is anyone else tan proof? i seem to be....

[ThatVikRinA22]

i burn in the sun, but i have learned a painful lesson - and that is that i burn (only on the top half though!) and then go white again. i never tan.

so now i slap on the sun screen if i want to sit out.
but i never ever so much as get even a hint of colour in the sun.
i am very pale, yet i have dark hair (if left au naturale!) and dark eyes - i just seem to have no capacity to tan in any way shape or form.

my kids only have to so much as show a bit of exposed skin to the sun and they turn a beautiful golden colour....(i do ensure they use sunscreen! but they are now beyond the age where they will listen to me anyway - and DS is like a vampire - never comes out during day light)

so
why do i never ever tan...?
i dont tan here,
i dont tan abroad,
i dont tan if i use a sunbed,

do i just have sun proof skin?

White White White or red in about 3 seconds if I go in the sun. Even with factor 50 I burn quickly. I once spent 3 months in Thailand and Malaysia. Came home with a couple of freckles on my nose and the rest of my tan came of in the bath

i have had mole mapping and skin examinations at the Royal Free and they told me the parts that tan are the most damaged. So therefore are weaker to fend off the UV.

Which stands to reason i suppose, legs are protected all winter and most summers so when they see the sun they can repel the damage (that's what tanning is considered to be). I was shown the damage that has been done to my chest shoulders and arms - which i considered to be healthily freckled. It wasn't nice.

My legs stay blue tinged while the rest of me burns then goes a gold colour. Also my tans don't last. Within a week of being home from a hol you can't tell i've been away.

I exfoliate lots and use the johnsons moisturiser/tan for fair skin every 3rd day - it at least takes the luminous edge off the blue legs

I'm always pasty white except for my arms which are pasty white with freckles and my upper back which is pasty white with freckles (sun damage).

When I spent a summer in my late teens working in the US though, I acquired very obvious tan lines from the ver attractive uniform (polo shirt, shorts, ankle socks). Only problem was that the tan lines were only apparent when I was nekkid - my arms, face and legs were still pasty white, but my feet & ankles, upper arms and torso were even whiter, which I had never before thought possible.

At least I learned my lesson fairly early. There's no gain to be had from skimping with the sun block except for sore, itchy, red skin which then peels off and goes back to white.

can anyone tell me which fake tan is less likely to cause a reaction i want to cover my increasingly veiny legs which never tan

I'm over 50 now and I still yearn for a tan - but I'll never have one. I've been lobster red a couple of times, but that's my closest.

Agree with the luminosity of the legs comments - mine reflects like snow.

And what's more, my skin is allergic to most of the stuff I try to out on it! Even things like oil of Olay tinted moisturiser for sensitive skin.

So my lesson for the day will be to learn to accept that this is as good as it gets. And that I will always look better in long trousers than shorts....

Blue legs here too. :(

I Feel your pain. I go from blue to white to red and back to blue. I also seem to have lots of friends who can sit out in their back garden for the afternoon and get an even golden tan.

I can copy a link - but google 'Irish girl on beach' and you'll get the idea.

I tan eventually after regular (weeks/months) of careful exposure. Otherwise, St Tropez face tanner is good

I was like this until I discovered p20. I was in a cycle of burning , peeling etc. Factor 50 plus still let me burn . I was recommended p20 by someone about 10 years ago and have never looked back.

Second p20 (though little nervous of whats in it to make it last so long!)

I am so white, I fluoresce blue in direct sunlight.

My legs are pretty much tan proof. They don't burn and they don't tan. I did have a period of using sun beds in my 20's and they were less white for a bit.

I don't care what's in it , It's got to be better than getting burnt or a life in the shade .

My dad always said that dark hair and eyes with pale non-tanning skin was Celtic skin. It's a traditional Welsh / Irish / Breton thing I think.

I have that look too but I have a bit of Mediterranean in me, so I do tan, and have only burned once (when I was young and silly and fell asleep in the park on a hot afternoon).

I have the same colouring and I swear I bleach in the sun. Legs start white and get whiter. garnier stuff is my best friend ... Takes the edge off it!
I never used to burn either but now my nose and chest will if I am not careful. So it gets worse.

I thought I had a tan once after a month in East Africa. Turned out to be a lovely mix of dust and sunscreen. Came home same colour as I went. Have never tanned.

Dita von Teese ladies, Dita von Teese

A French male friend once said to me how attractive the pale English women are on the beach as it looks so delicate and beautiful compared to French skin. It's all about perspective, we all want what we haven't got.

Get your pale legs out with pride!

I'm tan proof too OP and just wear factor 50 all over now so I don't get burnt. Wear factor 40 on my face all year round too. Dark hair + pale skin is a lovely combination! I'm a HoC Winter and a tan wouldn't suit me...that's what I tell myself anyway :)

I always thought it was to do with not having much melanin in the skin - like the more you have the darker you can go? Maybe I'm totally wrong!

If it's any consolation I was tan-proof until very recently, but now I do get a bit of colour for some odd reason. Never on my lower legs though?! Weird! My parents and DBs all tan/tanned v easily. I have dark brown hair and very pale skin. I look like I should be able to tan well.

I think the problem though laverneandshirl is I'm less Dita Von Teese and more Corned beef, that awful pale slightly purpley blotchy colour. I also bruise easily and get acne and am covered in moles. Oh how I love my skin.

I have never gone even slightly brown, I spent a year travelling Australia, South America and the States, people refused to believe I hadn't just arrived I was so pale. On the photos I shine out among the gorgeous bronzed bodies like some kind of Alien being.

I too, am blue white. I hated people commenting on it when I was younger, the pressure o go brown was enormous. My nickname was factor 40, when factor 8 was the highest you could buy.
Pregnant with DD1, the midwife was shocked at my white belly and commented on it, she thought I must be ill.
Legs never go brown, are day glo, I swear even fake tan won't take to them.
I have two under 5 DDs, we went out on Friday, didn't realise the sun would be out, guess who was the only person to go pink????

On the plus side, I have used sunscreen every day since age of 21, have no wrinkles and people ask me if I use botox!! (am 45)

I was used an an example of cyanosis once when I had been outside in winter. Didn't realise my lips go blue
Legs do nothing except stay white whereas my top half turns tomato red at a glimpse of the sun. I am a v pale freckled red head though