Pale Skin - Is it really that bad?

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Replies

  • K0135
    K0135 Posts: 34 Member
    When I was younger I let people talk me into tanning all the time... I got skin cancer... So please embrace your pale skin!!! =)
  • Linda_Darlene
    Linda_Darlene Posts: 453 Member
    I consider myself part vampire. I avoid the sun. I can do without any more skin damage than I already have. Pale is beautiful.
  • elenathegreat
    elenathegreat Posts: 3,988 Member
    What you see is my base color. I am a born brown girl, and I love my skin. That being said, I have always admired the alabaster and porcelain-skinned ladies as well as cocoa to the richest dark chocolate... Beautiful skin is beautiful!!:heart:
  • chris1816
    chris1816 Posts: 715 Member
    I tanned in the womb.
  • Sunscreenandsweat
    Sunscreenandsweat Posts: 190 Member
    I'm pale and have loads of freckles and red hair and I wouldn't change it for anything.
  • ScarletFyre
    ScarletFyre Posts: 754 Member
    I am Scottish and Irish - a Strawberry Blonde, with some freckles. When i "tan" it's because my freckles have grown together. :laugh: I agree with you 100% First of all I think I would look rediculous with a tan. The only time I was ever told to "get some sun" and wasn't offended was when my fiance's sister suggested it as a way to try to avoid a painful burn in the future.

    We all come in different colors and shades and that is what makes us all beautiful. I have spent years watching my mother get little surgeries to remove skin cancer spots and i'd like to avoid that - or at least stave it off as long as possible - so when i go out side i PROUDLY sport my 100+ SPF!! :bigsmile:
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    just do you and rock however you look. what's most attractive is when people are comfortable in their own skin (regardless of the shade).

    just wear your sunscreen and ignore the naysayers
  • lilbrowngirlsj
    lilbrowngirlsj Posts: 45 Member
    People are morons. You were made with a lighter skin tone and all skin tones are beautiful in my book. I don't understand people's obsession with the tanning nonsense. (Maybe it's cuz I'm chocolatey brown...lol) People need to start loving people for who they are instead of this superficial b.s.
  • Salonas
    Salonas Posts: 4
    I also grew up in Florida, and I still live here. I am pale also. I have had people all the time, to this very day, have a problem with my skin. In my teens my hair was lighter so I was blond and blue eyed, so people thought I was supposed to be tan. I tried self tanner when it was first getting popular. I was in middle school and I could've been in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! My best friend in high school called me an anorexic vampire. I was only 103 and pale of course. My brother in law's girlfriend thinks she has to get in her bikini and go out every day by the pool. She once told me she was soooooo pale, it was mid winter and she was definitely NOT pale! I'm in my 30's now, and about 10 years ago, I realized it just doesn't matter. I'm pale and that's just the way it is. My husband loves me the way I am. So, No, pale skin is not that bad. People just need to realize that we're all different, and just cuz we're pale and they're not, it doesn't make us ugly or unhealthy and maybe we like being pale. And of course we have much lower chances of all the skin cancer and wrinkles at a young age!
  • NoSpandex
    NoSpandex Posts: 54
    I am a redhead, and I am not capable of tanning. I don't have the required pigment in my skin to turn it brown. I burn easily, and have tried to be responsible with my sunblock, but four years ago I had a mole (that I'd had for about 20 years) that suddenly started bleeding. I'd had this mole checked in the past and it was harmless, but it had become cancerous. It was a malignant melanoma.

    I was very lucky that it had not spread to my lymph nodes, so they were able to surgically remove a hunk of my leg, and it was gone. I am still cancer free (fingers crossed). I had to have follow up visits with the oncologist and dermatologist quite frequently at first, but I am now seeing them both annually. Everyone should be seeing a dermatologist yearly. While melanoma is most common in those of us with pale complexions, no one is immune.

    All that being said, I would still love to have an olive complexion or lightly tanned looking skin. I have tried sunless tanning formulas, but I am never willing to keep up the maintenance and deal with streaking, the smell, transfer to clothing, etc. If I had the pretty kind of pale skin, that would be fine. But mine is ruddy and freckled. However, it is also cancer free right now, so I'm not complaining. And yes, people make fun of my white skin all the time, but better pale than dead, I say!
  • OnionCookie
    OnionCookie Posts: 272 Member
    I look like an Oompa Loompa with any sort of tan, natural or spray on. I like being pale.
  • RealWomenLovePitbulls
    RealWomenLovePitbulls Posts: 729 Member
    i have fair skin also, i didnt like it at all when i was younger but i have learned to love it now. i think i look way healthier and better than girls who spend wayyy too long fake baking, and fyi to people who think we should just "get a tan" some people just don't get tan, i joke that i go from white to off-white in the sun and if i'm really lucky, i might get beige... but never tan
  • paint_it_black
    paint_it_black Posts: 208 Member
    I don't think there is anything wrong with pale skin, I'm scottish and still live in scotland so the combination of genetics and habitat have left me a rather fetching shade of blue. Maybe one day i'll be tanned enough to be considered white.
  • rmkramer003
    rmkramer003 Posts: 115 Member
    Pale can be very pretty, not everyone tans well. Plus, the less sun you get, the younger you look. As long as you get enough to make your daily dose of Vitamin D, who needs a tan?
  • dhakiyya
    dhakiyya Posts: 481 Member
    People are morons. You were made with a lighter skin tone and all skin tones are beautiful in my book. I don't understand people's obsession with the tanning nonsense. (Maybe it's cuz I'm chocolatey brown...lol) People need to start loving people for who they are instead of this superficial b.s.

    ^^^ totally agree!

    I'm a "ginger carrier" (lol) i.e. I'm not ginger but have a ginger parent, a ginger sibling and a strawberry blonde child lol. I've always had pale skin, and I used to think that was unattractive until I went to live in the Arab world where many beautiful, olive skinned women told me they wished they had pale skin like mine. All of it is just cultures having narrow views about what is/is not beautiful. All skin colours are beautiful from the whitest white to the darkest brown and every shade in between :) Love the skin that you have, and be healthy. Healthy skin glows, whatever colour it is :)
  • grrrlface
    grrrlface Posts: 1,204 Member
    I have a weird combination in my family, my dad's side are place skin tone, red heads with tons of freckles. My mum's side are olive skin tone, dark hair.

    I've got the dark hair and prefer to be pale but as soon as I tan, even just a little, I have a beautiful olive skin tone. I'm stuck because I love both! :-)
  • FaugHorn
    FaugHorn Posts: 1,060 Member
    I prefer it to skin cancer...
  • shelbiejo
    shelbiejo Posts: 283 Member
    I'm an Irish Mexican and I used to be the palest person you'd ever see....I still am pretty pale. I only started tanning (a little) when I started working at a tanning salon. I seriously only go once a week to maintain a little color and always cover my face. Nothing is wrong with pale. Nothing is wrong with tan. It is all about what you feel best as.

    Also on a side note. Pale skinned women are considered the MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN to islanders(:
  • strawberrie_milk
    strawberrie_milk Posts: 381 Member
    I prefer pale skin over tan skin.. I think I look better pale.. I go out of my way to make sure I don't tan lol. But yeah nothing wrong with being pale :)
  • KittieLea
    KittieLea Posts: 1,156 Member
    "If you're from Africa, why are you white?"
    "God Karen, you can't just ask people why they're white."
  • Jain
    Jain Posts: 861 Member
    I always say that I'm pale & interesting.

    I'm a redhead with Norwegian blood. I don't tan, I burn, peel and go back to being pale. I'm just glad I can get factor 50 sunblock easily nowadays, back when I was little my Mum had to get it from the Dr's. And yes I am that old.:laugh:

    And all the sun dodging has had an extra plus. I'm going on 50 and people tell me I look 10 years younger.:bigsmile:
  • shaynak112
    shaynak112 Posts: 751 Member
    Ohmygosh - so glad there are people to relate to!
    I have a Scottish background. Reddish blonde (strawberry blonde) hair. It's not the bright red VERY Scottish looking, just slightly. Lots of freckles!
    I burn if I spend two seconds in the sun. So I avoid the sun!! I also think that if I went to a tanning salon, I'd still end up bright red. So many summers, after the beach, I'd be bright red all over and in so much pain and peeling for the next two weeks. *sigh*

    Honestly, I wouldn't mind being more tan, but I think that's just because of what society tells us we "should" be like, you know?

    But it is good that I avoid the sun (or at least wear sunscreen) ... I have a smaller risk of having cancer than the people who tan and stuff.

    Sometimes I don't like being pale but for the most part - ehh it looks good on me! So why not!! :)
  • Scandinavia
    Scandinavia Posts: 291 Member
    I just tell people I don't want to die from melanoma by the age of 35 like my uncle, or have a chunk taken out of my nose like my grandma.

    Or, just tell people you're going way way old school, when pale skin was a sign of affluence since it showed that you didn't have to be outside doing manual labor!

    And honestly, intentionally tanning for anyone is not the best, even the naturally dark can still succumb to skin cancer.

    This is quite exactly what I say. I enjoy bringing up the fact that up until about the 1930s-1940s, pale skin was beautiful. People say that things that stick around longer always come back. How long has tanning been popular...? ;)
  • LunaPhaedra
    LunaPhaedra Posts: 71 Member
    I've actually been on both sides of the debate here. I've always wanted to be darker so that I'd look more like my mom (she's middle eastern), but over the years I've come to enjoy having pale skin (it helps when you're a goth at heart and adore ELG styled clothes).

    Ironically, and sadly, I'm now the darkest I've ever been since I'm working full time at a garden centre; and now that I've seen how I look with darker skin, I really can't wait for winter so that it can fade out to it's original beauty again!!
  • Cait_Sidhe
    Cait_Sidhe Posts: 3,150 Member
    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 love this. I'm pale. Always have been. I like being pale. I'm proud of my skintone. It suits me. I'm russian/irish. I'd look really bad with a tan. In fact, I don't actually tan, I burn. I've avoided the sun all my life and I look much younger than I actually am. I have absolutely no desire to cook my skin like a turkey in the oven. Yeah, I've been goth for a long time and it's part of the aesthetic. Doesn't mean naturally pale isn't pretty though.
  • KuroNyankoSensei
    KuroNyankoSensei Posts: 288 Member
    I wish my skin was even whiter ^^. A lot of Asians value milky white skin~
  • christine24t
    christine24t Posts: 6,063 Member
    I used to really be depressed that I wasn't tan because all my friends were. And then I started nursing school and realized how horrible all the wrinkles you get from tanning look when you're older, not to mention the increased risk for skin cancer. I like a little color, but nothing too overboard. If I want to be tan for an event, I just go get a spray tan. But 99% of the time I couldn't care at all what color my skin is! Plus, I get a lot of compliments on how my skin looks :)
  • _runchick
    _runchick Posts: 22
    I am a red-head Canadian with VERY strong Scottish, Irish and English backgrounds and am so pale it is dumb! I love my paleness and now into my 40's I get compliments all the time as to how young I look. If you are proud of the pale skin you have then do not question it. So drink water and do not tan to 'look' beautiful - I am sure you already are. :-) HUGE HUG :-)
  • VelociMama
    VelociMama Posts: 3,119 Member
    I'm not pale. I'm highly reflective. *wink*

    I live in a very sunny tropical place, so I wear SPF 35 on my face every day and SPF 15 on my arms when I go out for any length of time. Skin cancer is much worse than being pale.
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