To embrace being pale!

[Boo2012]

Hi all, I'm very fair and freckle. Ginger/Strawberry blonde. I have been tanned in the past. Mainly when I was younger from the sun. But I'm more careful now I'm older. I've tried fake tan but I'm not great at it plus I have eczema so it doesn't all agree with me.

Anyway, like I said I'm trying to be much more careful in the sun. When I was younger I was guilty of getting burnt. I've never been a sun worshipper who sits in it all day though. But I've been sunburnt a fair few times.

My own mother is exactly that - a sun worshipper. She just sits in it for hours and puts oil on to burn. No good for anyone but that's her choice.

I seen my mum recently. I had some shorts on. She told me that my legs were too white for it and I should tan them up before wearing shorts again. Aibu to think that's really bleddy rude? It takes a lot of confidence for me to wear a pair of shorts as it is as not so skinny since having dc.

I agree a tan looks incredible but aibu to think people should embrace pale too? Particularly those fair headed people like me who are more at risk of the sun rays. My mum is naturally much darker skinned than me anyway. I don't know where I get the ginger gene from tbh.

So yes aibu to embrace the pale? And just think bugger it I'm going to go out with shorts and pale legs. It's so hot here! 😒

I don't have enough time to sit in the sun (with suncream) to even get a slight tan. I'm just not a fan of sitting around in it.

@VladmirsPoutine

I'm sorry and now I'm trying to understand but as a kid (my father is white) I recall very early on wondering why I didn't have his skin colour and really wanting blonde hair too. To hear that that sort of skin is also mocked is really a bit odd to me. It really is. So then if you're that pale there's no tanning for you lot - you basically go from white to red. So what do you do in Summer?

I'd never in a million years say that us pale people getting 'would you not put some tan on those pasty legs' comments are comparable to the abuse Black and Asian people can get for their skin colour, but it's a weird thing where for a lot of white people having a tan in the summer is very important and if you're someone who's a 1 on the Fitzpatrick Scale you can find yourself being pitied or advised to get stuck into the fake tan. Beauty standards are deeply ingrained!

People who burn easily need to be pretty vigilant with the sunscreen. Sunburn is not a good look!

@WorraLiberty

"...but my sisters could burn just by reading a weather forecast."

Yep, this is me.

I know I shouldn't laugh but is there some sort of support group?

No but seriously. This is all news to me!!! I wanted to be white as a child!

how are you supposed to get a tan if you cover your legs up?

I know I shouldn't laugh but is there some sort of support group?

Haha, I just give a knowing nod to my fellow paleys on a very hot day 🥵

I’ve had my face commented on too - you need some colour in your cheeks, you look washed out etc
I actually have a patch on my body that has no pigment (like a reverse birthmark) so if I get some extra colour it should be there 🤣

@VladmirsPoutine Honestly, I used to live in a shared house and I was the only fair-skinned person and had to take a LOT of piss-taking about how 'we went outside and Fangs started to burn inside a minute'. Not that I cared.

Hello from another pale person! I have light aubern hair (sort of ginger - im not really sure what colour you'd call my hair), but anyway im super pale and I embraced it a long time ago. I love my pale skin and I dont care what others think.

Your mother is super rude, and frakley more fool her for laying around in the sun and spending a load of money on tanning products.

My skin next to my mixed race uncle

Stunning eye-colour @pawsqueen

Thanks my mums are dark brown and my dads are blue. Think I'm the milkman's

I know it's a serious issue and all that but all you pale people coming to air your grievances!

Can I ask - did a lot of the commentary come from other pale-skinned people, people of other races or who? Because it's just such a mis-match to me. When I was born apparently one of my aunts congratulated my parents that I wasn't "too dark." So I can't get over how anybody could mock literal whiteness!!

So then if you're that pale there's no tanning for you lot - you basically go from white to red. So what do you do in Summer?

I am very pale and love it. In the summer I put factor 50+ sunscreen on so that I don't burn or tan.

@VladmirsPoutine

I know it's a serious issue and all that but all you pale people coming to air your grievances!

Can I ask - did a lot of the commentary come from other pale-skinned people, people of other races or who? Because it's just such a mis-match to me. When I was born apparently one of my aunts congratulated my parents that I wasn't "too dark." So I can't get over how anybody could mock literal whiteness!!

Most of my comments came from just average people of all types, including one dark skinned woman who told me I shouldnt show my legs because they're so pale - never any comments from super pale people. Once a literal stranger on the beach told me he needed sunglasses to be around me because I was too bright and should come with a health warning.

I put factor 50 on my face and cover the rest up mostly.

@VladmirsPoutine the people taking the piss out of me were different ethnic origin to me.

For me it was mainly from white people, but not the glow in the dark ones (like me).

@VladmirsPoutine

I know it's a serious issue and all that but all you pale people coming to air your grievances!

Can I ask - did a lot of the commentary come from other pale-skinned people, people of other races or who? Because it's just such a mis-match to me. When I was born apparently one of my aunts congratulated my parents that I wasn't "too dark." So I can't get over how anybody could mock literal whiteness!!

Most of it came from sun worshipers for me.

Mind you, I had to laugh at my sister. She lives in Hampshire and one February we were sitting in her garden - warm coats, gloves, scarves etc while my kids played.

It was freezing cold but very sunny and that evening, she noticed she'd sunburnt one side of her face. Her husband asked if someone had slapped her 🤣

"Once a literal stranger on the beach told me he needed sunglasses to be around me because I was too bright and should come with a health warning."

@Letsallscreamatthesistene I'm sorry but

I really hate this notion that you need tanned legs in order to wear shorts. I used to completely avoid wearing shorts because my legs were so pale, but then decided life's too short, and now wear them all summer long.

I remember two occasions as a teenager - the first was going on holiday with my family, and a friend of mine joined us. She was naturally darker skinned than me and developed a lovely tan. We befriended a few other English teens, and they all commented on how lovely and tanned she was, and how pale I was. I felt so insignificant! The second time I went on holiday, when I returned back to my weekend job there was another girl who had also just returned from holiday. Of course, she was tanned and I wasn't, and everyone commented about the difference, and questioned whether I had even been abroad.

It's just bullshit, I wish I had been more confident in myself back then to tell people to fuck off and not be so rude.

@VladmirsPoutine

"Once a literal stranger on the beach told me he needed sunglasses to be around me because I was too bright and should come with a health warning."

@Letsallscreamatthesistene I'm sorry but

@Letsallscreamatthesistene I'm sorry but  

Really?

This is just the complete antithesis to everything I experienced. I was told to stay out of the sun incase I got 'too dark'. I just can't believe the opposite side of the spectrum was experiencing the same thing albeit differently!!!

I've always had as a kid
Doctor "you're very pale, maybe you're anaemic"
Mum "no, that's just her skin"

@VladmirsPoutine

"Once a literal stranger on the beach told me he needed sunglasses to be around me because I was too bright and should come with a health warning."

@Letsallscreamatthesistene I'm sorry but

Really? Is it really funny to you that someones skin should be laughed at? I think you're trivialising it because its pale skin in question.

I get this all the time in the US but not here, have always marvelled that for once I'm not the palest person on the beach on a U.K. beach.,

@Letsallscreamatthesistene No sorry, that was a really shit thing to happen esp no less because I hate when strangers invite themselves into personal spaces that they were not required in - esp men. But it's just such a bizarre thing to say.