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 😊

That is interesting. I'd read something about that before but had long forgotten.

Does being so white have a lower instance of skin cancers? Cos that would be something pretty cool.

wow am I the only non-white in this thread 😂 everyone here saying pale pale but no one representing other people on here...

Redhead, Scottish, burn so easily, lots of freckles but do eventually change colour a bit by the end of summer. Wear a lot of factor 50.

husband goes so brown…

and apparently redheads do manufacture their own vitamin D…

nothing wrong with being pale

Your skin is beautiful! I am pale, and if I am 10 minutes in the sun without cream I burn.
Never tan. I did slightly when younger but clearly my skin doesn't produce enough melanin now

I am as pale as you are, but I freckle and do burn very easily in the sun (Scottish/Irish ancestry). Hot weather has always made me feel unwell. I don't try to tan.

I think you are beautiful as you are!

www.theguardian.com/science/2003/jul/03/thisweekssciencequestions4?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other Science behind pale skin that doesn’t tan

I'm very white and don't burn easily. After a whole summer in the sun I am not very very slightly golden but no more.

Genetics are really weird - my 3 children have the same face but each has totally different colouring. It's incredibly strange.

Irish people are so pale because of a specific gene from a single person probably in India about 10 million years ago. Same way blue eyes come from a single common ancestor.

I'm the same colour as you and the same ethnicity, Scot/ Irish. I used to hate it as a child/ teenager.

I spent 15 years living in northern Australia where there was a tropical climate and year round strong sunshine. I used to have annual skin checks at a skin cancer clinic (common in Australia!). I was told my chances of getting skin cancer with my skin type in that climate where actually higher than my chances of not getting skin cancer! Had to wear SPF50 year round and gloves while cycling and in the end it factored into decision to move, especially as I had a baby with the same colouring.j So as pp said, the fact I don't appear to easily burn doesn't mean the damage isn't being done.

"...weird Northern European yellow brown"...I feel seen!! 🤣

I have naturally yellow-toned skin and that's exactly what happens to me - I seem to go a slightly darker yellow rather than brown. (I'd go red in strong sun if I didn't wear SPF though, and FWIW I wear facial SPF consistently every day from about April to Sept, and usually in Spring and Autumn if outside much too.)

I don’t think it’s a lack of exposure to sun. I live in the south of Europe, it’s hot all summer and high altitude winter with lots of sun still.
I do wear sun cream when outside, but not every moment and I’m still super pale compared to almost everyone else.

Even my toddler who’s slathered in factor 50 daily, kept out the peak sun etc has more olive looking skin.

I’m so pale I actively look a palish blue if I put my hand next to any other person’s in winter. I have Scandinavian rather than the Celtic colouring though, blonde hair and blue eyes with pale eyebrows. I spend a lot of time fake tanning/brow tinting and getting a root melt to make it look like my hair is naturally slightly darker 😂

I’m blonde, green eyes, so white it’s blue skin tone. I burn, but it fades in a day or or two. I don’t tan. I spent three weeks living and working outdoors in Japan in the summer. I came back with slightly darker arms…

My parents and sibling are both more tanned than me. My nephew looks like my brother, but my little niece looks to be going the same way as me. Poor child.

I have recent Scottish and Irish ancestry.

Generics are weird.

I am blonde and very pale, the only place i tan is my feet :( my daughter who hair is slightly ginger has inherited my skin tone although her dad is more a 'normal' white skin tone which can tan.

My DD has that yellowy skin too, with blonde hair and brown eyes. I do sometimes look at her and marvel at how yellow she is, without any kind of liver problems! I find it fascinating as my DS is milk white with black hair and blue eyes.

OP, I’m like this. But I hate heat and sun so have never really sunbathed. I have since my late teens applied suncream if out and about

I am now nearly 60. I have a small bald patch on my scalp due to a skin graft, and a 2 inch scar down my face as a result of operations to remove skin cancers. I’ve now had 3 procedures over the last 6 years.

however, I also take high doses of vit D so I’m clearly not getting enough sun 🤷🏼‍♀️

damage to your skin from the sun does not come about form sun burn only or even tanning with controlled conditions. If your skin is lacking melonin then it has little protection from damage by the sun and you won’t know that till years down the line.

I know you said you didn’t want a lecture…however the attitude that you somehow know the point your skin will get damaged is naïve and a danger to your future health and appearance

I’d a.so add, that based on previous posters link to guardian article..I have a far from wrinkled face! My only lines are around my eyes still (I’m only 60), so it doesn’t even take that much to end up with skin cancer

im so so pale with red hair, burn in seconds, but my husband is dark brown and tans easily and loves the sun.

2 of my friends are red heads and married men that have the same colouring as my husband too. None of us have red haired children.

Mine get a bit of a tan, and my husband actually said to me once that our children aren’t ‘browner’ because we didn’t leave them out in the sun when they were younger. He thinks that can actually change your skin, with repeated exposure. I disagree!! I will never ever tan, just burn and I don’t think anything will change that.

I don't tan either. I do burn easily and on top of that I get polymorphic light eruption. Summer totally sucks for me.

Oddly enough I only get PLE on my right arm.

I’m very pale - to the point if I wear foundation, it’s about 4 shades too dark, no matter what brand it is or what they claim.

I can burn sitting inside in winter. I forgot to put sun cream on to do the school run a few weeks back - wasn’t during the heat wave, school is 0.2 miles away. My face was red by the time I got back and peeling the next day.

I never tan.

Eldest 2DDs have an Italian father so they are a very different colour to me; my youngest DD has a pale Scottish father and has my skin tone.

Eldest 2 don’t burn, never have, and they go darker even with Factor 50 on.

Strawberry blonde, blue eyes, pale and freckly skin here. I don't tan unless I spend two or three weeks somewhere sunny.

On Saturday I was out on a training hike all day in the strong sun and heat. Both my friend and I used factor 50 sunscreen. He went gorgeously bronze. I'm still pale as the driven snow (my face flushed red from the heat but that wore off after an hour...).

what an inane comment; every single human trait reverts back to a common ancestor and to make your comment worse humans or their ilk did not even exist 10 million years ago. duh....