Why are some people so pale?

[Ghostskin]

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 😊

I am very pale which is funny because two of my children and my husband look Mediterranean. I have to hide from the sun and so do my other two Dcs. Genetics innit.

I should tan, I'm naturally very dark haired like my dad & he always tanned easily, my mum is fairer but she tans well. Ds is white blond & burns even when he isn't in direct sunlight.

My daughter and I don't burn either. I have burned, she has never burned in her life. I don't slather on suncream. I only spray with a factor 30 once a day if she's out in the midday sun. The other day she had nothing on and was out in it though in the garden and still did not burn. I put on a factor 15 and nothing happens, but now I'm older I go slightly less pale, but not brown, and never red. We're both Scottish/Irish/Welsh/English

I am incredibly pale too. Despite the heatwaves I a still so white that you can see deep blue veins across my body. The most I get is an increase in freckles on my face and lower arms.

(To be fair personally though this is explained because I actively avoid going outside as much as possible during June to August because I have a medical condition where I cannot regulate my temperature winter and summer alike and cannot cool off as quick as my body needs me to so I can collapse and/or vomit just bagging my grocery order at the front door door and then putting them away in the kitchen, never mind actually going outside. )

I'm pale and never tan or burn! But I do get freckles though. Only me and one sibling in the family are this way. We have Irish ancestry too. I've learnt to embrace my paleness and actually feel lucky I don't burn easily.

I have pale skin too and all I get in the sun is freckles. I always wear a face cream with spf all year around and in a summer sunscreen all over my body. I actually really like having pale skin.

Quite a mystery as well as to where it comes from as both my parents had much darker skin tones.

My brother is the same and we are Scottish/Irish background. He has the palest skin, jet black hair and the darkest eyes, I always wished mine were as dark and was jealous of his eyelashes! We are all very olive skinned and tan great. When we were kids I used to call him a vampire because his skin never changed colour. Funny how genetics works.

That's weird you don't burn. Never heard of that before!

I am very pale (translucent almost with a reddish (sometimes blue) hue (and corn beef legs)..lovely!) but burn extremely easily. I can't leave the house on any day with medium UV above without extensive preparation and have to be so careful with my sun cream to not miss a bit, to reapply regularly and stay in the shade/cover up/wear hats etc. I also get heat stroke very easily. I never tan, just burn and go white again. Very annoying!

I'm sickening pale and was assumed albino at the hospital.

It's vile and I hate it.

Every flaw(bite, spot, redness) shows up so much worse than for a normal person.

I'm the same but now over 50 I'd say beware. All the bits you miss with sunscreen because you never tan or just burn eventually- hands, arms etc will eventually get freckles and then what are ageing sunspots. I have no wrinkles or sun damage on my face, chest etc- as I always used spf or stayed in the shade. But my hands and lower arms are starting to look a bit eugh even though I started the spf on them about 10 years ago. Legs have never changed colour- ever. Just blue.

@PeloAddict but your uncle is actually sunburned not tanned! I have two daughters one is milk bottle pale and never tans. She burns even with factor 50+. She has green eyes and mousy brown hair. My other daughter has blue eyes and dark blonde hair but she tans. Has had Spanish people speaking to her in Spanish in Spain as they thought she was Spanish. My dad has red hair, blue eyes and got burnt in the shade in Spain once with factor 50+ on him! My mum has green eyes and jet black hair but also tans like my blue eyed daughter. We're Irish. But there is a bit of a running joke in the family that my mums ancestors came over over with the Spanish armada!

@Ghostskin my pale skinned daughter is even paler than you. She spends a fortune on fake tan but it's definitely a lot safer for her!

@ouch321 I have at least 3 awful white burn marks on my wrists, my fault for being clumsy when using the oven! They only show up so well because of my olive skin, they don’t tan like the rest of my arm! It looks like I’ve been self harming?

@Hollyhobbi it's a scar/mark on his cheek he has some form of rosacea from being a boxer and taking so many hits won't mention the cauliflower ears

Some people rub on stuff to get darker, some people rub on stuff to get lighter, what the heck is going on in this world? I think it's silly celebrities on Love Island messing with everyone's heads. Sorry I am not a fan of Love Island. I think it's society expecting people to look more darker or lighter or whatever, it's crazy. Mad world.

Forgot to mention my dad has also got freckles on his freckles.

I’m very pale (porcelain foundation here too!) but tan extremely easily, but dh (Celtic ancestry) just burns. Our dc are a mix.

I'm a brunette with ginger lights and very white freckly skin. My face gets incredibly freckly in the sun especially when I am pregnant. My forearms and ankles hold a slight tan (not enough to see a watch line or anything though). I am hoping my freckles will eventually join up to look like a tan.

I lived abroad when I had my second baby and the ObGyn called me in for an emergency appointment because she had never seen Vitamin D levels so low. She made me take high dose and sit outside for an hour a day for the remainder of my pregnancy. I'm Scottish we are all deficient!

I'm the same as you but I don't bother with fake tan.

My sister (who only has to look at the sun to tan beautifully) kindly describes me as ‘so pale you’re see-through’.

I burn just looking out the window and need to wear factor 60+ and reapply religiously in order to be outdoors in the summer. It’s become a running joke amongst my friends, I’m so careful. I always have factor 60 with me, even if outdoors for 15 minutes and need to wear a hat. If I do see sun I burn spectacularly for a day or two and then revert back to extreme paleness. On top of that I have brown eyes and mousy brown/dirty blonde (depends who you ask) hair so no excuse…

I’m Canadian with Scottish/Irish ancestory. I always joke that my ideal climate is 12*C and overcast/rain, extreme temperatures are not my friends.

funnily enough I asked the same question but in a different way this week. What is so wrong with porcelain white skin.

I have not read the full thread so many apologies if I am repeating pp. Pale skin and eyes synthesis vitamin D more efficeniently so it is a human evolutionary trait for areas where sunlight very poor - so people are palest with pale eyes in the North - UK, Scandinavia etc

I’m the opposite - I’m Irish, have olive skin and tan very easily. Which is annoying because it means I get an uneven farmers tan - I don’t sunbathe because I don’t like being out in the sun. I even tried wearing SPF50 to stop the dodgy tan lines but I still tan

I am a bit whiter than you but burn immediately so I don’t ever go out in the sun. I can almost feel a clock ticking when I am in the sun.

I hate being in direct sun and feel like I’m dying in it. When it’s beating down on me I feel sick, my instinct is to hide.

I had to wait in the sun for about 10 minutes last Tuesday and got so badly burned on my neck, I had to use first aid burn gel on it. I can’t understand why anyone would put their skin through that when there are such good fake tans now.

the rest of my family sat out for over an hour and soaked up the sun and didn’t burn at all.

I’m the only redhead though, maybe that has an impact?

do you have red hair? I wonder if this might be the difference between burning and not.