fake tan or real pale?

natural pale > fake, orange tan

natural pale > fake, orange tan > nasty dried out wrinkled skin when you're 50 or skin cancer if you're unlucky

I am 60, my Mom was 90. Tanned and drank,,,no wrinkled skin. Actually is is based on the thinness of your skin. Irish usually wrinkle easier as they have thin skin. I am half italian, few wrinkles. Besides, we all get old. Pale skin looks so unhealthy. It is a personal choice.

I am fair-skinned, Finnish/Irish/English. I burn in minutes, and have been a firm believer in sunscreen for most of my life. That being said, I have friends who are as old as me, and some younger, whose skin is wrinkled and ugly............sun is NOT GOOD in large doses, be it the real thing or a tanning booth!! Stay away, and you will truly reap the benefits.

Oh, btw, I am 57 yrs old. I've been mistaken for being more than 10 yrs younger........often.

Pale is the new tan!!!!!

:bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile:

Me too, and i tanned all the time!!!

It depends on your overall coloring, not just your skin tone.
I am super pale but I am also a freckled redhead, so a tan on me (which I can only get out of a bottle) looks absolutely silly.
That being said, some people who have pale skin can get away with fake (NOT tanning bed, but bottle or spray) and look great.

Crimony, some people gotta be contrary about EVERYTHING.

I vote with the majority--embrace the pale, or go with a light application of spray or bottle tan if you aren't in great shape yet or simply can't stomach it. And let that be instructive to all of us, to keep working on strong sexy legs in the new year--you can pull off any color if you have hot, shapely, granite-hard thighs.

Tanning booths don't use UV rays, which are what causes cancer. So don't let that stop you.

Um, no. Tanning booths most certainly do use UV rays. How else do you think they induce tanning?

"Because of the adverse effects on human health of overexposure to UV radiation, including skin cancer, cataracts, suppression of the immune system, and premature skin aging, the World Health Organization does not recommend the use of UV tanning devices for cosmetic reasons. In fact, most tanning beds emit mainly UVA rays — which may increase the risk of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanning_bed

DEFINITELY let that stop you.

What she said. ^^ You are the smartest one here.

Pale skin looks so unhealthy. It is a personal choice.

You're right, it is a personal choice. But you know what's actually unhealthy? Skin cancer. I did my dissertation on melanoma. I CHOOSE not to risk my health and my skin over something innocuous as "pale".

^THIS! Pale skin looks good anyway! Tan looks unnatural during the winter . (even though I choose pale year round..)

I say real pale. There are only 2 shades of me: pasty white and lobster red. I am German & Swede and I'm about as pale as they come. I burn before I tan and then the tan peels off even if I use a bucket of moisturizer. I say go with what God gave you.

I've come to accept the fact that I am pale and meant to stay this way. I tried tanning beds, they give me neven color, I ended up with very tanned butt and breasts but the rest of me stayed pretty white. I've done lotions ( waste of money) and I've gotten professionally spray tanned and hated it. I thought I looked dirty and just plain weird, and it was very unproportioned. Just be who you are. Pale is sexy! I know many guys who love it. Haha my family calls me Casper and swear my legs actually glow white in the sun.



Btw an ad for spray tanning came on the top of my screen as soon as I clicked into this topic! Kinda creepy.

My BF has melanoma stage 4...6 months to live. He had acral melanoma, on his thumb. Nothing to do with the sun. He is Irish too. Tanned all the time and now he is dying from melanoma which was in his thumb. Bob Marley had it. Just wondering if you mentioned this in your dissertation?

I'm sorry to hear about your BF. Yes, there are cases of melanoma that are not sun-related, because DNA damage can happen independent of UV exposure (though it's rare). Bob Marley could have had his acral melanoma treated, but his religion (Rastafarian) forbade amputation of his foot.

But UV exposure causes millions of DNA mismatches in skin cells. Sometimes the body can't repair them all. Avoiding the sun won't protect you from melanoma 100% but it'll get you about 98% of the way there - why would anyone want to roll the dice with exposure for vanity reasons? It's about as wise as taking up smoking so you can lose more weight.

For everyone that said tanning was ok, are you kidding me?!! I know it's your personal choice but I think you would be singing a different tune if you saw your skin under a laser scan. I'm 25 and got one done at the dermatologist for just my face. I was horrified at all the age spots that showed up under several layers of skin. These sun spots will appear as I age and as those layers of skin come to the surface. And this damage was from when I tanned in my teens. Save yourself the money you will later have to spend when you get older to reverse the damage with painful lasers, creams, and injections.