Can anyone else just NOT tan?

[pineapul]

I just can’t tan. I’ve done 3 months in Greece and I return maybe a slight red tinge darker.

My skin is reflective white. Sometimes in overexposed photos I look like a ghost. I’ve had strangers comment on how pale I am. People ask if I feel ok.

I’ve got blue eyes and dark blonde/gingery hair. My parents are both Welsh. My mum tans in 30 seconds and my father never does like me.

I can’t either. I’m not sad about it either. Tanning is your skin cells way of telling you they’re being damaged and they’re trying to protect themselves.

I don’t understand why people willingly lie in the sun and call it a ‘healthy glow’ the only healthy glow they’ve got coming is from radiation therapy on their skin cancer.

Want to look tanned? Buy a bottle of tanning mousse and a decent SPF.

Look bronze and stay healthy ✌🏼

Nope. Go a bit pink then straight back to bright white with a blue tinge. Haven't thus bothered for years. Dh only has to see the sun and goes brown again.

Your friends are stupid and horrible. From what you've said, you can tell by just looking at you that you'll never tan significantly and it's futile trying, as well as risking your life due to increasing the risk of skin cancer.

Ignore them, protect yourself by covering up, using sunscreen and avoid the sun where you can. Preferably just embrace your natural beauty, but use fake tan if you must. I say this as someone who lost a relative to aggressive melanoma likely caused by sunbed use.

I burn easily but then just go back to white/blue!!

I'm fair-skinned. White, freckly, and prone to burn bright red in the sun. I use fake tan during the summer.

The trouble with fake tan is that it comes off in the pool on holiday, then you look shit again. I know pale is lovely etc, but I look much better with a tan. As does my stomach and any wobbly bits. A tan also accentuates any muscles I have, whereas pale is just flat.

I don't tan. I've got dark blonde hair and brown eyes but my skin just burns, peels and goes white again. I put suncream on to stop it burning but I never tan.

I'm pretty much blue. My arms, ankles and knees go brown but the rest of me just reflects light I think. Apart from tender bits like boobs and stomach which burn and peel. I spray tan when I go on holiday, wear a high SPF always and stay out of the sun. On the plus side I am in my 60s and wrinkle free with no cleavage crepiness.

@Flaskfan this is why a gradual tan is great on holiday. Apply after your shower, let it dry in whilst you sip a sangria and nibble on some Lays! Start a few days before your holiday and then just top it up every night. That's what I'm going to do (rather than a spray tan beforehand)

Haven't seen this before. I'm also type 1!
Never really bothered me but people do comment every now and again, which is rude!

I’m also 1 on that scale. Was told that by a dermatologist. Funny when people say to me they’re pale but then I show them my arm and they realise they’re not actually! It’s crazy because my dad is Turkish and very dark but my mums luminescent white skin is clearly the dominant gene. I battle it out with a lot of fake tan which makes holidays somewhat hard work as I have to keep buffing and reapplying the stuff. One of the reasons I only ever go for a week abroad.

I have ghostly pale skin that burns, never tans. Sometimes even a couple of minutes of sun can cause a sunburn if the uv index is high enough.

Some skin doesnt tan. I have medium pale skin, dark brown hair and eyes. But I have some Irish roots so possibly due to this. Very annoying when DH turns a lovely golden brown though!

I'm a type 1 - I've had sunburn while wearing a raincoat, wear spf 50 all year, and my specialist subject is spf clothing. I was recently described as having porcelain skin.
DH and ds are tanned all year and ds tans at the very sight of the sun. Therefore I look like a middle aged vampire following them around

I don’t tan, but I’m ok because any tan is damaging. I use the Dove gradual tan instead!

I'm another one whose legs don't tan especially my shins. The rest of me will tan but I'm still pale. I'm usually the colour of people going out on holiday when I'm coming home.

I can tan somewhat on face, back of neck, back of chest and slightly on arms- rest remains either rather red or white

That's the rest of my family. Uncle, cousins, mum

I look like the odd one out. They're all olive skin, dark brown hair and eyes. Me? Redhead that's so pale that doctors comment on it
"She's very blue"
"No that's her usual colour"

I have pale, rosy skin with freckles, so not porcelain white. I like my skin! I don't tan but I get nice golden freckles on my arms and face. I enjoy the sun but always wear sunscreen. I have a few wrinkles but my face is still pretty smooth because of spf and no smoking.

I am the same. My legs are so white they just stand out so much. My hands will now slightly change colour (although not brown, probably just normal skin colour) I put that down to all the pram pushing I’ve done.

I’ve found the best gradual tan for me is the Bondi Beach, although I don’t put it on to go brown I just do it for 2/3 days to take the brightness off my legs so I don’t know what it’s like for a deep tan

Oh and the comments I get from people, I have been self conscious of it for most of my life but now I’m older I just think sod it, I’m wearing my dress anyway and I’ll just forget how white my legs are. But people really like to remind me of it by pointing it out, like yeah thanks for that!

To be honest I'm not sure why you'd try to naturally tan given how bad it is for your skin. My dad is ginger and I have his skin so it's red or white for me nothing in between. But I embrace it, lather up the factor 50 when I'm in the sun and get a spray tan or just do my own light fake tan in summer or for occasions. I have less wrinkles etc than my sister who's 5 years younger and who will always try to tan. I think it serves me better in the long run for that reason.

Fitzpatrick type 1 here too, as are my DC. Weirdly, it has become much less of an issue after moving to Australia, in the sense that here (in the area of Aus I'm in at least) no-one is chasing a tan any more - the skin cancer message has well and truly got through to most people, so while people do occasionally comment about how pale I am or the kids are, it's not with an assumption that it's a bad thing or that we should try to tan. Most people cover up at the beach - lots of long sleeves and rash vests. Avoiding a tan is seen as quite a valid objective. It's unexpected, but great.

I have a weathered look on my arms all year and the rest of me just burns and then goes back to pale , so nowadays I just make sure I don’t burn .