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

[Primer]

With all that we know about skin cancer, and for as long as we have know it, I'm willing to bet that i am the only person whose doctor has recommended to get sunburned. OK, so it was (only) about 20 years ago, but it kept my psoriasis under control. Now, when I have a bad outbreak, I go through UVA therapy. Same thing, just more controlled.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Besides, couldn't what that person said to you be considered a racist remark, or at least an ethnic slur? I bet they would never dream of going up to a black person and screaming "you're too dark!"

Hmm...I never thought of it that way. I am very pale. I'm not as careful with sunscreen as I should be, but I don't tan. People tell me I need to tan, and I say I don't tan, I burn. Then they say, but you burn and then it turns into a tan (um, no, actually, it doesn't). No, I burn, then I go back to being my white self. At least I don't often get it from complete strangers, just from my easily-tanned friends. Then again, I have to hear it on a semi-regular basis from them, so...

My paleness causes me the most pain at the doctor's office, when they want to draw blood. My skin is so light that my veins are very visible, especially in the inside of my elbow. They always think it will be so easy...and then it's not. One time it took 2 people 4 tries to get blood from me.

Warning: Healthy tan may cause nausea

Damn, she looks like she's wearing loose vinyl. Ew.

Are you a sibling I don't know about?

If she is, I'll be joining the family as well. Irish/German on mom's side, Irish/Sicilian on my dad's (his grandparents came from Sicily shortly before his dad was born). Whatever dark-skin Sicilian genes were there did not make it to me. (Italian temper, however, is a different story...)

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

WooHoo! Power to the Pasty People!!

[Rapscallion]

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

I've had to chase up the bunny-mark for our own-brand stuff. We have to get confirmation that the manufacturers and their suppliers have not conducted any animal testing on their products or the materials, nor have they commissioned the same. However, we're not subject to the FDA, being in the UK. Your mileage may vary from country to country.

Rapscallion

[Becks]

One time, after someone was very rudely telling me I needed to donate my hair, another friend of mine pipped up "Are you going to donate your boobs to women who lost theirs to breast cancer?" She got all huffy and left.

I think I could like your friend very much.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I was tempted to reply,
"You should look into getting what Michael Jackson uses and lighten your skin!"

Been there, hollered back "You're too uptight! Get a vibrator!"

My mother damn near beat the shit out of me with a rolled up newspaper for that remark...all the while laughing her ass off.

It's fun hanging with your folks when you're in your middle 20's

M

[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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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]

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.

[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*

[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.

[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!!