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Original poster

Can anyone else just NOT tan?

104 replies

pineapul · 14/04/2023 07:41

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.

OP posts:
JacobsCrackersCheeseFogg · 14/04/2023 15:56

I go red. I've long given up. I cover up in the sun now, wear a hat etc.

Barold · 14/04/2023 16:25

I can a little bit but not like I could when I was younger.

I'm quite fair but olive toned and I used to tan quite dark. Now it just doesn't happen! Strange because it's not like I burn...I just don't really go much browner either!

I did find something (scientific) about this online a while back - explaining what happens/why it happens for those of us who could previously.

SpringIntoChaos · 14/04/2023 16:29

I'm the same...white (almost blueish white!) skin, blonde/tinge-of-ginge hair and bright green eyes. Never stood a chance 🤣🤷‍♀️

I once spent the summer working in the South of France (late teens) and when my parents collected me from the airport at the end of August, they found it HIGHLY amusing to ask me if I'd ever even left Gatwick 🤣🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️

MurderAtTheBeautyPageant · 14/04/2023 16:31

I have very pale and cool toned Irish skin. My skin will never tan. The melanin just isn't there.

I long ago gave up on the fake tan and have embraced the chic porcelain look. I look back on my fake tan days (every Thursday was tan day!) and find it funny that I went around with that slightly orange hue for so long.

AgapanthusandAcers · 14/04/2023 17:08

I am the same. I could live somewhere and remain blueish white. I am of Scottish/Irish heritage and smurfs tan better than me but I also have relatives who have had skin cancer, not beach lovers by any means but as a result I have to be very careful so any tan I get is from a bottle.

Switchwitch · 14/04/2023 17:10

I'm the same but as a result fake tans also look awful. I think they look good if you naturally tan but if you don't they just look umpa lumpa like even in the lightest shade.

Nottodaty · 14/04/2023 17:35

I don’t tan - i try my hardest not to burn, as it’s easily done. My older daughter is the same - sf50 under an umbrella and still got burnt :( tshirt in pool. I assumed her younger sister was the same, I’ve always covered up sf50 - one holiday we got caught out slightly - only to find out my youngest tans!

My Mum and sisters all just need to say sun and look tanned. My uncle has been stopped at airport as they couldn’t believe the same person in the photo.

I inherited the Scottish/Irish l. Fair freckles and blue eyed. Don’t care - occasionally have I’ll self tan my legs (they are extra white)

babypanther · 14/04/2023 17:37

I’m the same, I’m very pale and although I tanned as a kid on summer holidays, I now but don’t go brown at all. Both my parents tan really well, really quickly!

I just use Bondi Sands fake tan for a bit of a glow when I feel like I need some colour.

PinkTonic · 14/04/2023 18:00

I don’t tan at all. I have dark brown hair, blue eyes and pale freckled skin. I used to get more freckles in summer but I now have a horrible thing called PLE which was triggered by a short and very minimal course of light treatment for psoriasis, so even with factor 50 I can get an itchy bumpy rash in just a few minutes of sunlight. I’ve embraced the pale and don’t even bother to fake tan my legs for holidays any more.

Alwaysworryingoversomething · 14/04/2023 18:25

pineapul · 14/04/2023 07:41

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.

You sound just like me! Even down to the Welsh bit!

mackthepony · 14/04/2023 21:18

I'm type three on the skin range, but I have blue eyes?? Is that allowed?!

woodhill · 14/04/2023 22:09

Georgieporgie29 · 14/04/2023 15:35

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!

Yes - Why do people need to comment, it's unasked for and it gets on my nerves

Cincinnatus · 15/04/2023 00:53

I don’t tan and I am very happy about it. I don’t want saggy or wrinkly skin.

DrJump · 15/04/2023 00:57

Me. I don't tan. I'm not milky white just pale. But I'm 43 and really sloppy with skin care and I have good skin. I smoked heavy for 15 years too. But wear sunscreen and hats because I burn rather than tan.

Original poster
pineapul · 15/04/2023 05:27

Thank goodness I am not the only one!

It’s funny the amount of people saying about being celtic too.

My nain (grandmother) used to always say the way to tell a Welsh ginger from an English ginger was whether they tanned or not! She thought the English ones could tan. No idea if there is any truth in that! Just makes me chuckle.

OP posts:
Missingthegore · 15/04/2023 05:39

Total Celt
None of the Spanish Armada influnce that my dad and brother have.
I joke I am allergic to the sun (sunburn) or am part vampire.
At my last mole check the derm was saying my skin looked 10 yrs younger than my age....I'll take that 😅

Ratonastick · 15/04/2023 07:22

Same here. I can go from pale blue to red, but that’s it. And I look ridiculous with a spray tan, even the palest shade makes me look like I have been tangoed. I embrace the vampiric, wear factor 50 all summer and take lots of vitamin D supplements.

Florissant · 15/04/2023 07:23

Me. I burn, peel and go back to being pale.

AuntieMarys · 15/04/2023 07:33

PinkTonic · 14/04/2023 18:00

I don’t tan at all. I have dark brown hair, blue eyes and pale freckled skin. I used to get more freckles in summer but I now have a horrible thing called PLE which was triggered by a short and very minimal course of light treatment for psoriasis, so even with factor 50 I can get an itchy bumpy rash in just a few minutes of sunlight. I’ve embraced the pale and don’t even bother to fake tan my legs for holidays any more.

I have PMLE and it's awful. Seems to have improved over the last couple of years. Sure it's hormonal.

Tessisme · 15/04/2023 07:43

I regret the years I spent trying to get a tan - holidays abroad in the eighties and early nineties where I was determined not to go home white. Weirdly, I never tried to tan at home during the small window of sunshine we get in NI! I have pale freckled skin and can attain a rather pathetic tinge of colour with dogged perseverance. By my mid twenties I woke up to the fact that I wasn't supposed to have a tan and stopped trying. I'm 56 now and my skin is in reasonable condition despite my attempts to destroy it, but I do have some patchy sun damage. The big issue though is skin cancer - much more prevalent in, but obviously not unique to, paler skin. Both my parents have had skin cancers removed. Don't risk it!

Newgolddream70 · 15/04/2023 07:59

Same here OP. I spent the 80s being sneered at after returning from a two week holiday "where's your tan then!?" and I used to hate it.

I gave up trying to tan the natural way a long time ago and my skin isn't too bad although I have a few sun damage patches on my face which I'm about to start tackling with Skin + Me.

I'm a lot happier in my own skin (literally!) these days but I do use a very light fake tan sometimes to even things out as I have a white torso, slightly warmer shade of white legs, pink neck, freckly face and lightly tanned arms 😂

EggBlanket · 15/04/2023 08:05

pineapul · 14/04/2023 07:55

It really annoys me when people say I should “just do 30 mins without some sunscreen”. Or “try factor 30, you don’t need factor 50” and the likes. Friends have told me to ditch the sun umbrella and sit in the sun on the beach!

Your friends are idiots. Do they want you to get skin cancer?

You need to accept that your skin doesn’t tan and never will. There’s nothing wrong with having white skin. I don’t tan and I accept this so don’t try. I also don’t have wrinkles and leathery skin like the people who spend every summer lying in the sun.

NatashaDancing · 15/04/2023 08:44

I don't think I tan but I've never tried to. I don't like tanned skin and am always lathered in factor 50 if there's a possibility of it happening.

GospelAccordingToMum · 15/04/2023 08:50

I don’t tan. Typical Irish complexion - dark hair, blue eyes, white skin.

I burn very easily, too. I gave up trying to get a tan in my teens! Fake tan if I want a bit of colour and factor 50/big sunglasses/sun hat all the way. Your skin will thank you for it in later life!

Maple2023 · 15/04/2023 10:01

Here's a VERY old pic of me and my grandad which makes me laugh every time - that's his "I'm not even trying to tan, I just walked outside to the bins" colour
And me Grin

(Background is very mixed, english/Irish and black African-Caribbean)