Why do white women hate their fair skin?

[epari]

Okay so I'm a white woman myself. Ever since I was in school, which was 99 percent white, all I got was

"Milk bottle legs"

"Put some fake tan on"

"Get on the sunned"

I thought it was so confusing considering these girls were the same skin tone as me underneath their makeup etc.

I just never got it, and when I would ask the question all I got was "life's better with a tan, everyone looks better bla bla bla"

But if I'm completely honest, fake tan looks fake, it's so obvious however much you convince yourself it's not, and ironically since I married into a Middle Eastern family, my husband constantly praises how he loves my fair skin and told me fake tan looks disgusting bla bla bla.

So I actually want to know, why is it the majority of British girls and American etc hate their own skin tone?

Because it shows up every dark hair follicle, every spot, blemish, vein, my cheeks are unattractively ruddy often due to the transparency. Cellulite and stretch marks look 1000x worse on me than anyone with even slightly darker skin.

Oh, hair follicles. I swear I can shave and have stubble thirty seconds later.

I never used to mind in general but I hate my pale legs, they look veiny and in winter they go all blotchy. I'm not very hairy though and my leg hairs are very fair and fine so I have no issues there.

I used to wear fake tan all the time but it smells, it's expensive and time consuming and frankly I can't be arsed any more and am determined to love myself as I am.

Although I am secretly pleased that DS has inherited his father's more olive skin tone and natural tan rather than my paleness.

I don't hate it I like:
Freckles
Wrinkles
Dull grey pallor
Sunburn

I'm living in a country where the pharmacies are full of skin whitening/lightening products. I'm desperate for gradual tanner as my legs are so white and as PPs have said it shows up veins etc. but can't find any.

There's also placenta face cream here too. Made from cows placentas. Bleurgh.

That's a bit of a generalisation.

@WrongKindOfFace me too, til I got laser hair removal.

I’m very pale.
Like almost see through pale. You can see every vein, scar, blemish very easily. It’s pretty much impossible to find make up that matches - I usually have to buy the lightest shades available and then use Kat Von D pure white foundation to lighten it even more.
But I’m fine with it personally I take meticulous care of my skin, am very careful in the sun etc.
I think I look ridiculous with a tan! About a month before my wedding, I decided to try a spray tan and see how I felt about it, and I just looked like I needed a good wash!!

Maybe the only thing I don’t like about being so pale is how often I get asked “are you feeling alright?”
I’m not ill...this is just my face

I like being pale and burn very easily. I'm not interested in tanning and stay out of the sun. I like sitting out in nice weather but need to be in the shade. People making comments annoy me a bit, like when I come back off holiday and haven't got a tan, like that's the be all and end all of holidays.

I cover up my pale skin because every lump & bump show up like craters on the moon and my veins look like a UK road map.
I don't hate my colouring, I use plenty of SPF50, I'm just aware I'm a bit pale.

I'm very pale and often get told I need to get out in the sun. I always retort with 'No, I hate it' and it's true. I'm a summer loather and detest being out in it. I rather like my pasty skin and regularly just say I'm a vampire!

I love my pale skin now I'm an old fart but as a teenager (back in the dark ages) foundation choices were so limited that having a tan was an easier way of hiding my rosy cheeks and blemishes as everything I tried made me look like I'd been tangoed.

I remember when I was 18 I got a catalogue through the post for a French make up company which actually had very pale and dark options... I actually wept with joy and embraced my paleness.

I do like it when I get a bit of sun as my freckles come out but I think finding that make up company was a god send because they also had SPF so I was protecting my skin from an early age and so far it's not turned out like a leather sofa.

Being pale doesn't preclude you from having healthy natural rosy cheeks and sparkly eyes, it often enhances them.

However if you're ill you tend to look ill whatever your skin tone.

Same with blemishes and cellulite, slapping on tan doesn't erase them.

I don’t know why people say they hate fake tan

Good fake tan just looks like the healthy glow and natural tan people say they like in others

The only bad fake tan is a bad fake tan job with orangey blotches

Good fake tan is amazing

I'm very fair skinned, have always been fair skinned, have never tanned either by sun or sunbed and not about to start in my 70s. I don't hate it, better than some of the absurd tanned people I've seen. How utterly stupid do these look: www.oddee.com/item_98182.aspx

I have very pale skin and (despite trying quite a bit in my younger years) simply don't tan at all.

In my teens and 20s I desperately wanted to have a tan and thought that I hated my pale skin. Then in my 30s it occurred to me that I didn't actually dislike my skin, just the fact that lots of people seemed to think it was OK to make negative comments about it, especially on holiday. As an adult in my 20s I have had strangers trying to rub various 'tanning' oils on to me (without even asking), had my factor 30 suncream put in a bin by a stranger (because apparently I'll never tan if I use that muck), been asked why I bother going on holiday to sunny places if I'm not even going to try to get a tan and been called all sorts of names by blokes that were trying to chat up my friends. For many years I would not wear anything that showed my legs without tights (even in hot weather) so also got comments about wearing long skirts etc on holiday.

Since I realised that it's the dick's who think they can make these comments that I hate, and not my skin (which as a pp noted, does a great job of keeping my organs in my body) I have felt much less self conscious. But that's probably easier for me now I'm middle aged and invisible than it would have been when I was younger and gave a shit

I am really pale and I bloody love it.
What an idiotic generalisation to make.

My boyfriend is very very pale, you can see his veins, even the little ones around his eyes etc. He has a tan at the moment and you can’t see them as much, which he prefers.

I’m asian, you can see veins, most blemishes etc, so with dark skin you can get away with more flaws without people noticing as much, which for very self conscious people could be a issue.

It’s a shame that some people resort to sun beds, they’re just not worth the risk of skin cancer.

I was relentlessly bullied for being pale with dark hair. From people at school to staff at college. And when I say school I mean from early juniors through the whole of seniors.
Yeah it was a shit time I don't like thinking about school

Indian here and half of my family have white skin. Not pale pink / yellow / beige skin but full on true white / vampire face that never tans but can reveal veins underneath. Surprisingly Indian brands like Lakme are the only ones that stock the pure white / pale white foundations and concealers - so if that’s what you need, I suggest talking to an Indian beautician as many order this shade as needed directly from Indian suppliers.

I accepted my pale skin a long time ago. I was a teenage goth and hid from the sun like a vampire while my friends were going on sunbeds, and even after the goth phase I just never took to tanning. I think tans are lovely on olive-toned people like my daughter but couldn't be arsed trying to artificially create the look on myself- too much effort and money.

I agree OP that it's weird that disparaging very white or fair skin is acceptable. I've heard women say they "couldn't go out" or wear skirts without fake tanning their legs and it's just another bullshit thing to make women feel bad about themselves. Beauty comes in all colours and shapes and sizes.

I have fair (ivory) skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. I like my skin but think it looks even better with a light golden tan - it evens everything out and makes my hair and eyes stand out. I dont like dark tans but I think thats just because I’m older and it wouldnt suit my colouring. Ive only ever heard one or two people say they dont like their light skin and they never used fake tan.

I'm pale and quite like it, one of my boyfriends when I was a teenager, referred to my skin as alabaster, I like that, to me much more positive than milk bottle

I’m Caspar the Friendly Ghost

I protect the paleness of my skin fiercely!