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Original poster

Anybody else have skin that just does NOT tan?

46 replies

user9156 · 19/10/2023 15:10

I've been on holiday for about a week and have obviously been exposed to the sun all during this time. I'm still white as a sheet though 🤷🏻‍♀️

It's so frustrating, DP & DS have tanned but I'm the same colour as when I left home. I'd have liked a bit of a glow but nothing so far.

Anybody else like this?

OP posts:
SoRainbowRhythms · 19/10/2023 15:11

Yep. I made peace with it in my 20s and embrace my colouring now. I still look younger than my age too!

JaninaDuszejko · 19/10/2023 15:11

Yes. I just don't do sunbathing. I'm in my 50s and have very few wrinkles though so swimgs and roundabouts.

Original poster
user9156 · 19/10/2023 15:12

I enjoy the actual sunbathing but I never get anything from it. And my family joke all the time about how pale I am and I'm basically see through and I need to be out in the sun constantly but I just don't see the point!

OP posts:

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Beauty
CMOTDibbler · 19/10/2023 15:13

I burn or am ghostly white. Nothing else (apart from when I get a rash from sun exposure), so I am like some sort of sun safe skin advert when its sunny

TheBirdintheCave · 19/10/2023 15:14

SoRainbowRhythms · 19/10/2023 15:11

Yep. I made peace with it in my 20s and embrace my colouring now. I still look younger than my age too!

^^ Same. This is just the colour I am and I've learnt to like it.

AlliterativeAlice · 19/10/2023 15:15

Yes, I used to stay out so long in the sun I'd get heatstroke but no tan. I did consider using natural looking fake tan but I'm older now and really don't care enough about my pale skin to bother.

AffIt · 19/10/2023 15:16

Yep. My skin is very white and I always wear high-factor protection, because otherwise I will burn, and that's painful and dangerous.

The only time my skin colour ever changed from light-blue to sort-of-freckly-milk was when I lived in Formentera for six months, and even then I was back to light-blue within about a fortnight of coming home to Scotland.

I've made my peace with it, though: I may be almost see-through, but at 44, I do look a lot younger than people of a similar age who have been basking in the sun for 30+ years.

SantaBarbaraMonica · 19/10/2023 15:17

Yeah but you have to stop equating tanning with something better than not.

JohnThorntonsOverbearingMother · 19/10/2023 15:18

I'm a number 1 on the Fitzpatrick Scale. Just little to no melanin going on in my body. It used to bother me but I made peace with it and have now embraced the pale. It's also meant I've had to be hyper vigilant when in the sun, so my 40-something complexion is in pretty great condition as a result.

Wrongsideofpennines · 19/10/2023 15:18

Same here. I spent 3 weeks in Africa and came back at white as ever. I do burn easily and freckle up a bit but I don't tan. Rarely even get strap marks from watches or rings.

Jasmin1971 · 19/10/2023 15:22

Same here. The only way is to embrace it. I got sick of being bullied by the girls who could tan when it was almost compulsory in the 80's.

At least we have make up that caters for us these days🤣

TheBirdintheCave · 19/10/2023 15:29

JohnThorntonsOverbearingMother · 19/10/2023 15:18

I'm a number 1 on the Fitzpatrick Scale. Just little to no melanin going on in my body. It used to bother me but I made peace with it and have now embraced the pale. It's also meant I've had to be hyper vigilant when in the sun, so my 40-something complexion is in pretty great condition as a result.

Ooh interesting, looking at that scale I'm a 2 I think.

Beezknees · 19/10/2023 15:33

Me. I am white and I burn extremely easily. I don't actually care though. Tanning isn't good for the skin. I stay out of the sun and haven't got many wrinkles as a result. People are always surprised when I tell them my age.

AuntieMarys · 19/10/2023 15:35

I never tan. I enjoy being pale and have great skin in my 60s.

Disturbia81 · 19/10/2023 15:37

I don't tan but it's paid off as my skin is great. The people I know who tan well haven't aged well. Everything in life is a trade off!

DiscoDragon · 19/10/2023 15:42

I only burn, never had a tan! It's bizarre really, my mum is half Arabic and her skin goes a lovely deep brown when she's been in the sun. My dad also tans really nicely. Then there's me with my very dark hair and very white skin, slathered in Factor 50 at any hint of sunshine. I must have inherited my pasty complexion from my nan I think!

JamSandle · 19/10/2023 15:42

That's actually a good thing - no sun damage.

AdoraBell · 19/10/2023 15:44

I’ve only ever tanned once, took 2 weeks with using high SPF. Usually I burn and now I have recurring solar keratosis, skin lesions caused by UV light.

Embrace your natural hue and if you want a tan use fake tan.

Gruntsandgroans · 19/10/2023 15:47

I'm so pale I think I just reflect the sun off me and that's why I never tan. I've long since stopped worrying about it, there is nothing wrong with being pale.

Fernleigh22 · 19/10/2023 15:49

JamSandle · 19/10/2023 15:42

That's actually a good thing - no sun damage.

Not getting a tan does not equal no sun damage!!

SquashPenguin · 19/10/2023 15:49

My skin is like this but I’ve learned to live with it. I used to get picked on by my friends, but jokes on them because they’re they ones all wrinkly and Im the one still getting asked for ID aged 37 😆

LadyB49 · 19/10/2023 19:01

I lived in Spain for a year and in North Africa for a year. No tan. Red hair, white skin and freckles.

Faytella2020 · 19/10/2023 19:07

I just get a good quality spray tan before I go anywhere

ALongHardWinter · 19/10/2023 19:12

Yes. For some reason,the tops of my arms (between shoulder and elbow) just will not tan. The rest of my body does though. Very odd.

Kweenbee · 19/10/2023 19:17

Me. That's Celtic forbears for you. So white it's practically blue. I very occasionally go red.

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