To tan or not to tan, that is the question

ChasingSweatandTears
ChasingSweatandTears Posts: 504 Member
edited December 18 in Chit-Chat
So I'm a pretty fair skinned individual. It takes me forever to tan. So this year I decided to give up the tanning bad for good. I really dont want the skin damage anymore. I have heard lots of people say pale people shouldn't wear shorts or bathing suits. I know that's ridiculous and extreme, but my question is more general. Do you guys or girls feel like a woman is more attractive with a tan? Are my legs doomed to forever be deemed as "scary" because they are pale now?

And begin
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Replies

  • Sapporo
    Sapporo Posts: 693 Member
    Pale skin is beautiful, show that off! :)
    Orange people scare me.
    I don't think tanning is in anymore, at least not around here thankfully. Fake n bake and look leathery, yuck. Also skip the skin cancer risk.

    Your pale legs are not scary, I guarantee you that they look much better than the tanned ones. Okay, not everyone will agree with me but a lot of us think natural is better (dark skin is for naturally dark skinned folks).
  • UrbanRunner81
    UrbanRunner81 Posts: 1,207 Member
    I am pale and I don't care. I burn easily... I wear sunblock and I get a little color, very little.
    In the end I will have less wrinkles when I am older. :)
  • Jstewartdesigns
    Jstewartdesigns Posts: 51 Member
    Well, I'm very fair skinned and I've had melanoma. I don't protect myself like I should. I drive a convertible and live in Arizona. I'm very pale and my BF loves tans. Oh well, too bad, so sad, although the fact that I don't have a tan doesn't make him love me any less. He is a boat person and I grew up on the lakes so when we go out, he knows that I NEED shade! Be true to yourself and don't worry about what others think. My sister was a big "tanner" growing up and she has paid with her skin. She has encouraged both of her very pale daughters to tan but thankfully, they have not. I have been so opposed to that. They will be happy with themselves as they age . . . I am!
  • ChasingSweatandTears
    ChasingSweatandTears Posts: 504 Member
    Well, I'm very fair skinned and I've had melanoma. I don't protect myself like I should. I drive a convertible and live in Arizona. I'm very pale and my BF loves tans. Oh well, too bad, so sad, although the fact that I don't have a tan doesn't make him love me any less. He is a boat person and I grew up on the lakes so when we go out, he knows that I NEED shade! Be true to yourself and don't worry about what others think. My sister was a big "tanner" growing up and she has paid with her skin. She has encouraged both of her very pale daughters to tan but thankfully, they have not. I have been so opposed to that. They will be happy with themselves as they age . . . I am!

    Glad you beat the melanoma! :heart:
  • TinkrBelz
    TinkrBelz Posts: 866 Member
    <<<~~~This tan makes me feel so pertiful!! I like my hair orange to make my orange skin.


    (for those that will read this after I changed my profile pic...this is a joke)

    On a serious note...some people do tan easily, so I get fussed at by in laws about my skin color...but it is olive so, even with sunblock I do get very dark. I get asked if I tan and I do not....I just have naturally dark skin.
  • SCVSarah
    SCVSarah Posts: 231 Member
    Don't you know, pale is the new tan? I am extremely fair skinned and have no ability to tan. I've finally come to terms and I love my pale skin.
  • SofaKingRad
    SofaKingRad Posts: 1,592 Member
    You should tan, because this is f*ckin' hot!

    8645501_600x338.jpg
  • HauteP1nk
    HauteP1nk Posts: 2,139 Member
    I do find tanned skin more appealing personally especially on myself, but a lot of people have beautiful porcelain skin. While getting a tan every now and again (in moderation) isn't harmful if done correctly/safely I do agree that if you are using the tanning bed too much that you need to stop!


    There are alternatives such as tan in a can and professional spray tans.

    P.S. You are beautiful just the way you are though and you can show off those legs whether they are white or brown!
  • msprouse8
    msprouse8 Posts: 85 Member
    Girl, you look great without the tan!! Personally, I go to the beach every year and try to get a base tan so I can play on the beach with my son and not get roasted!!! Even with sunblock at the beach......I usually wear 30-60 SPF...I STILL get tanned. Mostly, I just try not to get burned. I think te burning is what is the worst for your skin. My cousin had melanoma and she didn't beat it. Died at age 34. I remember she used to get burned every year. I think it's tit for tat. Some people are for it, some are very against it. It's up to you, but whatever you do, do it safely....wear some sort of sunblock or protection so that you don't get that burn that is supposed to be so bad.

    On the other hand, I do have friends who have excessively tanned and have leathery look to their skin. I don't care who ya are. Nothing attractive about that. Moderation people!!!
  • Briaboo4
    Briaboo4 Posts: 1,080 Member
    You should tan, because this is f*ckin' hot!

    8645501_600x338.jpg

    I thought of this crazy lady when I saw this thread too! Glad you posted her picture here.
  • andieb75
    andieb75 Posts: 26
    I have learned as I've gotten older to stay out of the sun so much, I already have sun damage. But i do like a little color, the trick is to find a self tanner that is gentle and will not turn you orange. Luckly I have some olive in my pale skin so most self tanners just bring that out and I dont look like a carrot! But at the pool I'm the girl in the big shades and sun hat!
  • CMmrsfloyd
    CMmrsfloyd Posts: 2,380 Member
    No tanning for me. I am fair-skinned with blue eyes, freckles, and moles. And I have at least 1 family member who had melanoma or something on his face when I was young enough that I was only vaguely aware of what was going on. I stupidly tried a tanning bed a few times in high school and burned myself to a crisp. It was ridiculous. I don't tan anyway, I burn, peel, turn pink and then turn white with new added freckles. Now I wear SPF 3000 if I'm forced to be outside for more than a few minutes. There are much more exciting ways to die than from skin cancer.
  • MrsSorenson
    MrsSorenson Posts: 450 Member
    Coming from a fellow pasty pasty woman. I am nervous about the effects, so I just tan a little here and there to make me not so scary. LOL. My husband is mixed black/white and my children are 1/4 black, so even though they are fair, my daughter has darker skin than me at her pastiest! So I tanned because I was jealous of my 5 year old, yes. LOL Sounds crazy, and maybe it is, but Everything in moderation right? Everything seems to give you some type of cancer or health problem now adays. I'm going to live my life.

    PS - The tan woman pic was hilarious! and more SCARY than pasty.
  • morgansmom02
    morgansmom02 Posts: 1,131 Member
    You should tan, because this is f*ckin' hot!

    8645501_600x338.jpg

    THIS!!
  • PapaverSomniferum
    PapaverSomniferum Posts: 2,670 Member
    I have been pale my whole life. my skin does NOT tan, and when i was younger i tried

    because most of my life i was ridiculed and told my skin was very unattractive. Men/boys told me i was "gross" and to "get some sun". Girls laughed at me and invited me to tanning beds (which never worked).

    I have NEVER been complimented on my skin tone by Americans.

    However, Asian girls gush over how pretty my skin is, and when I went to Mexico, men followed me around asking to touch me because they'd never seen someone so white.

    culture, man. f^ck it.

    i wear a lot of black and just pretend i'm goth. pale is healthy, anyways. i buy Korean skin products, wear a lot of sunscreen, carry an umbrella, and don't worry about trying to soak up those UVs anymore. It just made my moles/freckles worse.

    edit*

    really...who WOULDN'T want to look like this???

    17975349_7640.jpg

    i look way better than any leather couch woman
  • jmelyan23
    jmelyan23 Posts: 1,648 Member
    I've been fair my entire life and have tried tanning several times. It NEVER works. I end up burnt, and in some cases, with water blisters too. That, paired with my family history of melanoma has kept me out of the sun in the last few years a lot more (or if I have to be out in the sun, with about 65 layers of sunblock, lol).

    If I had a choice, I think I would prefer to be tan and I know I've always been jealous of my sisters because they both have olive skin tones and tan easily. Not to mention that my husband is 1/2 Mexican and tans like crazy in the summer. But I think that women with fair skin are really pretty. Don't end up like some members of my family with leathery skin when they get older, that's just not attractive at all.
  • morgansmom02
    morgansmom02 Posts: 1,131 Member
    Please watch this. http://www.tmz.com/2012/05/03/tanning-mom-patricia-krentcil-video/
  • jodycoady
    jodycoady Posts: 598 Member
    I'm a redhead, and I have the freckles too...I'd suggest a few 15-min sessions in the lie-down, or a few 8-minute in the stand-up. That's enough. those tanning beds wrinkle you! (A little is not bad though) I also like the gradual tanners, the Jergens one smells so nice and it's half the price of all the others.
  • jonnyman41
    jonnyman41 Posts: 1,032 Member
    I do enjoy a little bit of colour to my skin in the summer as I tend to look quite ill in the winter however I get this naturally through being out walking, enjoying the fresh air and using high factor sun lotion at the same time. I have not burned my skin, deliberately or by accident since I was a silly teenager and I am never that dark anyway since I really could not be bothered with sitting out all day in the sun or using a sun bed (which really ages you anyway)

    I certainly don't want to waste my summer getaways lying round a pool for days on end either but do like the healthy glow I tend to just about get!
  • Charloo1990
    Charloo1990 Posts: 619 Member
    I've been sun bed free for well over a year now, i used to hammer them but my attitude towards them all wrong and im so glad i finally woke up and smelt the fake tan so to speak ha.
    When people used to go on at me for the bad habbit and say that i could get skin cancer ect, i used to shrug it off with "I could get run over by a bus, theres risks with everything". But then i realised, why put myself at greater risk. Plus i know a few people who are in their 30s/40s who have hammered sunbeds and its seriously aged them. I don't want premature ageing or any risk of skin cancer.
    So i've turned to fake tan and although it can be a pain in the *kitten* with having to exfoliate ect, i'd never look back. I may look a little "tango'd" from time to time but at least i know im tanning the healthy way.

    I do love having a tan though, i feel instantly more toned looking once i've freshly tanned after my shower :)
  • misschoy
    misschoy Posts: 125 Member
    Spray tan once in awhile. It looks good for a couple days and viola... no skin damage!
  • LisaF1163
    LisaF1163 Posts: 141
    I don't tan for many reasons. First of all are the health risks we now know of - why risk cancer? It's totally not worth it.

    Second, I look better fair - a tan instantly makes me look weird, I don't know any other way to put it!

    I look immediately - IMMEDIATELY - 15 years older than I am when I have a tan. It's very aging on me.

    Plus since I dont' have wrinkles and spots from all that sun damage, people guess my age as way younger than I am. I'm 48, but a lot of people guess me as around 33. It's nice, I'll say that much!
  • CMmrsfloyd
    CMmrsfloyd Posts: 2,380 Member
    I'm a redhead, and I have the freckles too...I'd suggest a few 15-min sessions in the lie-down, or a few 8-minute in the stand-up. That's enough. those tanning beds wrinkle you! (A little is not bad though) I also like the gradual tanners, the Jergens one smells so nice and it's half the price of all the others.

    8 minutes in a lie-down tanning bed (half of what you're recommending) BURNED ME TO A CRISP in highschool. (several times, b/c I was stupid enough to keep trying thinking it would get better) That's 2 minutes on my back, 2 on my front, and 2 on each side. I had to sleep naked wrapped in sheets that I literally soaked in aloe vera gel to attempt to get some kind of relief. Telling people they should try something like this just b/c it 'works' for you is dangerous, you don't know how sensitive someone else's skin might be compared to yours.

    Goodness only knows how much damage I accumulated with those crazy attempts at fitting in.
  • misschoy
    misschoy Posts: 125 Member
    I should add, I buy the spray stuff at target. It's not self tanner but more of a spray tan "makeup". It washes away after awhile and looks like a real tan. I believe it's made by Sally Hansen. Perfect for the legs and arms!
  • missym357
    missym357 Posts: 210 Member
    I don't go out in the sun to tan and I wear spf 30 if I am out at the pool or spending long periods of time out in the sun. I wear spf 30 daily on my face. Having said that, I do think a light tan looks pretty, but I do not consider it worth it. I think untanned well cared for skin is much prettier in the long run. I do tan easily though and have an olive complexion, so in the summer my skin does darken a little bit even with sunscreen.

    I've been thinking about doing a light spray on tan for my upcoming vacation though to give myself some extra color. I've never used self-tanner before, but that is nother option if you want some added color for summer.
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
    I'm very pale, and I wear a lot of bright jewel tone clothes. I love the colors against my pale skin. It compliments well.

    I tan, but only accidentally... and usually after I look like a tomato for a few days.

    I try not to burn anymore though. I really don't want to look like a leather handbag at 40, so I've embraced my paleness. Keep your skin healthy and you'll look young and lovely until a ripe old age.
  • Setof2Keys
    Setof2Keys Posts: 681 Member
    There's other options that are cheaper and have been perfected to look better. If you use a self tanner lotion put it in the palm of your hands, sprinkle a couple drops of water in it, spread and use a damp cotton ball and dab areas like your knees, ankles, and area behind your knees. The other thing I use is Sally Hansen's spray on nylons. I use the light glow and it is like $10 at Walgreens and makes your legs look AMAZINGLY smoothe...
  • mwest11
    mwest11 Posts: 89 Member
    Usually I am fine with my fair skin and red hair. But, I was made fun of a lot in high school and really even a lot to this day. Now I have a very negative attitude based off of what others have said to me. My friends love to tell jokes from the south park episode (that will haunt me the rest of my life) the stupid ginger, day-walker, no soul jokes. And a co-worker just this week told me it was a good thing I was outside for a walk since I needed the sun... WTF? I should have told her it was a good thing she was out for a walk with me since she needs to lose weight?!

    Anywho... I have been going for a spray tan every other friday and that is kind of fun and pretty cheap. Don't let others get you down about it. I like having a bit of a tan but reality is that won't happen unless I artificially paint it on. I am trying to get over it but still a little bitter about why society believes you can only be pretty if you are tan..
  • ebenso1
    ebenso1 Posts: 39 Member
    Take it from someone who worked with a dermatologist for many years...tanning = bad! It's not worth the risk in the end. Not only the risk of skin cancer and melanoma but the aging effects it has. Not to mention the nasty fungal infections I have seen from tanning beds, gross! If you look at people who tan regularly you will see just how much older they tend to look. To me I would rather be pale and look younger. And to the woman who has had the melanoma, your sister should be getting regular skin checks as well because they are finding that Melanoma is partly hereditary. Wear your sunscreen and your hat when out in the convertible or boat! And remember PALE IS THE NEW TAN!
  • stylistchik
    stylistchik Posts: 1,436 Member
    I stopped tanning a few years ago because I don't want to look like leather when I'm 40. I use a type of natural glow lotion every few days to keep from looking *too* pale (I have dark hair and eyes and frankly I look better tan) but I figure being less tan is something I'm willing to trade in for still having good skin when I'm older. If you're naturally pale it probably looks good on you but I am a big fan of the "build-a-tan" lotions because they look natural and you don't get the fake orange look.
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