Tans...

[Barreldriver]

Who here is able to get one? and is tanning specific to influence from mixed European groups or is it common place amongst all of European ancestry?

I personally get a "farmers" tan, mostly the back of my neck turns a reddish-bronze, my cheeks get flushed reddish in color, and my forearms a light tan, other than that I stay freckled and fair over the rest of the body.

[Beorn]

I tan very well. I rarely get sunburn as I usually catch a good tan through working outside, as opposed to when I am not working I usually seek the indoors or the shade.

[Tabiti]

I tan easily on my face and arms (especially my forehead), but covered parts like shoulders and legs burn, so I guess look like a redneck. We have much sun activity, especially in the recent years, so I guess that is a self-protection reaction.

[Vulpix]

I am able to tan, in fact I can get very tanned if I wish, however it takes me a looong time and it fades quickly.

[Svarog]

I am unable to tan but am very able to get nasty sun burns so even if a leave fall on my back it hurts as someone want to skin me off

[Barreldriver]

I am able to tan, in fact I can get very tanned if I wish, however it takes me a looong time and it fades quickly.

Same here, I get my "farmers" tan over a week of intense sunlight, then as soon as the next cloudy or rainy spell comes it begins to fade, I'm pretty sure I have a good deal of sun damage.

[Sally]

I can acquire the brownness of an impeccably baked chicken quickly and effortlessly, but I stay out of the sun nowadays. Then again, Finland isn't exactly known for its plentiful sunshine, but it suits me fine. ;)

http://i39.tinypic.com/epi3gn.jpg

[Tabiti]

I can't spend much time on direct sunlight, because can loss consciousness. One of the reasons I don't go to the seaside.

[Äike]

I am unable to get a tan, at least in Estonia.

If I don't sunbath(I never do that) then I can't get a noticeable tan in the summer.

Once in my life, I have gotten a real visible tan. I was in Cyprus for 2 weeks and spent a lot of time on the beach:)

[Absinthe]

Does getting sunburnt and peeling off qualify as a "farmer's" tan? :confused:

[Freomæg]

When I was younger I found it easier to tan. Now I cover myself in sunblock otherwise I'm liable to burn. My girlfriend has skin as white as paper and she just burns.

Pure Europeans definitely can tan. I've always been fascinated by the fact that many blonde Germans and Scandinavians seem to have quite yellowish/bronze skin. I'm not sure how often it is due to tanning and how often it is the natural skin-tone.

[Karaten]

I can not tan. It was actually means for teasing in grade school.

[Sally]

Pure Europeans definitely can tan. I've always been fascinated by the fact that many blonde Germans and Scandinavians seem to have quite yellowish/bronze skin. I'm not sure how often it is due to tanning and how often it is the natural skin-tone.

My skin is naturally kind of golden, even without a tan. I lack the pink tone that so many other people, especially in Finland, seem to have.

[Lars]

It fades very quickly after I get a 'tan'. But mother has red hair and my father has blonde hair. I have blonde hair and blue eyes. I'm not build for that glamourous tan. ;) My hair gets lighter for each day that passes in the summer, and when I've been out on the suns for many hours I get freckles too. :D

[Tabiti]

My skin colour is generally "depigmented" with blue veins showing out even on my face, but yellowish in the uncovered parts - face and arms. Doctors often think I'm ill or anemic, because the lack of pink or blush.
I've noticed that skin colour is not very connected with tanning and sunburn. I know Nordids and blondes with very white skins, that don't burn at all and black haired that burn like boiled crabs...
Heard only red haired people (and albinos) are unable to tan at all.

[Æmeric]

I'm only able to get a farmer's tan. Mainly on my face & forearms because of constant exposure to the sun. And even then it is reddish brown because of the blood showing through my naturally pinkish skin - the palms of my hands are pinkish white.


I wonder how many of those who don't tan are unable to because of where they live? The 48 contiguous states of the US lie on the same latitudes as southern Europe & the Mediterranean. Many persons of Old Stock in the US tend to get the farmer's tan.

[Karaten]

My skin colour is generally "depigmented" with blue veins showing out even on my face, but yellowish in the uncovered parts - face and arms. Doctors often think I'm ill or anemic, because the lack of pink or blush.
I've noticed that skin colour is not very connected with tanning and sunburn. I know Nordids and blondes with very white skins, that don't burn at all and black haired that burn like boiled crabs...
Heard only red haired people (and albinos) are unable to tan at all.

I'm not albino nor read headed. Maybe I can tan, just not realistically.

[YggsVinr]

I'm actually not sure whether to put "able to tan" or "farmer's tan". The thing is that I spend my summers working outside, whether working at outdoor jobs or on my my family's farm and other neighbouring farms. Typically I only get a farmers tan though when my face, back of the neck and forearms tan they tan pretty well. However, on the case of wearing shorts (which I don't wear often as shorts aren't best suited for that kind of work) or bathing suits I've never noticed that my legs or upper arms have ever changed colour. So while I get only farmers tans, the tan is a pretty decent one.

The other thing too is that before I tan I have to burn and peel for a while. After a few repetitions of the burning/peeling process I start to tan and after that I can tan pretty well.


I've always been fascinated by the fact that many blonde Germans and Scandinavians seem to have quite yellowish/bronze skin. I'm not sure how often it is due to tanning and how often it is the natural skin-tone.

Indeed, I found that really weird as well when I was in Germany. I remember I'd gone to a park by a lake or something with two friends and remember seeing this little German girl, maybe 6 or so years old running around but I swear if there weren't blond hair, blue eyes and very German features attached to her I would have thought she was of a much darker heritage. Germans seem to have a very strange tendency to tan very dark:confused:

[anonymaus]

I can acquire the brownness of an impeccably baked chicken quickly and effortlessly, but I stay out of the sun nowadays. Then again, Finland isn't exactly known for its plentiful sunshine, but it suits me fine. ;)

http://i39.tinypic.com/epi3gn.jpg

You have the biggest breasts I've seen all day!

[Absinthe]

It's impossible for me to tan, I get all red and my skin comes off.... :....

I remember when I was a child I could gradually tan, however being in the sun many hours a day, for at least three consecutive months.

Now, given the increased dangers in sunbathing, I won't even bother to know whether I might be able to tan, by exposing myself under the sun for so long.

[Loyalist]

I don't, or not very well anyway; I burn after even a few minutes in the sun, sometimes quite badly. By the time it heals, the colour is either faded or gone entirely. Like most of my family, I generally have a pale complexion, and it's the same story for them. The others have that ruddy/pinkish appearance, and they can tan, fairly dark as well.

[Psychonaut]

I can tan just fine, and so can my mom and her dad's side of the family. However both my maternal grandmother's side and my father's side cannot tan at all. It's odd with my son, since I can tan well and my wife can kind of tan, but Merrick will burn if he's outside for more than half an hour without sunscreen. :shrug:

[Lady L]

No tanning for me... my arms kinda get brown/red and my face gets a nice glow as long as its not burnt...but the rest will turn red and blotchy and hurt! I get more freckles to of course when in the Sun :D

[NorthernGoddess]

I come from a very "white" group of people. My family and I have the lightest skin I've ever seen on anybody so it's difficult to tan. I use to try when I was a teenager but now I avoid the sun. I become terribly sick after only being in the sun a short time.

If you click on my current profile picture (I'll be changing it soon), you will see me as tanned as I could get throughout the shoulders and neck area.

[Inese]

Hm i can not tan good , my skin gets red (the shoulders , upper arms and neck!!) after i receive too much sun and some days after i can rub it away or it falls away in shower. :rolleyes2: ::rolleyes: I have a white and sensitive skin but i like it , i dont want to get tanned. :) White people who run around with a tan all time look cheap and they have a problem with their rethnicy!!

In Latvia the sun is not very strong and in Germany she is a little stronger but i dont sunbath or go to a solarium. People with tan age older you know!? And can have skin problems and illnesses.

[Brynhild]

I'm olive skinned and it seems the older I get the more pronounced it has become. In Australia melanomas are prevalent amongst Northern Europeans and we have the highest incidence of them in the world. Despite that, vitamin D is very important, otherwise you develop rickets.

I only need to hang out the washing and go for a walk. It doesn't take me very long at all. When I'm at the beach I put on sunscreen and stay indoors during the hottest parts of the day, as I can't tolerate the heat so well these days.

[Grumpy Cat]

I can get a tan walking by a window.

[Skandi]

I don't tan, no matter how long I spend in the sun, I also don't burn as easily as it looks. The only thing that happens to me if I stay out in the sun is my freckles get darker, unfortunately this makes me look sightly orange :(

[Loki]

I can get only a farmers' tan, but even then it peels off after a day or two. A tan never sticks to me, and never becomes brown. It's just red and then it peels. One of the reasons I like living in England more than in South Africa.

[NorthernGoddess]

Hm i can not tan good , my skin gets red (the shoulders , upper arms and neck!!) after i receive too much sun and some days after i can rub it away or it falls away in shower. :rolleyes2: ::rolleyes: I have a white and sensitive skin but i like it , i dont want to get tanned. :) White people who run around with a tan all time look cheap and they have a problem with their rethnicy!!

In Latvia the sun is not very strong and in Germany she is a little stronger but i dont sunbath or go to a solarium. People with tan age older you know!? And can have skin problems and illnesses.



I agree. I think tanned skin looks dirty. And too much sun exposure causes premature aging and skin cancer.

[Barreldriver]

I agree. I think tanned skin looks dirty. And too much sun exposure causes premature aging and skin cancer.

Sometimes it cannot be helped, things outdoors need to be done, crops need planted, concrete needs poured, mulch needs spread, a farmer's tan is for most inevitable, and in my case it happens even with sunscreen, I start out with a bad sunburn lobster red on my forearms, forehead, and the back of my neck (hence the term redneck), then it slowly turns to a light tan, then fades after a while.

[Phlegethon]

I have a sun allergy and burn within minutes of exposure to direct sunlight. This is the reason why I love rain, snow, fog and hailstorms and hate the summer.

[Treffie]

I tan very quickly. Within half an hour of being outside my skin will go red and by evening it'll turn to brown. Don't tend to stay out in the sun though these days.

[Barreldriver]

Don't tend to stay out in the sun though these days.

I'm approaching that, the heat here tends to drain all my energy, I wait until it's winter, cloudy, or rainy to do much outdoors, the cooler and overcast weather patterns give me more energy and less irritation.

[Birka]

I have to avoid the sun as much as I can. I have had 2 different types of skin cancers taken off. A squamous cell and a basal cell. One on my forehead, the other on my arm. I have to see a dermatologist every 6 months. If she sees anything that looks suspicious, she freezes them off with liquid Nitrogen, which burns like hell.

Before this, I rarely tanned. It took almost the whole summer to get my arms just a little brown. I am a burn and peel type.

[Bloodeagle]

I don't tan, no matter how long I spend in the sun, I also don't burn as easily as it looks. The only thing that happens to me if I stay out in the sun is my freckles get darker, unfortunately this makes me look sightly orange :(

It does not take me long to burn in more Southerly latitudes. When I do start to tan it appears a orange pinkish color. This is caused by millions of tiny little dark freckles that appear with pink skin in between.

[The Lawspeaker]

Usually the only tan I get is a red one (my face and shoulders seem to get more tanned though)-but, yes, it is still a kind of tan.

[Jägerstaffel]

I can tan very well. I turn a nice golden colour that lasts til the winter.

None of that pasty freckly skin for me.

[Útrám]

I don't tan, I just turn into a tomato. Strangely I don't get sunburnt or not easily, the last sunburn I can remember was one on my neck at the age of 14 or 15. I lived shortly in Algeria, a country plagued by the sun and I never even had to apply sunblock.

[Lyfing]

I'll get red as the day goes on and by night it turns pretty much tan depending on how red I was. It goes away fast.

Later,
-Lyfing

[jerney]

No, I can't tan at all. I'm either sunburnt or pale. There was one time I got a tan after going to a tanning bed for a few weeks, but then I realized how shit tan skin looked so I stopped going. Now I'm just pasty as ever. The unfortunate side is that the sun brings out my freckles D:

[Karaten]

I hate looking tan anyways.

[Tabiti]

I also have something like sun allergy - when I put short sleeves in May, whole my arms rush for the first days, then it heals. Now my arms are peeling - guess I should by sun lotion...

[Barreldriver]

The unfortunate side is that the sun brings out my freckles D:

Lol, even with a slight farmer's tan my freckles still show through. :P

[Tabiti]

Here usually skin problems arouse in summer because the higher activity. My mother and grandmother lived near the Pole area for around 4-5 years and their skins cleared perfectly from all problems for that time being.

[Rasvalg]

I get hella tan. Especially my head(which is shaved) and arms because I live on my bike all summer. I get a decent dark but the only problem is the racoon look from wearing glasses on the bike all the time.

[Ladejarlen]

I get sunburns pretty fast, but I can tan.

[Tony]

My tan color is red , very red , I'm easy to tan and sunburn too , as a kid I remember bein so naive about it , I usually started the summertime going to the beach playing around with friends and sitting hours and hours under the sun then at night the torture came , skins really hurted me and the outer strata of it began to chap off without even being actively rubbed off by my hands , I couldn't really slip...
over the years I learned to deal with it , I could never live without going to the beach and swimming but I always take care to spot the best places near the shoreline , the most shady ones and I always go to the sea when the sun is low , at early morning or in the late evening.

[Phlegethon]

You folks should realize that the sun ain't your friend. Every sunburn exponentially raises your risk of contracting skin cancer. Apart from that fact that in your thirties you'll already look like a croco leather handbag. Just ask the Aussies on this board.

[Atlas]

I can tan very well aswell like I can get heavy sunburn and being red, then becoming a bit brown.

I have always been surprised to tan that way being white as snow.

[Solwyn]

One thing I keep telling my skin students is that tanned skin is damaged skin. It is considered desirable and pretty because in this day and age, where we all head indoors to work, a tan is a way of saying "I have leisure time and the money/status to be tanned in winter". At one point in our history a tan meant you were a labourer and all the cool kids were as white as sheets because they didn't have to go outside and toil all day.

I can't stand the look of tanned skin from the tanning beds because many of the lotions that are sold to tanners contain DHA (Dihydroxyacetone - spelling?!) which causes a reaction to stain your skin an orange colour. Its what makes self-tanners give you that unearthly orange glow.

When we learn to do skin analysis for facial and body treatments, I like to get my tanning students up on the bed and under the magnifying lamp for a good hard look at their skin. Most makeup contains an SPF so their faces are not as bad off as their chests. I love to point out the forty year old chests to their twenty year old owners:D

90% of the aging process is extrinsic, meaning that it is what we expose ourselves to over the years. Very little is intrinsic or genetically inherited. The majority of extrinsic aging is caused by sun exposure, followed closely by cigarettes, with alcohol and poor dietary habits trailing behind.

I can tan, but I choose to cover myself in sunblock because I see what tanning does to my clients. I've got some sun damage already apparent, just for the ladies: all those baby-oil and tinfoil tanning sessions in the back garden from your early teens (12-15) are the cause of those lovely DEEP lines that show up overnight when you hit your 30s. We do the most damage to ourselves when we are too young to care.

Tanning is not cool, it is slow cooking, like a turkey in the oven.

[Jägerstaffel]

My family comes from a long line of people that worked outside in the sun as farmers and were VERY tanned. No skin cancer to be found and extremely long lifespans. And they weren't/aren't the leathery crocodile hide that people make tanned people out to be.

I'm not saying cancer doesn't happen, just saying that for some of us tans aren't this thing we strive for. I spend a lot of time outside and I don't do anything to 'shield' my body from anything. I never take medicine and never use sun-tan lotion. The body needs practice to get tough, I say.

It may be unnatural to sit in a booth and bake, but it's very natural to have skin tanned by the sun.

[Solwyn]

The biggest difference between bed tanning and being outdoors is control in the environment. When you are outside you are moving, different parts get different exposure, there are clouds and wind, the sun moves so it will be in different places in the sky while you are out working, clothing to a certain extent - things that will affect the amount of sun you get. Genetics also plays a role, too.

Tanning beds are like taking the desert sun at high noon, stretching it out for an afternoon and then compressing it into 10 to 15 minutes, in a confined space where you are obviously going to have little variation in the amount of light you receive. People are also there to get as dark as possible, so they also cover themselves with lotions designed to make the most of their UV exposure.

:D

[Tabiti]

Even blacks can get sun cancer. It's not the sunlight itself that is harmful, but the damaged ozone. Dark or no, you should use lotions with SPF, especially the females, who don't want wrinkles early.

[Phlegethon]

But that only works for 2hrs max, after that every kind of sun blocker is useless.

[Psychonaut]

But that only works for 2hrs max, after that every kind of sun blocker is useless.

That depends a lot on what kind you use. When I'm out in the field doing Army stuff for 12 hrs at a time, I won't burn if I use the heavy dudy SPF 60 sunscreen with added zinc.

[Phlegethon]

The SPF is an imperfect measure of skin damage because invisible damage and skin aging is also caused by the very common ultraviolet type A, which does not cause reddening or pain. Conventional sunscreen does not block UVA as effectively as it does UVB, and an SPF rating of 30+ may translate to significantly lower levels of UVA protection according to a 2003 study. According to a 2004 study, UVA also causes DNA damage to cells deep within the skin, increasing the risk of malignant melanomas. Even some products labeled "broad-spectrum UVA/UVB protection" do not provide good protection against UVA rays.[9] The best UVA protection is provided by products that contain zinc oxide, avobenzone, and ecamsule. Titanium dioxide probably gives good protection, but does not completely cover the entire UV-A spectrum, as recent research suggests that zinc oxide is superior to titanium dioxide at wavelengths between 340 and 380 nm.[10]

Owing to consumer confusion over the real degree and duration of protection offered, labeling restrictions are in force in several countries. In the EU sunscreens are limited to SPF 50+ [11], indicating a SPF of 60 or higher, and Australia's upper limit is 30+ . The United States does not have mandatory, comprehensive sunscreen standards, although a draft rule has been under development since 1978. In the 2007 draft rule, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed to institute the labelling of SPF 50+ for sunscreens offering more protection. This and other measures were proposed to limit unrealistic claims about the level of protection offered (such as "all day protection").

[Barreldriver]

Even my farmers tan has faded, at least on the face and most of my forearms(the forearms are now more pinkish in color approaching my original strawberryloid complexion), the back of my neck is still reddish, so I guess I'm an official "redneck". :D lol

[Skandi]

if it is very sunny I have about 2 hours protection if I use suncream, I can stretch that to 4 but by then I'm going slightly pink. the cream only increases your natural protection, it does not totally block the damage, I have also read somewhere that nothing over SPF30 makes a difference as that is already "total block" anything more is a marketing gimmick, can't remember where that was written though.

[Sarmata]

My family comes from a long line of people that worked outside in the sun as farmers and were VERY tanned. No skin cancer to be found and extremely long lifespans. And they weren't/aren't the leathery crocodile hide that people make tanned people out to be.

I'm not saying cancer doesn't happen, just saying that for some of us tans aren't this thing we strive for. I spend a lot of time outside and I don't do anything to 'shield' my body from anything. I never take medicine and never use sun-tan lotion. The body needs practice to get tough, I say.

It may be unnatural to sit in a booth and bake, but it's very natural to have skin tanned by the sun.

Interesting do you think it's something like evolution adaptation? And from my fathers side I have a farmers(better word peasants in my case.:)) between ancestors.
I have rather light complexion, but I spend a lot of time outside so I'm tanned. First my skin becomes red,and after few days almost brown. I don't like to be tanned rather...Fortunatelly tan dissapears fast in the winter:)

[Tabiti]

The tendency of better tanning maybe an evolition adaption, but the dramatic change of the natural (untanned) skin colour, imo. My whole family were farmers (or peasants) - some of them are pink (like pigs) and blond, others are brunettes with moderate skin tone like myself.
It would be interesting to compare tendency to tan of people from the same ethnicity, but living on different places, for example South Africans of Dutch origin or any Northern Europeans living in Australia and the Southern parts of USA, but from generations (100-200 years, for example). Don't know if such studies have been already held, but think it is a good idea.

[Phlegethon]

People should not even try to find out whether they can get tanned.


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_WsE6M_RjBIY/SEZ_z8KGX1I/AAAAAAAAKBo/LIPN7WZMPG4/s400/nosferatu_sunlight.jpg

Look out, ole chap!

[Tabiti]

People should not even try to find out whether they can get tanned.
It is quite unavoidable in the recent years. Most of us don't tan because they want, we are not vampires to go out only on moonlight, unfortunately.

[Phlegethon]

we are not vampires to go out only on moonlight, unfortunately.


Speak for yourself! ;)

[Gooding]

Surprisingly enough, I can and do tan.In my line of work, there's a lot of outdoors work to be done.Mind you, the tan comes gradually and the freckles remain, but yes, I can tan.My father tans a lot darker than I do and my maternal grandmother could tan very well, as can my sister.LOL, when I went to Texas, I got extremely tanned, but that faded rapidly once I got back to Virginia.

[Paleo]

i burn first, and then tan

pain in the ass, (literally)

[ItalianFury]

I cannot tan, I am a classic red-neck, maybe if I'm out for a month, but there is no Sun in New Jersey...either Rothschild chemtrails, or the coming of Aquarius... can only explain the present darkness.

[Angantyr]

Hm i can not tan good , my skin gets red (the shoulders , upper arms and neck!!) after i receive too much sun and some days after i can rub it away or it falls away in shower. :rolleyes2: ::rolleyes: I have a white and sensitive skin but i like it , i dont want to get tanned. :) White people who run around with a tan all time look cheap and they have a problem with their rethnicy!!

In Latvia the sun is not very strong and in Germany she is a little stronger but i dont sunbath or go to a solarium. People with tan age older you know!? And can have skin problems and illnesses.

I agree. Tans are plain and simple UGLY. I am proud of the white skin that the Gods gave me.

[Frigga]

I can tan, but not as well as my mom. I have a much fairer complexion than she does. Just last Thursday, I went on a three mile hike without sunscreen, wearing a racerback sportsbra under my mens Fruit of the Loom A shirts, and got more of a burn on the whitest parts of my exposed back than I thought I would get. But, it's already gotten brown, but I think that my application of Calendula helped it to not peel. If the burn is bad enough, it will peel. Thankfully I haven't had one that bad in a while.

As far as skin cancer goes, I have read that it is actually because of trans fatty acids in our skin cell walls that react with the sun, and then turn cancerous. I have also read that sunscreen is also not as good as for you as claimed by the FDA. If you don't eat trans fats, and just get a little bit of sun exposure every day, you most likely will not get sun cancer, and will then get your very much needed vitamin D in the process.

[quotablepatella]

I tend to tan slightly on my forearms only and I don't burn easily.

[safinator]

I tan well and easily, it's so true that you can see the difference of skin colour in the part of the legs that aren't exposed to sun during the summer.