Unsolicited skin care advice, got to love it...

[Shabo]

Depends.
There are many companies that don't test, or buy ingredients from places that test.

Yep, looked into it further, and you are correct. I rescind my earlier statement. And look for the leaping bunny logo to make sure there is no animal testing done on the product.

[GingerBiscuit]

Yep, looked into it further, and you are correct. I rescind my earlier statement. And look for the leaping bunny logo to make sure there is no animal testing done on the product.

Or the vegan or vegetarian society logo, as they now try to make sure the company doesn't test on animals either. Plenty of non-testers can't afford the cost of getting signed up with the leaping bunny logo, or their policies don't quite fit. (for example, there are a few companies that don't operate on the fixed cut-off date that leaping bunny demands, instead not buying from companies that test, but buying from when they stop. This mean, that while they are still testing-free, they don;t get the logo.) But anyway. Back to our sheduled thread.

[georgiab]

Just today I had a woman say that she liked that I had my hair pulled up I said Thank you she then said it makes you look like an adult..not a child..I said well i am 28 she said yes you do look like an adult now..what the hell...I look young yes but so what!!!!

[BlaqueKatt]

"You need to get a tan! You're too pale!"

I normally reply to this by bursting into tears, saying something along the lines of....

"I just got through with treatment for skin cancer"

usually shuts them up, and makes them think twice.

my husband(who's younger than me) has been treated for skin cancer already, so it's not that much of a stretch....

[BlaqueKatt]

And look for the leaping bunny logo to make sure there is no animal testing done on the product.

Sorry to burst your bubble-but FDA requires that ALL products manufactured for human use must be proven safe on animals first-NO EXCEPTIONS! they skirt the rules by paying a third party to do it. As a matter of fact a certain "cruelty free" haircare company pays a company in my city that a friend of mine works at to test their products(won't say the company name but the initials are PM and their symbol is a dove)

ome cosmetic companies promote their products with claims such as "CRUELTY-FREE" or "NOT TESTED ON ANIMALS" in their labeling or advertising. The unrestricted use of these phrases by cosmetic companies is possible because there are no legal definitions for these terms.

Some companies may apply such claims solely to their finished cosmetic products. However, these companies may rely on raw material suppliers or contract laboratories to perform any animal testing necessary to substantiate product or ingredient safety. Other cosmetic companies may rely on combinations of scientific literature, non-animal testing, raw material safety testing, or controlled human-use testing to substantiate their product safety.

Many raw materials, used in cosmetics, were tested on animals years ago when they were first introduced. A cosmetic manufacturer might only use those raw materials and base their "cruelty-free" claims on the fact that the materials or products are not "currently" tested on animals.

[Marxfan]

I read an article in a 'beauty' magazine that said 'studies show that tanned women look younger and are percieved as more attractive.'

Hmmm. Cynical marketing ploy to get women to tan more, and therefore wrinkle more (sun-damage being the worst thing you can do for your skin after smoking), and sell more anti-aging creams?

I believe it, GingerBiscuit. Those cosmetic companies will do anything to pad their bottom line.

Wow, it's so nice to have so many pasty people supporters all on one board! You guys are the best!!

[Lace Neil Singer]

I am extremely pale; then again, I tend to go for the eyeliner and dark eyeshadow look, so I never get comments on my paleness.

[Amethyst Hunter]

Non-tanner here in that I don't deliberately go out of my way to tan, either through exposure to the scary daystar or slathering on fake goop. I just don't care whether I'm tan or not. Besides, I get told quite a bit that I look younger than my 31-self.

I can tan, I suppose, but not much. If I tried to do it on purpose I'd probably zwieback - toast done twice - myself. I scored a minor burn on my upper arms last year when I spent one summer day on a Florida beach and thought that I wouldn't need sunscreen because I did my best to keep to the shade. My bad. I got some pink there and some tenderness (aloe gel is your friend), and several days later got that *disgusting* skin peel. We will never do that again, will we AH?

My brother definitely burns. He's had at least two bad sunburns in his life that I know of, and one of them was while he was wearing sunscreen (his problem was that he hadn't applied it as often as you're supposed to).

Pale skin is a good thing. Now, if I only had straight black hair instead of boring lame light-brown curly hair... *grumble*

[Seshat]

I love most of the natural skin colours - especially the extremes. Pale, pale white skin that's almost translucent, or that gorgeous almost-blue-black dark skin some people have.

Or there's the polynesians. Or some of the asian shades. Or ... eh, I just find skin comes in lots of lovely shades.

[Marxfan]

I love most of the natural skin colours - especially the extremes. Pale, pale white skin that's almost translucent, or that gorgeous almost-blue-black dark skin some people have.

Or there's the polynesians. Or some of the asian shades. Or ... eh, I just find skin comes in lots of lovely shades.

Agreed, Seshat. It's nice to know someone out there likes all kinds. People like you are a dying race!

[Seshat]

Agreed, Seshat. It's nice to know someone out there likes all kinds. People like you are a dying race!

I hope we're a growing race, actually.

Don't get me wrong - seeing a 'new' combination of bone structure and skin colour confuses me for a while.

Being an Australian, my sense of aesthetics is 'set' to matching dark skin tone with Aboriginal Australian bone structure. The first time I went to the States, I found the combination of African-descended bone structure and dark skin somehow 'wrong'. Once I realised what was wrong - that I was expecting Aboriginal bone structure - I could come to enjoy the aesthetics of the African-descended phenotype on its own terms.

[crazylegs]

I went to Greece last year and was the only person on the beach to wear spf rated shorts, t shirt, wide brimmed hat, decent sunglasses and be applying spf35+ sunscreen, I AM NOT ending up like our lady in the picture. I do spend a lot of time outdoors and my forearms do get a bit of sun but unless its summer here in the UK I'm not going to burn there (tops of my ears/cheeks/nose, now thats another whole different story.

I cant stand orange/over tanned/burnt skin, it just makes me cringe. If your outside a lot and you have colour to your cheeks, fine, if your pale and interesting, fine. But burnt, that just shows you can't look after yourself.

[Bluenomi]

When people tell me to get a tan, I show them my skin cancer scar. That shuts them up pretty quick. Then I tell them I've never tanned in my life and that it was just from normal daily exposure, that freaks them out

I have that great pale skin that wouldn't tan if I tired and according to my doctor, just creates skin cancer for the hell of it. Joy of living in Australia I guess

[Shabo]

Sorry to burst your bubble-but FDA requires that ALL products manufactured for human use must be proven safe on animals first-NO EXCEPTIONS!

Can you find me the law? Cuz I sure looked for it earlier in this thread, if you will kindly refer back to my first post...

they skirt the rules by paying a third party to do it.

Yep... that's what I said originally... I think you only saw my second post?

There are still companies who do test on animals. It's true. But for the most part, companies have stopped doing it themselves. Whether they buy the results or not still, who knows.

[Seshat]

When people tell me to get a tan, I show them my skin cancer scar. That shuts them up pretty quick. <snip> Joy of living in Australia I guess

Me too. Fair skin, formerly fair hair (still light brown), lots of moles, family history of skin cancer, grew up in Queensland. We could have a contest! Of course, a 'who's had more bits of skin cut out for fear of cancer' contest never has a winner.