to tan or not to tan...that is the question....

Madame Razz

Im sure this thread has been done many times before, but i think our whole attitude towards fake tan has evolved somewhat from what it used to be.

Certainly I see a lot less oompah loompahs around the place!!

Personally, im very lazy about the whole tan business, i like myself when i am tanned, but fcuk me its a chore to do!!

Also, i seem to pull more when im whiter than white...weirdly enough...


Opinions please.....

gcgirl

There are natural tans you can get which don't make you out o be like a umpah lumpa ! We are naturally a pale lot so maybe we should just leave it and look Naturally Irish!!

Curlypinkie

It is indeed a chore... *sighs* but it gives me a bit of self confidence to bare a little leg in the warmer months. But in winter I couldn't give a rat's bottom... I always wear jeans or tights anyway, I am not baring my legs when it's like under 10 degrees out. You crazy Irish women, in that respect, I salute you

My favourite is btw Saint Tropez. It gives that perfect sun-kissed effect, tried Fake Bake. Too dark.

Cathmandooo

Nope I'd never be bothered with it, I really don't see the point, it more often than not looks crap on people. People spend ridiculous amounts on fake tan and end up just looking dirty, dirty faces, hands, elbows, knees and ankles. I have felt the urge to give some people a good wash with a scrubbing brush!!

I had fake tan put on me for my sisters wedding by the make up artist and I look crazy in photos, doesnt look like me. Not my thing at all. But I do agree there has been less oompa loompas around thank god!

LolaDub

Has nobody noticed that in the efforts to get away from looking like you've been tangoed a lot of people are wearing a tan now that just makes them look dirty!!!! It looks like theres mud all over their face which personally i think is worse! I'm naturally really really pale, like sick looking white but fake tan takes up way too much time and the decent ones are expensive. Everytime it comes off on sheets or on clothes i swear to never use it again! I'd say i use it once every 4 months or so

Dragan

The majoity of nice chaps that i know don't really go in for the fake tan/loads of make up look.

The majority of assholes that i know do.

PurplePrincess

I'm sitting here after my 3rd application of tan and its still patchy with bits missed. Only for I don't want people saying i look like a corpse at the wedding tomorrow I wouldn't have bothered. (i'm very pale)

Its just so much effort and I can honestly say I've never seen a well done fake tan on anybody. I agree with the dirty look thing, they look like they need a good scrub

@ Dragan, why do a$$holes go for girls with a tan? Do they think she's an easy lay or what??

Flojo

I do love looking a tad bit sunkissed but its such a bloody chore. Im naturally kinda pale and always feel it looks a bit sick looking. Plus pale legs and skirts without tights don't look great imo.
When I can be arsed to put it on I use Sally Hanson spray on tan for legs all over myself soo much easier and you don't come out looking like an umpah-lumpa, washes off at the end of the night too.
One thing though is that I'd never use sunbeds.

SarahJ

If I'm going out I would put it on, but not to the point where I'm orange. I hate when girls put it on their face and they havw dry skin so it goes all patchy euw

Dragan

PurplePrincess wrote: »

@ Dragan, why do a$$holes go for girls with a tan? Do they think she's an easy lay or what??

Pretty much. Plenty of guys i know work off the basic assumption that because THEY get dressed up to get laid ( by dressed up read shower, spend half an hour picking at their hair, thrown on some sh1te looking shirt that will be a mild variety of the ones their mates wear and hit the streets ) that girls do the same.

In their heads the ONLY reason that YOU would get dressed up is to attract THEIR attention. Sure why else would you spend ages working on looking good?

It would never even enter their head that girls just like to look good!

I would see the same thing with insecure friends who's girlfriends were going out, the would get all worried about why she was dressing herself up, putting on the make up.....doing all those things that the guy associates with her desire to look good, because in a sad and juvenile little way he doesn't want her to want to look good when his is not about.

It's like the whole "tramp stamp" thing that went around about girls who have a tattoo on their lower back. This was supposed to mean they would always be up for it and such.

Pretty pathetic thinking really.

LolaDub

*runs off to get tatoo removed*

Flojo

Dragan wrote: »

Pretty much. Plenty of guys i know work off the basic assumption that because THEY get dressed up to get laid ( by dressed up read shower, spend half an hour picking at their hair, thrown on some sh1te looking shirt that will be a mild variety of the ones their mates wear and hit the streets ) that girls do the same.

In their heads the ONLY reason that YOU would get dressed up is to attract THEIR attention. Sure why else would you spend ages working on looking good?

It would never even enter their head that girls just like to look good!

I would see the same thing with insecure friends who's girlfriends were going out, the would get all worried about why she was dressing herself up, putting on the make up.....doing all those things that the guy associates with her desire to look good, because in a sad and juvenile little way he doesn't want her to want to look good when his is not about.

It's like the whole "tramp stamp" thing that went around about girls who have a tattoo on their lower back. This was supposed to mean they would always be up for it and such.

Pretty pathetic thinking really.

Arschgeweih: German for a$$ antlers.

Laughed so hard when I saw them being described as that!!

Curlypinkie

I don't think that guys even notice a tan/ lack of it if it's done properly or if it's a natural one.
Where I come from everyone do sunbeds, yes even the blokes, and it's just normal to look tanned all year around.
Ive noticed the reason that tan-in-a-bottle looks so horrific on some youngwans is that they're either to pale to start with or they apply it in a very 'i don't give a shyte' way.

I'm all for pale and natural, coz I can't do sunbeds on account of my complexion but I don't think it's in any way weird or unattractive to have a nice natural(looking) tan.

If we were living in California no one would ever whinge about it, eh?

*dreams away*

LadyMayBelle

I personally was very anti fake tan until recently...i am very pale and always wore tights instead of bare legs. but i use san tropez everyday and find it gives me a real subtle glow without the brown fake tan look. i now feel more confident to bare the legs as they arent pasty white! plus its a moisturizer so thats so bonus.

Madame Razz

succumbed to tan this evening...out with a gang tomorro night and i'll be like casper if i dont make the effort!!

Palmers tanning moisturiser....my life saver!!!

Blush_01

Contemplating tanning for the first time ever for my cousin's wedding in September due to the colour of my dress. Any suggestions on what'll streak least?

Madame Razz

exfoliate well over the days coming up to it, and keep your skin well moisturised, then , as its for a wedding, go get yourself spray tanned, xen tan if you can find it, it'll cost much the same as buying a decent one and the results will be much better, esp as you haven't used one before.

Hope this helps!!

LolaDub

Exfoliate yourself until your skin is on the verge of bleeding in the shower, moisturise yourself as much as possible-i think saint tropex mousse is fairly foolproof but probably for the first time i'd go to a salon to be honest

Havermeyer

For what its worth, I think the natural look is much more appealing to me. Women who are comfortable in their own skin, rather than covered in piz-buin, tend to get my attention over someone who has obviously used fake tan; and most people I know would tend to agree with me on that.

Schism

It's funny how some women feel the need to justify wearing fake tan to others by saying they're very pale. It's Ireland, most of the country is milky!

Alessandra

I'm of sallow complexion but with the current climate don't get much exposure to the old UV. I'm not ashamed to say I wear fake tan. I look way better bronzed up. From thursday through Sunday I'm fake-baked, the rest of the days, unless something important comes up I am happy to be au naturelle.

Madame Razz

nummnutts wrote: »

rather than covered in piz-buin

Well you really would be an oompah loompah if you wore that stuff...

Its one of the original tango jobbies!!!

Reku

Curlypinkie wrote: »

It is indeed a chore... *sighs* but it gives me a bit of self confidence to bare a little leg in the warmer months. But in winter I couldn't give a rat's bottom... I always wear jeans or tights anyway, I am not baring my legs when it's like under 10 degrees out. You crazy Irish women, in that respect, I salute you

This is something that always baffles me, in previous years it's always seemed to be in the winter months that girls started wearing skirts, particularly miniskirts about town, how they aren't going around with blue legs is beyond me. At least this year they seem to have realised f*ck fashion, wear the short skirts in the summer when they are practical, though I'm still waiting to see if they keep wearing them in winter or have sense and wear something that offers a bit more protection against the elements.

Curlypinkie wrote: »

I don't think that guys even notice a tan/ lack of it if it's done properly or if it's a natural one.

The thing many girls seem to live in denial about is that even the good fake tans you can usually spot anyway, it was quite amusing in the olympics even seeing the atheletes and being able to tell at a glance whether they'd fake tan or not when the camera zoomed in. You'd think they'd be too busy worrying about their performance to waste time on this stuff.
Fact is Irish people are not meant to be tanned, pale people feeling they should use fake tan is no different to black people feeling they should use skin bleach. Neither situation should happen.

Blue_Lagoon wrote: »

Chemicals are not good for the skin, and frankly, some people look a lot better without them.

Indeed, how many times throughout history have we happily used chemicals on/in our bodies or our food only to be later told "oops, looks like it was actually harmful"?
DDT
E-numbers in foods
Thalidomide for pregnant women
cigarettes
etc...
Why add another questionable substance to the little cocktail mix we're already setting up in our bodies?

Madame Razz

Well the active ingredient in fake tans has been around since the 50s(DHA), so i think we're safe enough!!

And the short skirts will still be worn in winter, but with tights!!!

Big again for the autumn it seems!!!

Reku

UV's been around for millenia yet they only decided there around the 70s/80s that it was bad for us.
How long were mobile phones around before people started to question their safety?

Rant:

Besides it's not just whether it's safe, it's whether it's safe in conjunction with every other chemical and radiation that we subject ourselves to. In fact with the ever increasing levels of EM radiation we use for our technology these chemicals become ever more likely to react since it just takes the right frequency to begin pumping energy into the molecules, safety testing of the technology the frequencies are generated by is not going to be a fully comprehensive test of "well this hair conditioner, this foundation and this food additive can boil when within a 5m radius of the transmitter, and these ones will become unstable within 20m, but all the others are fine".

As with all the other chemicals and technology it's not been defined as safe, but rather safe so far as we know. For all anyone knows it could be reducing fertility, increasing odds of senile dementia, no-one knows as until someone spots a connection no-one does a study of such long term and subtle consequences as people take note of new results not analyses that show nothing the same thing as everyone already thought.

Why add to the risks when the benefit is only aesthetic, there's no health benefit to a fake tan? At least genuine tan has other health benefits due to the sunlight helping to produce vitamin D and also elevating mood due to the effect it has on neurotransmitter levels, so while it also has a known risk of cancer it has much more noteable benefits than fake tan.

Madame Razz

why then do you think women wear false tan??? Possibly to in someway emulate the feel good factor of a real tan???

And BTW, if your scientific rant was supposed to in someway bamboozle me perhaps this is a good time to point out I have a primary degree and masters in a life science discipline. I take your point on board but please do not attempt to come on here and make me out to be some oompah loompah bimbo by blinding me with science.

Anyhoo... i tanned last night and again this morning. cant say enough about that Palmers stuff, it really is the business.

As somebody who is so pale, i have to say i much prefer these gradual tanner jobbies, they're much easier to use, less full on and less messy, and at least you dont have as much of the casper effect in the pub on Friday night amongst the oompah loopah 'beauties'-thats what im aiming to avoid tonight;)

Still, i cant wait for the winter.....so i can fully embrace my paleness, and wear tights to hide my white stick legs!!!

Curlypinkie

Well I'll tell you two things Farohar.

1. Do I tan in the sun. Nope. In the Irish sun? Nope (what Irish sun?????)
I sometimes I do a sunbed if I feel an urge for UV but see above? No result on the skin. Just a bit of wellbeing from being warm/frying my skin for 5 minutes

2. Boy, if you've seen me with a self tanner there is NO WAY you would have said 'that is fake tan'. I am SO good.
And I think a lot of girls are at that level of practice now they can apply it without streaks, orangey bits etc.

If I want to go for the English/Irish/EU rose, I'll do it and I'll look well.
If I want to go for the little-bit-sunkissed-Heidi Klum look, I will indeed as well. Thank gosh for the choices we have nowadays eh?

LolaDub

The thing about saying i wear fake tan because i'm pale isn't to justify it or because i'm just pale its because my natural skin colour is sick looking white. When i'm natural and out and about i always have someone asking if i'm ill!!! Also my skin is the kind that doesn't tan i go from sickly white to tomato red in a half an hour on holidays without my factor 50!

Reku

manukahoney wrote: »

why then do you think women wear false tan??? Possibly to in someway emulate the feel good factor of a real tan???

It's not just a case of feeling good because you think you look good with real sun exposure, the sunlight actually affects the brain chemistry to make you feel good in a natural way completely separate to whatever further boost having a tan may give your ego.

manukahoney wrote: »

And BTW, if your scientific rant was supposed to in someway bamboozle me perhaps this is a good time to point out I have a primary degree and masters in a life science discipline. I take your point on board but please do not attempt to come on here and make me out to be some oompah loompah bimbo by blinding me with science.

:eek: Inadequacy issues much? I never in any way alluded to you not understanding, I put it in spoilers as I doubt very much most people care about the science and my reasons for feeling people should be more cautious about these things as they're much happier to just worry about the here and now.

Curlypinkie wrote: »

Well I'll tell you two things Farohar.

1. Do I tan in the sun. Nope. In the Irish sun? Nope (what Irish sun?????)
I sometimes I do a sunbed if I feel an urge for UV but see above? No result on the skin. Just a bit of wellbeing from being warm/frying my skin for 5 minutes

As well as vitamin D and the boost to endorphins.
Is it more important to look healthy or to be healthy? Many people can look a bit fat yet they'll be quite fit and as such have a low risk of heart attack, some slender people can have their arteries nearly completely clogged and have a high risk. Appearence is only a very rough indicator of health so yes it will help get you past other peoples' initial judgements but you yourself know whether or not you're healthy. Thanks to the big UV-cancer scare most of us are not getting enough vitamin D => most of us are at an increased risk of brittle bones, throw in the far more sedentry lifestyle most kids lead and we don't even build up bone density to the same level we used to, fake tan will do nothing to combat this.

Choice is good, I just worry about the possible consequences and the reasons behind making the choice. A nice new spray paint won't keep the engine of a car turning over, nor will painting a mini "ferrari-red" make it a ferrari.

dreamr

i say do tan. you look more healither with a tan, and it makes you slimmer looking, and makes your teeth appear whiter...

good "natural tan"s: johnson hoilday sun; fake ban, number 7...

LolaDub

Fake bake is one of those tand where you come out filthy looking. I guess if you use tan a lot you get used to the orange/dirty look. On fake tans though seriously less is more. A little colour i think looks lovely but some people border on looking black which stands out a fake tan mile!

dreamr

i agree less is more, but fake bake is good is done propperly, like if you exfoliate and wash it off propperly. also if you scrub all over next day, there shouldnt really be any problem. its only if you don't wash, or wash it off all over you get the patchie umpa lumpa look.

Toto Wolfcastle

I don't mind fake tan as long as it's put on properly. I can't understand why people will go outside with streaks all over them. I remember reading a post awhile back saying that she'd rather be streaky than pale. That's just weird.

I haven't used fake tan in a few years because I had skin grafts as a child and the scar doesn't take the tan that well, but I'm pretty confident as a pale person so it doesn't matter.

Put it on properly and there's no problem. Don't put it on properly and we'll laugh at you. Either way it doesn't bother me.

Madame Razz

LolaDub wrote: »

Fake bake is one of those tand where you come out filthy looking. I guess if you use tan a lot you get used to the orange/dirty look. On fake tans though seriously less is more. A little colour i think looks lovely but some people border on looking black which stands out a fake tan mile!

I so agree on the Fake Bake point!! Im extremely pale also, i dont think its designed for us pale and interesting types!!

Have tried XEn tan, and for me the colour is much better. And Fake Bake is ridiculous messy when you use it....mousse is marginally better!!

And I completely agree, less definately is more, its nice to have a glow in the summer months, but whenyou're as pale as me naturally, orangina aint a good look!!

amom

number 7 is the way to go! its costs around 15 quid fair/medium doesnt streak looks nice and healthy you can shower/ swim/ scuba dive or whatever floats your boat after two hours of applying it you can have it as dark or as light as you want varying on coats its so idiot proof i put it on drunk last night and this morning i have a nice natural glow i look so healthy i dont even believe i have a hangover!!!!:)

I tan once in a blue moon.

I just could not be bothered. Soo much work. And tan is expensive.. well good tan.

Meh. I'd prefer to be white.

amom

total respect for that, but you know what like most of the girls on here i just cant be bothered most of the time and ill be the most vocal one on how i'm irish i'm not meant to tan and ill bitch about the tangorina's that dominate my local however i am not afraid to admit that when i do put on a bit of tan(see post about number 7) i get that little wiggle in my step, i feel a bit more glamorous and just a little bit sexier when i get a glimpse of my arms etc i wont say legs cos tan or no tan you aint getting me into a skirt!

hehe i really seem to really like the word most!

Cazlou

LolaDub wrote: »

The thing about saying i wear fake tan because i'm pale isn't to justify it or because i'm just pale its because my natural skin colour is sick looking white. When i'm natural and out and about i always have someone asking if i'm ill!!! Also my skin is the kind that doesn't tan i go from sickly white to tomato red in a half an hour on holidays without my factor 50!

+1
I am an almost translucent pale! I also suffer from Reynaud's Syndrome, which for those who don't know, is a circulatory problem, which means in winter my hands go like blocks of ice.:( Not a great thing when I work mostly outdoors - and with children - and as they would often get freaked out by my purple and orange hands, I'd sometimes have to stick some of the wash-off tan on my hands to disguise them:o
But it all changes in summer - it's been great coz even in the few weeks of sunshine we get I manage to get a bit of colour. Last year I went to visit my (fake tan and sunbed worshipping) sister in the UK and when she saw me her reaction was ":eek:I need to slap on more fake tan" :pac: So luckily for me, in summertime, the only bit of fake tan I'd need is if I'm wearing a top that exposes some of my still-translucent areas.:D
Now don't get me wrong, as a child and into my teens I suffered viciously from heat-rash and prickly heat (So much so that on holidays my parents would have to make a little shelter for me to sit reading my comics in my t-shirt, shorts and hat in my total sunblock and on several occassions I'd still end up in casualty to get a steroid injection to calm the inflammation/itching down.:() so it's only in the last two summers that I haven't needed it. Not that I'd use it a whole bunch as it's way too timeconsuming, but on the odd occassion I would - it's been a godsend!;)

Madame Razz

amom wrote: »

number 7 is the way to go! its costs around 15 quid fair/medium doesnt streak looks nice and healthy you can scuba dive or whatever floats your boat

Yea, im scuba diving in a semi dry at the mo, it just whips the tan, any tan, right off, i might give the No7 a go, but i'd be surprised if twas any different tbh!!

trio

I think there are two types of white-white skin.

There's the type that is porcelain and shows few, if any, veins or blemishes. They look fantastic with their natural colour.

Then there's me, with so many blue veins visible on my skin I look like a map of the Tube. There's no way I'm exposing these legs to public consumption. It'd be less a case of "get a load of yer wans nice pins" and more "Jaysus, I can see her veins!" NOT the reaction you'd be looking for.

But fake tan covers up all of that. Every time I have to wear a skirt or dress, I always get a salon tan. I haven't the energy or the know-how to do a good job myself and I find that if you tell the salon "One coat only please" then it comes out less of a tan and more just warmed-up and concealing.

But in this climate, I'm only going to be wearing a dress or a skirt basically when I go to weddings. I mean, it's August and I'd be freezing without my jeans!

I know some girls however who literally feel wierd without the tan, and use those tan moisterisers every single day. That would wreck my head. It's too much like work for me. It's all I can do to brush my hair some days, y'know?

mwarrior

Just put on tan this evening as big night out tomorrow. Other half came home, immediately sniffed the air and went "Fake tan - eugh, I hate that stuff" and continued moaning about it!
I used to put it on every week but got a bit too lazy and now just do it if haave big night out. Only takes me less than 10 mins to put on and I've got it nicely mastered so rarely get streaks. Use Ambre Solaire tanning milk, cheap as chips & easy to put on. Its just the tacky feeling and the complaints about the smell that stops me doing it more often.
However, I still persist coz everytime I put it on, I feel much better in myself and people comment that I look well and ask me have I cut my hair/lost weight/done something else good! So as a result I feel better in myself even more so! great stuff!:-)