviera in 1923 and came back 'bronzed'. Before that, pale skin was considered vogue because back then, to have pale skin meant you could afford to spend all your time in doors and not work manuel labor outside (hence why it was popular around the world where fair skin was the main archetype) It basically proclaimed the have's vs the have nots (silly, I know).

    It's ever changing. I think out-of-the-sun skin has been making a comeback though. You see more and more 'trendsetters', celebrities and the such who are going pale and avoiding the sun and fake tanning. That's my two cents anyway.
  • Ashwee87
    Ashwee87 Posts: 695 Member
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    I don't go out of my way to tan in the sun or submit (and pay) to fry myself in a UV box...I am a cheap *kitten*.

    But, I can be outside and my upper body tans super easy. My lower torso....well, let's just say my legs are SCARY white. They will not tan for the life of me. I tried so many times to "even out" my body years ago and they won't change shade. lol
  • LadyZephyr
    LadyZephyr Posts: 286 Member
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    I'm Asian too, but south Asian - my mum is Indian and Pakistani - and in our culture, light skin is revered.

    In Asia, having light skin is considered beautiful because it means you are not poor and do not have to work as an outdoors labourer. My grandmother was never allowed to leave her home in Lahore without a maid to carry a parasol for her to keep her from tanning. Everyone in my family has quite light skin for our race, me most of all, as you can see from my picture!

    Because I'm so light, my darker family members envy my skin tone, so I know what you mean. However, I have tanned a little, and I'm going abroad in three days where I'll be in the sun a lot and will tan, as I go very very dark in just a day in the sun. My skin tans easily, but it fades fast. I spent a lot of years wearing factor 50 sunblock all year round to get my skin to stay ghostly white, to put it into perspective, I went down from a olive-toned foundation to MACs lightest shade, by staying out of sunlight.

    Now though, I don't care. The reason I'm tanning is because I look healthier with a tan - pale skin on me looks sallow, as I have olive undertones, and I just look unwell. I tan easily and I enjoy being outdoors, in the sun, and an obvious effect of that is tanning. So I'm letting myself tan because that's natural for me - my skin tans, I can't stop it unless I want to cover myself head-to-toe in thick clothing while I'm in a hot country, and I'd rather enjoy my time in the sun and not stress about not being considered as 'beautiful' because I don't have pale skin any more.

    So, there you have it. Light skin is considered beautiful in Asia because of its social connotations, because if you can stay pale you don't need to go out in the sun to work in a field or farm the land, and in the western world, tanned skin is desired because it means you can afford to go abroad and spend money and time in the sun. It's all about social status, historically.
  • chelseascounter
    chelseascounter Posts: 1,283 Member
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    I love having the sun kissed look :smile: even my hair has natural highlights now.
  • oX_Vanessa_Xo
    oX_Vanessa_Xo Posts: 478
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    Baby I was born this way.
  • iulia_maddie
    iulia_maddie Posts: 2,780 Member
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    It's a cultural thing. I believe in Asian societies being tan was associated with being out in the sun, working in the fields. White skin was therefore a sign of wealth (as rich noblemen didn't need to be outside, working).
    As for me, I am extremely white but tan easily. I love spending time on the beach, so I am tan most summers.
  • robsonv
    robsonv Posts: 23 Member
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    Just my two cents worth but I think this whole thread is missing the most important factor of tanning...SKIN CANCER! I think that no matter what your "skin tone" sunscreen is a must because no matter how beautiful your skin looks with that golden hue it won't be near as pretty with chunks missing out of it from biopsy's and "site removals"...... trust me :( I also think that part of the reason that the "fair skin look is coming back in style" is that maybe people are finally opening their eyes to the risks of baking in the sun. I am red-headed and fair skinned with freckles and I have always envied my "golden skinned" friends and paid the price of trying to achieve that "golden glow".
  • cmcollins001
    cmcollins001 Posts: 3,472 Member
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    irish-girl-sunbathing-33557.jpg
  • Jacwhite22
    Jacwhite22 Posts: 7,012 Member
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    I look better with a tan. Colors I like to wear (lime green, yellow, pink, etc) look better when I am tan
  • HappyNinjaStar
    HappyNinjaStar Posts: 353 Member
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    **nerd alert**

    This debate/cultural shift in ideal of beauty tan vs light skinned goes back thousands of years.

    There are records from the roman empire during the time of Caligula. The upper class standard of beauty was light skin (they did milk baths and such to maintain). Then the emperor exiled one of his sisters and made her work outside like a commoner. After Caligula was assassinated, she came back no longer light skinned, but quite bronzed. As she still had a high place in society she made it the fashion to be bronzed rather than light skinned.

    So yeah, I really don't have anything to add, it's all cultural and trends
  • _DaniD_
    _DaniD_ Posts: 2,186 Member
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    irish-girl-sunbathing-33557.jpg

    LOL. I'm part Irish and part Native so my skin really doesn't know what the *kitten* to do when the sun hits it. It burns then turns into an awesome tan.
  • Crankstr
    Crankstr Posts: 3,958 Member
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    irish-girl-sunbathing-33557.jpg


    STOP using my picture!:angry:





    and what is a tan?
  • BeachGingerOnTheRocks
    BeachGingerOnTheRocks Posts: 3,927 Member
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    irish-girl-sunbathing-33557.jpg

    :laugh:
  • calibriintx
    calibriintx Posts: 1,741 Member
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    Have you ever laid in the sun for hours? It feels amazing. I'm in TX now but am from San Diego and spent many, many hours laid out on the beach or even in my backyard, under the sun. In part b/c I look better with a tan, but mostly because it just feels awesome. It's like getting a massage or something and it's totally addicting.

    With all that said, I now have annual skin cancer screenings and every year my doctor finds suspicious spots on my back and legs that have to be biopsied. They always come back dysplastic and I have the rest removed before it gets worse. My mom has had over a dozen surgeries to remove melanoma and carcinoma. Needless to say, I don't tan any longer. But I miss it terribly. I've accepted my pale skin, and I'm fine with it, but I will probably spray tan this summer when I dye my hair lighter.
  • michellewong699
    michellewong699 Posts: 98 Member
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    Thanks for everyone's input on this thread! The photo made me laugh, I did not even see her for the longest time xD

    I agree with everyone, I guess it is a matter of culture and our ever-changing values when it comes to physical appearance. With that said, I strive my hardest to be pale, and I guess it worked because I am the most pale one in my immediate family.

    I appreciate all of your insight, thanks for shedding some light on this confusion that I had ever since I started junior high!

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