Why are some people so pale?

Ghostskin · 2022-08-14T21:50:21+00:00

I’m extremely pale and always have been. I look like I’m ill but it’s just my natural skin colour! My ethnicity is a mixture of Irish and Scottish. I use fake tan when I need to and avoid sunbeds. Today I was thinking and was curious, why is it that some pale people just don’t change colour at all? With my skin, everyone expects me to burn easily but I don’t. I barely change colour in the sun. I spent the last few days without suncream (don’t come at me, it was a mistake and I hadn’t expected to be outside today or yesterday) and I haven’t changed colour at all. My shoulders, neck, tummy, arms, waist and legs were exposed to the sun all day and if anything I think they’re whiter! I’ve attached a picture of the colour of my arm tonight. I do eventually burn but not easily. On holiday as a (stupid) teenager I refused to wear suncream because I wanted to tan- once I spent 4 days by the pool in a bikini in 40 degree heat- eventually I burned a little bit but not nearly as much as I’d have expected with the heat, my skin colour and no sunblock. Obviously I usually wear suncream now but even without it I don’t burn easily and I never, ever tan. Why do some pale people not tan, burn or change colour at all? Is it to do with not having any melanin? TIA 😊

toffeechai · 14/08/2022 22:51

I’m the same! I burn but not that easily and mostly stay the colour of tippex.

Wouldloveanother · 14/08/2022 22:52

Genetics.

Tigofigo · 14/08/2022 22:54

Assume it's a lack of melanin?

One of my children is like this - v pale and really doesn't change colour. Will burn but only where skin is thinnest. Otherwise stays milky white. It's crazy.

DramaAlpaca · 14/08/2022 22:55

My DH and two of our sons are the same. Skin that is so pale it is practically translucent, and it stays that way. DH can look a bit red from being in the sun then next day be pale again. Also Irish ancestry.

As for me, I just burn.

TeapotTitties · 14/08/2022 22:56

You shouldn't dislike your skin colour, I think pale skin is beautiful.

I have no idea why some people tan and some don't though.

CounsellorTroi · 14/08/2022 22:57

I don’t change colour easily either. I’m Celtic colouring blue eyed brunette. I’d need to spend two weeks on a sun lounger and that is just not my idea of a holiday. I do envy people who catch the sun just walking around in it.

DisplayPurposesOnly · 14/08/2022 22:57

Just be aware that sun tan/burn is not the only damage the sun does to your skin. That's caused by UVB rays. You need a sunscreen that also protects against UVA which also causes danag5 but not visibly.

MrsFerguson · 14/08/2022 22:58

CounsellorTroi · 14/08/2022 22:57

I don’t change colour easily either. I’m Celtic colouring blue eyed brunette. I’d need to spend two weeks on a sun lounger and that is just not my idea of a holiday. I do envy people who catch the sun just walking around in it.

Exactly my colouring too!

Mortonpup · 14/08/2022 22:58

I barely change bar a few freckles though would go red and burn then straight back to whiter than white. Your skin has a lovely milky shade- looks gorgeous

AffIt · 14/08/2022 22:58

I have the Scottish skin colour that Billy Connolly famously once referred to as so white it's pale blue, but unlike you, I burn looking out of the window on a sunny day (to add insult to injury, it doesn't even fade to a tan - white to scarlet to white. Factor Dufflecoat all the way here).

My total inability to be out in the sun is a lack of melanin (although I'm just speculating here, I can't back it up with any science) - yours would suggest that you actually carry more than you think, although it may not show up in your 'day to day' skin colour.

Genetics are funny things.

Trumpetpants · 14/08/2022 23:00

I'm really pale, but I do burn, I go bright red but then back to white! Whereas my friends burn but then go brown. I feel your pain! Am also tired of people telling me I look unwell or must be very anaemic! X

lovelilies · 14/08/2022 23:00

Maybe it's be a you're so white you actually reflect the UV away?

JaneJeffer · 14/08/2022 23:01

It's a gene that prevents you from getting sunburnt.

notangelinajolie · 14/08/2022 23:03

DH has Irish ancestry. He can spend 2 weeks on holiday in the sun and return home without even the slightest hint of a tan. He tends to go pink after a day in the sun and then next morning he is back to pale and pasty.

CounsellorTroi · 14/08/2022 23:04

When I was young and interested in tanning, I found I couldn’t build up any colour - it would just fade by the next day.

Whitacre · 14/08/2022 23:05

I’m similar - pale skinned and don’t burn that easily, but I don’t tan either, I just stay the same colour. DH is pale and he burns much more readily, but he uses plenty of sunscreen and eventually tans. He’s blonde with blue/grey eyes whereas I’m reddish haired with brown eyes. Neither of us have Scottish or Irish ancestry that we know of - all English.

bluedomino · 14/08/2022 23:06

You have lovely skin, very even colour, it looks flawless. Embrace it, it makes you stand out. Why would you want to look like everyone else. Don't bother with fake tan it always looks fake.

PickAChew · 14/08/2022 23:08

AffIt · 14/08/2022 22:58

I have the Scottish skin colour that Billy Connolly famously once referred to as so white it's pale blue, but unlike you, I burn looking out of the window on a sunny day (to add insult to injury, it doesn't even fade to a tan - white to scarlet to white. Factor Dufflecoat all the way here).

My total inability to be out in the sun is a lack of melanin (although I'm just speculating here, I can't back it up with any science) - yours would suggest that you actually carry more than you think, although it may not show up in your 'day to day' skin colour.

Genetics are funny things.

I'm the same. I burn very quickly, even if it's cloudy. The only part of me that noticeably tans is the tops of my feet. The backs of my hands and my cheeks get a bit more creamy coloured, in the summer, and I get a few pale sandy coloured freckles on my cheeks and arms.

DH is ginger (I have that dark hair, blue eyes thing) and has the sort of big, splodgy freckles on his arms that look like they'll eventually merge into one.

TheBirdintheCave · 14/08/2022 23:10

My nanna was the daughter of Irish immigrants and she tanned extremely easily as does my dad.

My grandma was also born to Irish immigrants and was an extremely pale red head. Her mother had black hair and olive skin.

My mum inherited grandma's pale genes and passed them on to me. My aunt got the olive skin.

Basically genetics are weird 😂🤷🏻‍♀️

sleepwhenyouaredead · 14/08/2022 23:11

I always like tanning chart (redheads in our family)

twitter.com/irnbru/status/986997068324536321

PeloAddict · 14/08/2022 23:11

AffIt · 14/08/2022 22:58

I have the Scottish skin colour that Billy Connolly famously once referred to as so white it's pale blue, but unlike you, I burn looking out of the window on a sunny day (to add insult to injury, it doesn't even fade to a tan - white to scarlet to white. Factor Dufflecoat all the way here).

My total inability to be out in the sun is a lack of melanin (although I'm just speculating here, I can't back it up with any science) - yours would suggest that you actually carry more than you think, although it may not show up in your 'day to day' skin colour.

Genetics are funny things.

Same here
To add even more insult to injury, my mums side of the family are all dark skin, black hair and brown eyes. People thought my cousins were her children, and at a family event I looked like the odd one out among this sea of tanned people
I did my family tree on ancestry and my mums great great grandad was black which explains the coily hair/colouring

sleepwhenyouaredead · 14/08/2022 23:11

'this' tanning chart

PeloAddict · 14/08/2022 23:15

Here is me, next to my mums brother. I mean FFS could I not have got some of the tanned genes?

resuwen · 14/08/2022 23:18

TheBirdintheCave · 14/08/2022 23:10

My nanna was the daughter of Irish immigrants and she tanned extremely easily as does my dad.

My grandma was also born to Irish immigrants and was an extremely pale red head. Her mother had black hair and olive skin.

My mum inherited grandma's pale genes and passed them on to me. My aunt got the olive skin.

Basically genetics are weird 😂🤷🏻‍♀️

Interesting! My mother's family have Spanish ancestry and we are all either olive toned with black hair or pale with flame red hair. I've always found it fascinating!

LuckyXhi · 14/08/2022 23:18

Irish/French ancestry - I have jet black hair with blue eyes and tan at the drop of sunlight from May onwards … Only one of seven siblings to do so , and in family photos esp when younger I am the odd one out .
The only person in my extended family with similar skin tone is my maternal grandfather . Genetics are a very funny thing .