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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:
skyglass · 15/04/2023 10:14

I can't tan, but I look great with a spray tan, sad times but what can you do, still hoping the pale look with come back around this century sometime....

Highdaysandholidays1 · 15/04/2023 11:36

@Maple2023 adorable!

IWillBeWaxingAnOwl · 15/04/2023 11:58

Ditto. My choice is factor 50 or burn. I tend to take the gradual tanner moisturers on holiday and use them at night 😁

MamaDollyorJesus · 15/04/2023 11:59

I don't even burn - very pale skin, ginger with blue eyes. Spent 2 weeks in Greece & came back paler than when I went!

My parents & DC all tan beautifully even blonde haired, blue eyed DD2 but I got my Irish great granny's colouring.

Going on holiday with my BF this year & she's the complete opposite to me - olive skin, dark hair - I'm packing 20 bottles of F50 & a sun hat while she's packing extra shoes 😂

spanieleyes · 15/04/2023 12:00

Me, never tan. I go red, come out in a rash and then back to white. I lived in the Caribbean for 18 months and turned a vague pinkish tinge.
My dad used to go out at night and come back with a tan, Mum's freckles just all merged into one but I still looked like a ghost!

happyumwelt · 15/04/2023 12:03

A tan is very hard (and dangerously) won for me - I have to burn first - so I no longer bother at all and protect my skin instead. I am a mousy blonde with green eyes - probably 2 on that scale. My dh and dc are mixed race (white/south Asian), so I stick out like a ghost on holiday photos, whereas they are all gloriously golden. It does bother me a bit but I don’t want to risk skin cancer for the sake of a tan.

BeretRaspberry · 15/04/2023 12:12

Another who’s ghostly white. I remember taking St. Tropez mousse to apply on the last night of a holiday on occasions so I didn’t get the usual “are you sure you’ve been away?” comments that I normally got when I got home.

RestingMurderousFace · 15/04/2023 12:21

My skin can’t even be arsed to burn any more. Honestly, I hate summer so much because of my defective genes, just another thing in a long list of things my body will not do.

LapinR0se · 15/04/2023 12:24

I am blue white. When I lived in the uk I had regular spray tans and thought I looked good. Then I moved to Switzerland and spray tans aren’t even available here. So I frantically bought a mousse and put it on which I thought was fine until my neighbour asked me if I was ok as my skin had gone yellow.
Don’t bother with it now, I embrace my pallor and wear different things.

AggieTop · 15/04/2023 12:40

It's quite reassuring to read about so many kindred spirits skin wise on here.

Another one with deathly pale skin and v dark hair who doesn't tan.

I really can't be bothered with fake tan anymore but just tried on a few things from my summer wardrobe and my heart sank at the colour of my legs. Somehow I manage to rock the Morticia Adams look in the winter but I struggle to embrace it in the summer.

Should have been a goth really as v little makeup would be needed 😁

sparklefresh · 15/04/2023 12:47

Me. I hate it. People bang on about how everyone looks healthier and slimmer with a tan so I must just always look ill and fat. I get laughed at on holiday because I'm always covered in factor 50 in the shade but the alternative is badly burning.

skyglass · 15/04/2023 12:48

I have naturally dark hair and blue eyes, I dye my hair blonde because I just think it looks better with my pale complexion, I look very washed out dark.

TheBirdintheCave · 15/04/2023 14:07

It took me a loooong time to accept and enjoy my pale skin. In my teens I would use fake tan or avoid sun cream but now I'm always in a hat and factor 50 in the summer 😅 Nothing wrong with being pale 😁

YouWithoutEnd · 15/04/2023 14:12

I was very olive skinned as a child, tanned after an afternoon in the swimming pool on a first day on holiday in Norfolk, etc. Coiled dark brown curly hair and hazel eyes. Turkish, Portuguese and Iranian heritage (but very much a white girl).

These days I can’t tan for shit, I burn easily on my cheeks. I dunno if it’s ageing that has meant I’ve somehow lost melanin, or if spending a large proportion of my twenties and thirties out of regular sun has had some impact. It’s a mystery.

These days I’m quite nervous of tanning anyway due to risk of skin cancer, etc.

YouWithoutEnd · 15/04/2023 14:14

YouWithoutEnd · 15/04/2023 14:12

I was very olive skinned as a child, tanned after an afternoon in the swimming pool on a first day on holiday in Norfolk, etc. Coiled dark brown curly hair and hazel eyes. Turkish, Portuguese and Iranian heritage (but very much a white girl).

These days I can’t tan for shit, I burn easily on my cheeks. I dunno if it’s ageing that has meant I’ve somehow lost melanin, or if spending a large proportion of my twenties and thirties out of regular sun has had some impact. It’s a mystery.

These days I’m quite nervous of tanning anyway due to risk of skin cancer, etc.

Also have Melasma on my cheeks, which I know will only get darker if exposed to too much sunlight.

I already look like one of the Trill aliens from Star Trek with my markings on both cheeks under my eyes.

KnittedCardi · 15/04/2023 14:39

I think skin does change dependent on exposure or lifestyle though. I am blue eyed blonde, so you'd think a ii on that scale, but tan quite well. I think because I had regular low level exposure as a child in Italy, long holidays with rellies, your skin does get "used" to the sun. Perhaps I have a few Mediterranean genes floating about. I can, and have, gone deep brown, in the past, too much actually. DH was white, freckly, burning, blue eyed, black haired Celt. He spent a long summer in Spain one year, burnt himself to a crisp, and now only needs to look out the window on a sunny day to tan, he is often mistaken for a local when abroad!

Original poster
pineapul · 15/04/2023 22:31

If only it actually worked like that!

OP posts:
ChiefWiggumsBoy · 16/04/2023 01:05

I don't either. And at 40 I have very crinkly undereyes, but I always have. I'm diligent with sunscreen now I have rosacea though.

Fucks me off because I'm half Greek but inherited my mother's English Rose complexion! I also look so much better with a tan but simply cannot find a product that goes on simply and easily, looks good, and fades evenly. I always end up with orange knuckles, knees and heels and a diamond of white on my inner elbows.

ChiefWiggumsBoy · 16/04/2023 01:07

KnittedCardi · 15/04/2023 14:39

I think skin does change dependent on exposure or lifestyle though. I am blue eyed blonde, so you'd think a ii on that scale, but tan quite well. I think because I had regular low level exposure as a child in Italy, long holidays with rellies, your skin does get "used" to the sun. Perhaps I have a few Mediterranean genes floating about. I can, and have, gone deep brown, in the past, too much actually. DH was white, freckly, burning, blue eyed, black haired Celt. He spent a long summer in Spain one year, burnt himself to a crisp, and now only needs to look out the window on a sunny day to tan, he is often mistaken for a local when abroad!

I mean this nicely - but that is bollocks.

Tessisme · 16/04/2023 01:34

I mean this nicely - but that is bollocks.

😂🤣😂 You're not wrong!

JassyGoon · 16/04/2023 02:08

I just embrace the pale. I've been likened to a corpse before, and I never wear white or cream now as that's the worst. Pale skin, fair hair and blue eyes. I do have lots of moles so I'm not keen to tan even if I could.

MurderAtTheBeautyPageant · 16/04/2023 02:27

I find bright white flattering on my pale skin. Cream however makes me look recently deceased.

JassyGoon · 16/04/2023 02:33

Yes, cream is terrible. Definitely corpse.
I tried white again recently (lovely 100% cotton blouse) but I looked ill and ghostly.

sashh · 16/04/2023 05:36

Yep, my Scottish and Irish ancestors handed me pale Celtic skin.

I quite like it, it's different. In Bali the lady who did a massage on the beach did extra because of my 'Beautiful pale skin'. This was after I had told her I wasn't paying any more.

I can dye my hair read and it looks natural.

I think one thing is missing on that skin scale, a lot of people with Irish ancestry are blond as children but dark haired as adults but still keep the pale skin.

I think pale skin looks good with jewel colours, emerald green and ruby red.

SixPurpleChairs · 16/04/2023 05:47

I spent three months in the states in the summer and came back with skin the colour of most people's winter skin - which was something I guess! I don't even try now.