[Susie_Q]

I'm a redhead and have gotten the 'porcelain skin' comments before; I always take them as a compliment. I've had people stop me in foreign countries and ask to take pictures of me as they had never seen such pale skin before. It's all in good humour and it's always been very friendly. I've never worn fake tan in my life, I don't see the point.

My sister got married a few years ago and my eldest sister and her daughter got spray-on tan for the day. They're both redheads too and imo they looked ridiculous; it was clearly fake tan and it did nothing for them. Some of the pictures of me beside them are quite funny though, my skin makes me jump out of the photo! I prefer the natural look, whatever is your natural skin colour always looks better on you I think.

[leahyl]

I have to say I'd always wear tan on a night out - it just makes me look better! And I don't slather it on or anything - it's done nicely, I know it is! Otherwise I wouldn't be setting foot outside the door if I looked like an oompa loompa

I think fake tan, APPLIED CORRECTLY, can make someone look a lot healthier - but that's just my opinion.

I wouldn't have the porcelain white skin that people are talking about though.

I was thinking the same thing as Susie Q posted there - I would imagine fake tan wouldn't look too good on a red head. Red heads normally have the porcelain white skin so I would think it would look too oragney with the red hair.... maybe I'm wrong though!

[bluewolf]

I'm pale pale and quite happy with that
my grandmother was badgering me for years to try fake tan, but has finally stopped
never tried it and never will

[beks101]

I'm pretty sallow as far as Irish complexions go and I'd have quite a warm skin tone, so I look positively washed out if I get too pale.

It's funny though, when I lived in Ireland I got the 'are your parents Irish?' comments from time to time because of my skin tone, but since moving to Canada I seem to be considered whiter-than-white, there's so much diversity here. I dated one guy who burst out laughing once when I described myself as 'sallow', and I had a deep summer tan at the time - came back to Ireland about two weeks later and back to the 'you're not really Irish though' jokes!

I wouldn't be a fake tan fan, but because of how washed out I can look if I haven't had much sun exposure, I'll usually wear some tinted moisturiser and that Nivea sun-kissed stuff if I can get my hands on it - it's nowhere near that horribly mucky colour you get with some tans and it's a good moisturiser too. The market for fake tan is way way smaller here - girls just don't wear it. Sun beds do seem to be a prominent thing though, I see them all over the place and also notice that Canadian girls seem to maintain a year-round tan..hardly a coincidence.

[Daisies]

I'm a red head and thus am pale, never tan and am COVERED in freckles. Depending on my outfit I may wear some fake tan on a night out. I find that some colours make me look ill without a bit of tan and bronzer!If I know a few days in advance eg wedding or ball, I'll use a gradual tan moisturiser (Garnier summer body is my favourite) and if not Sally Hansen, the lightest shade.

I think fake tan gets a bad rep because so many people use a shade too dark for them and apply it really badly. I think if you can find a shade that suits and apply it properly, then there is not problem.

[g'em]

I inherited skin that tans very well, and both my parents would be big fans of the sun. When I was a kid my Dad would actively encourage me to spend as much time outside in the sun playing so that I wouldn't burn when the holidays came around. So from a very early age I've associated being tanned with happy summer times and it's difficult to shake that. Even now I definitely feel 'healthier' with a bit of colour on me. The ironic thing is I'm starting to notice the sun damage on my face and in the last couple of years I've made a much bigger effort to make sure I wear SPF year-round.

I've spent quite a few summers working in the tropics too, and it got to the point that my skin was so dark it wouldn't tan any deeper. My nickname when I came home was the little ewok because of my dark skin and bleached blonde bodyhair that looked like down

[dearg lady]

Originally Posted by Posy

I find it a bit sad that when you go to Asia, the shops are packed with lightening creams and whitening products. As a whole, we're never happy with what we've got it seems, dark or pale!

In some places in Asia pale skin suggests you're not so poor, ie don't spend all day out in the sun toiling on the fields. And I suppose as a general rule, most of us fall for the exotic look, darker skin for us, paler skin for asians.

[Ilyana]

Originally Posted by g'em

I inherited skin that tans very well, and both my parents would be big fans of the sun. When I was a kid my Dad would actively encourage me to spend as much time outside in the sun playing so that I wouldn't burn when the holidays came around. So from a very early age I've associated being tanned with happy summer times and it's difficult to shake that. Even now I definitely feel 'healthier' with a bit of colour on me. The ironic thing is I'm starting to notice the sun damage on my face and in the last couple of years I've made a much bigger effort to make sure I wear SPF year-round.

I've spent quite a few summers working in the tropics too, and it got to the point that my skin was so dark it wouldn't tan any deeper. My nickname when I came home was the little ewok because of my dark skin and bleached blonde bodyhair that looked like down

I'm actually thee same, my parents are both very sallow and tan easily so I do as well. When we used to go on holidays I never had to bother with fake tan because I was so naturally tanned that I didn't even look Irish. I think there's some French blood in my Dad's family somewhere

But these days I can't afford a sun holiday so I have no tan. Now I just look kinda yellow and jaundiced. This is pale for me, but some of my friends still think I'm tanned

I wear fake tan on nights out now because I miss being brown, I don't feel like myself when I'm pale.

[Festy]

Ye girls are lucky you should try being a bloke with pale skin

[cynder]

Originally Posted by EmilyO

I'm actually thee same, my parents are both very sallow and tan easily so I do as well. When we used to go on holidays I never had to bother with fake tan because I was so naturally tanned that I didn't even look Irish. I think there's some French blood in my Dad's family somewhere

.

My kids are pale during the winter but as soon as march hits they start turing brown, i put factor 50 on them and they still turn brown (very brown) their hair goes from blond to almost white.

If we lived in spain/france they would have really blond hair and a year round tan.

It helps that their dads side has german blood, his family are all dark haired and sallow and that my side has italian blood. im the only blond one in my family my brother inherited the italian looks (brown hair and brown skin) i looked scandinavian i was that white and blond. We looked far from brother and sister.

[Ilyana]

Originally Posted by grindelwald

My kids are pale during the winter but as soon as march hits they start turing brown, i put factor 50 on them and they still turn brown (very brown) their hair goes from blond to almost white.

If we lived in spain/france they would have really blond hair and a year round tan.

It helps that their dads side has german blood, his family are all dark haired and sallow and that my side has italian blood. im the only blond one in my family my brother inherited the italian looks (brown hair and brown skin) i looked scandinavian i was that white and blond. We looked far from brother and sister.

It's fascinating how people from the same family can look so different. My sister was always blonde as a child, with a more golden skin tone and green eyes, whereas I always had brown skin, hair and eyes.

In some ways, being pale would be easier rather than being stuck in the middle between pale and tanned

[cynder]

Originally Posted by EmilyO

It's fascinating how people from the same family can look so different. My sister was always blonde as a child, with a more golden skin tone and green eyes, whereas I always had brown skin, hair and eyes.

In some ways, being pale would be easier rather than being stuck in the middle between pale and tanned

chalk n cheese, my brother with his year round tan and me with my whiteness

No my mom didnt cheat on my dad!



After i had my first child i would walk down the street and my brother would push the buggy, everyone thought he was the dad not because the baby looked like him, but because he looked so different from me...

[hollypink]

I used to think fake tan was an essential part of 'big' events like weddings where I'd be wearing a nice dress. My friends would all wear fake tan as well. But I just got fed-up with it; having to be organised enough to get it a few days in advance, the inevitable streak marks no matter how careful I was, the smell, the marks on clothes/sheets. I just didn't think the result was worth the effort.

The last few weddings I went to last year, I skipped the fake tan and it was grand. I do remember the disapprobation of one friend when I said I wasn't getting fake tan. She went on and on about how it looked better and how you could get organic (or something) ones that didn't smell and looked natural and really couldn't understand why I was so determined not to use it. When I saw the wedding photos I thought I looked nice so I made the right decision.

In saying that, I do think tanned legs look much better or at least are more forgiving for someone like me with not particularly toned legs. So I'd wear tights if I'm wearing a shortish dress.

I always used to envy girls who tanned easily but when I was in Thailand and South America, on a few occasions, local women admired my pale skin which made me feel great!

[Susie_Q]

The contrast in beauty products here in India is remarkable; instead of fake tan on the shelves you will find racks and racks of 'whitening' or 'lightening' products that basically try to bleach your skin to make you whiter.

These products are so prolific I actually can't use the local moisturising creams as they all have skin-bleaching agents in them. Isn't it sad that both sides of the world are constantly trying to change their skin colour?! A bit lighter, a bit darker... I say be happy in your own skin, it most likely looks its best without all the chemicals lashed on there.

[whoopsadaisydoodles]

Originally Posted by Susie_Q

I say be happy in your own skin, it most likely looks its best without all the chemicals lashed on there.

I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt, that this absolutely doesn't apply to me. And while there are definitely chemicals in the tan I use (St. Tropez), there are chemicals in almost everything I put on my skin, be it soap, perfume, shower gel, moisturiser, srubs, masks, make up. It's all chemicals.