What's wrong with being pale?!

[BabsGrrrl]

I second Shira's comment about how tanning beds ARE dangerous! Geeeze! Every single person in my immediate family has had pre-cancerous melanomas taken off their skin (mostly on their face) and so I sometimes feel like I singlehandedly support the sunscreen industry. My dermatologist would have an aneurysm if she heard someone say that tanning beds are safe! GAH!

My skin has enough problems (rosacea, scars at the drop of a hat) without me exacerbating things by tanning. I have used the Jergen's Glow in the winter just to warm up my skin tone a bit, but it doesn't get dark. I don't want to be dark. I like my pale skin and blonde hair.

Yay for all us gorgeous pale gals!!

[Nisima]

I am very pale with dark hair and eyes and on the advice of my dermatologist simply do not try to "get a little sun" anymore. I just burn too easily. My skin has thanked me profusely for this and I just refused to spray on tan or do anything about my "glow in the dark white skin" except wear costume colors that flatter it! The only color that really isn't very flattering on me is straight jet black - just too harsh against my pale midriff. Over the years I've had many comments - some from Middle Eastern musicians who complained, "Nisima, you need to go lie in the sun you are too pale". I just nod and smile vaguely; of course I had no intention then or now about "getting some healthy color". My dermatologist told me over and over "there is no such thing as a healthy tan, you are cooking your skin to a nice leathery bronze".
Having said all that, a month ago I was at an outdoor festival in a navel baring beledi dress on a hazy day and forgot sunblock. My face makeup is SPF15 so didn't burn but ohmigod after 3 hours my belly had a huge red circle with the unburned navel in the center of it, navel ring sparkling away. and my chest above bra line was all burned, except around where my Hamsa pendant necklace was. And the next day the burn got darker and swollen, and itched and burned. Ouch. And a week later right when I was scheduled to perform at a restaurant, I started peeling, how unattractive...............is that? So, I opted to perform in a full coverage opaque beledi dress, couldn't even stand my Assuit dress next to my itching, peeling icky looking middle and I wore a ginormous looped necklace to cover the bizarre sunburned pattern above bra line. So then audience said, "loved your dancing, your costume was really different from the other dancers". Yeah, well, I was fried like a filet o'fish ....... but all I did was smile and nod and say "thank you".
People will always find something to comment on! I do what is best for my skin, period and even though bright stage lights do wash me out, I compensate with eye makeup and flattering bright lipstick. It's enough to cope with all the costuming, makeup and hair without having to use spray on fake tans.

[Lilladancer]

Personally, I love the look of alabaster skin on stage - I think it's stunning. Myself, I have Mediterranean skin that will never be milky white - when I don't tan, I can sometimes have a pinkish-yellow cast under concert stage lights. So I do get a spray tan for big shows that are taped, so that I won't go pink-yellow. But I never tan with the sun or tanning beds.

I did get a lot of sun as a teenager because I lived near the beach, : ( but I stopped it almost completely once I was in college (too busy studying!) Just lately I have had several women comment that of course they were "much older" than I was, only to find out that they were actually younger than me. I attribute it to the lack of sun damage I have incurred - so as far as I'm concerned, pale is cool!

[Zareen22]

I am always jealous of the creamy white completion. I get tan so easy and my arms and chest are always darker then my mid drift (I don’t wear a bikini) so if I am dancing in the spring, summer or fall I sometimes use a self tanner on the midriff area so I match better. I wouldn’t bother but it is so noticeable. I wouldn’t worry about being too pale or damage you skin in a tanning booth - you may want to try a moisturizer with shimmer effect (popular around the holidays) that would reflect the light better –

[wigglewhiz]

...it's me! I have found this thread!

I am an absolute, certifiable, crazy-a$$ NUT when it comes to the tanning issue. Seriously. I don't do it and I WON'T do it... but it doesn't bother me if other people want to.

The minor issues are:

1. I'm not getting that stuff on my costumes.
2. My skin is verrrrrrrrrrrrry sensitive and I'm NOT buying a million brands of expensive goop and patch testing myself ad nauseam, nor risking breaking out into hives. Yum.

The major issue? It's my SKIN COLOUR. There is absolutely no way anyone would get away with saying "Oh honey, if only you were a little more white" to a woman of colour. Everyone in the place would be horrified and outraged (or they SHOULD be, any way!). I demand the same respect - this is my colour, I don't need to do anything about it and I don't need to hear their opinion on whether it's pretty enough or not. Bah.

Yours Truly,

Blue-pale Pictish Warrior For Natural Skintone

[ssipes]

Yes, tanning is evil, and comes with a definitive set of consequences. Even if you manage to dodge the cancer part of it, there is no way around the accelerated aging that it causes. Naturally brown skin ages better than pale skin, but tanned skin is going to age worse than pale skin that has been protected from the sun.

The ridiculous part of the whole "you are too pale, you need to tan" line of thinking is that people who are sufficiently pale to elicit such a response CAN'T TAN!!

Originally Posted by wigglewhiz

The major issue? It's my SKIN COLOUR. There is absolutely no way anyone would get away with saying "Oh honey, if only you were a little more white" to a woman of colour.

Except unfortunately it happens of course; there is more prejudice against very dark brown women as opposed to ligher brown in many societies, certainly with African American women, and I have also been told by Indian students at my university that there is skin-color prejudice among the Indian students (there are caste issues intertwined with skin color here also, but still, it's all crap). Its just that it is a more serious type of prejudice, so people are not going to mouth off nonchalantly about it they way they tell pale people to tan.

[zumarrad]

I'm pale. I stopped trying to tan after a bad burn at 17 and I am GLAD. The one thing I regret is that I stopped wearing makeup every day and have always been slack about sunblock, because my face is now a darker colour than the rest of me. I've pointed out that with foundation, I want my face to match my *neck* to makeup artists in shops and the results have been so much better. Otherwise they match my sundamaged face and I look yellow and old.

A few years ago I used some of the infamous Natural Glow on my torso for performance, and it looked OK, but these days I say to hell with that sh*t. I'm not dancing under a spotlight.

[Emma]

Originally Posted by ssipes

Except unfortunately it happens of course; there is more prejudice against very dark brown women as opposed to ligher brown in many societies, certainly with African American women, and I have also been told by Indian students at my university that there is skin-color prejudice among the Indian students (there are caste issues intertwined with skin color here also, but still, it's all crap). Its just that it is a more serious type of prejudice, so people are not going to mouth off nonchalantly about it they way they tell pale people to tan.

I ranted about this on my LJ a few months ago. Light skinned women are told to tan; dark skin women are told to lighten. What is this mysterious skin colour that we're all aiming for? I suspected that only one woman in the world has acheived it, and that woman is Victoria Beckham.

Having a tan is an enjoyable novelty for me, and I will fake it for a performance (I've got some lovely shimmery body lotion), but the rest of the time I am happy to be pale and a bit goth-looking.

[Linnyg]

My family always said that my legs looked "like raw chicken" because they were the color of raw chicken legs. I hated it as a teenager but didn't have the patience to sit out in the sun to get a tan. Now that I am in the over 30 club, I am glad I didn't. No one guesses my correct age, they all think I am about 6 years younger than I am. This always makes me happy . I say, show off your pale chicken legs and the rest of them can make nice shoes out of their skin when they are old!

[badriya_al_ahmar]

My skin is partly why I chose the stage name Badriya--like the moon I grew up in a town that was at the time 99.9 percent white, but still in the summers kids would sing the theme song to Caspar the Friendly Ghost at me when I'd go to the local swimming spot. I simply do not tan; I burn, heal, and then burn again. So I was quite self conscious as a child about how pale I was, but around 16 or so I decided to embrace it (probably not coincidentally, that was around the time that I discovered Bauhaus and Siouxsie Sioux). I'd feel untrue to myself if I used any kind of tanning spray.

The one drawback to being very pale is that on film or photo, my torso tends to be one solid blur of white and loses a lot of the definition that I know is there. For photo shoots I really ought to remember to bring extra makeup for body contouring.

[Nat242]

Originally Posted by wigglewhiz

...it's me! I have found this thread!

I am an absolute, certifiable, crazy-a$$ NUT when it comes to the tanning issue. Seriously. I don't do it and I WON'T do it... but it doesn't bother me if other people want to.

The minor issues are:

1. I'm not getting that stuff on my costumes.
2. My skin is verrrrrrrrrrrrry sensitive and I'm NOT buying a million brands of expensive goop and patch testing myself ad nauseam, nor risking breaking out into hives. Yum.

The major issue? It's my SKIN COLOUR. There is absolutely no way anyone would get away with saying "Oh honey, if only you were a little more white" to a woman of colour. Everyone in the place would be horrified and outraged (or they SHOULD be, any way!). I demand the same respect - this is my colour, I don't need to do anything about it and I don't need to hear their opinion on whether it's pretty enough or not. Bah.

Yours Truly,

Blue-pale Pictish Warrior For Natural Skintone

Amen, sister Warrior! I don't tan, I fry, and have never even tried getting a tan. I don't wear fake tan, because then I won't look like me.

[sabrinabellydancer]

Originally Posted by *Shira*

The comment you overheard, "Tanning beds aren't that dangerous," really rankles me. Yes, they are. My sister-in-law is a dermatologist who specializes in melanoma (the most dangerous kind of skin cancer, which is SOARING because of the tanning fad). Based on what she has told me, I would NEVER use a tanning bed!!! Not only is there the risk of skin cancer, but also the problem of wrinkling.

so true! here in so. cal., everyone knows someone who has/had skin cancer from sun exposure or tanning. it is no joke. a family friend lost her whole nose! now the poor lady has to wear a prosthetic nose, because of years of sun exposure. trust me, you are better off dancing with pale skin than a prosthetic nose.

these comments happen to all us at some point. one night, while working at a restaurant, the manager and a waiter were giggling abt. me. i demanded to know what was so funny. they said my legs are so pale, they thought i was wearing tights. so, i just smiled and said "thank you". what ever. i wonder how they would like it if someone laughed at their skin color?

nasty, jealous girls will say anything to make themselves feel better. and yes, if that was the best they could come up with, you must have done a great show.

[ozma]

I live in Japan, one of the many countries to be into "whitening cremes"...My glow-in-the-dark whiteness is very much desired ( as is Eshe's...she and I can tell you the lenghts to which the Japanese cover-up in the summer).

I think it's important to make sure that if you're going to embrace your pale-self is that your costume colors suit your pale-tone. Silvers and blues, as much as I like them, make me look death pale, while warmer tones and golds make my skin buttery and soft in comparison.

Yellow does something nasty to my skin, as do certain oranges. I love the drama of black, but only pull it out for gothy places because it is almost too dramatic and does not only brings out my paleness, but seems to make my bones (where you can see them) more ...boney.

[Gia al Qamar]

A BIG cheer to those of us in the "Proud to be Pale" club!!!
I think the look of fake tans and leather creased skin has gone the way of polyester jump suits...
I think natural skin tone is elegant and beautiful no matter what the color!
Gia

[zumarrad]

I ranted about this on my LJ a few months ago. Light skinned women are told to tan; dark skin women are told to lighten. What is this mysterious skin colour that we're all aiming for? I suspected that only one woman in the world has acheived it, and that woman is Victoria Beckham.

Remember a few years back when *every* famous "sexy" woman was caramel-skinned with long golden hair and beige lips? Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce, Shakira, Fergie out of the Black Eyed Peas, Jennifer Aniston... they're all of different ethnicities and they ALL LOOKED THE SAME.

It horrified me.

[lizajuk]

Originally Posted by Surida

I think it is interesting how many of us fair skinned folks are tired of people thinking we should be tan. I wonder if the tan folks get any type of comments that they are too tan?

Quite I bet they'd not dare tell a black skinned girl she was too black!
I'm fed up with this "go get a tan". You might need some sort of heavy make-up both face and body on stage with draining light so does any skin colour but not otherwise.
Rise up ye fair Celts etc and claim your respect!

[Queenie]

Originally Posted by artemisia_danst

i do use self bronzing for stage shows mostly now (though not always), just because i've seen some stage show pics and on those i look not just pale but not so healthy. probably something to do with how the light reflected on my skin. i'm not sure how that works. well, with a light self tanner the pics now look more... like me. i use some of that spray on stuff.

Which brand do you use? I experimented with some brands over the summer to get my belly a bit even with my tanned face and arms but never got really satisfying results (to my perfectionist taste, I might add).
And thanks for your sweet compliments!

Originally Posted by Lauren_

I agree with those who said that if *that's* the strongest insult they could come up with, you must be stunningly beautiful and a fabulous dancer. I guarantee that they were looking for something negative to say. If you'd had golden-bronze skin, it would have been split ends, or the color of your pedicure. Shake it off. It's really a compliment!!!

I didn't think of that Just got tired of hearing the same comment over and over again. Some say it in a negative way, some say it in a jokingly kind of manner ("oh, so you're going to Marrakech this summer? Cool! Your tummy will get some color then!")

Glad to be in the great company of so many pale dancers around here!

[Candi]

Just to throw in the opposite view.First all I will say that if I watch a dancer I don't care about her skin colour, hair colour, size whatever. It is always the whole thing I'm watching not fixating on one unimportant thing.The most important thing is can they dance and do they make me want to watch them.
For myself as a performer I never dance without fake tan-it makes me feel better,thinner look healthier-I say each to their own.
I've lost count of the stupid things the GP have said to me over the years.One of the most important lessons in performing to learn is never take home other peoples petty negativity-it is such a waste of your energy.

[Sujhata]

Originally Posted by ozma

I live in Japan, one of the many countries to be into "whitening cremes"...My glow-in-the-dark whiteness is very much desired ( as is Eshe's...she and I can tell you the lenghts to which the Japanese cover-up in the summer).

Oh God yes! The amount of times women come up to me and coo "Irroshiroi neeee" (isn't she pale)? The whitening cremes end up looking as fake as spray-on tans in the end. I think the most stupid thing I ever saw were UV protective sleeves. Not gloves. Not a t-shirt. Just sleeves...It is refreshing when you're a pale sod to begin with to have your skin admired though.

Sadly I live in Glasgow where the Fake Tan reigns supreme. You're automatically ill if you don't have/want a tan (and yes, the women look like leather bags in their youth...)

As someone mentioned earlier, I don't change the colour of my skin because it IS the colour of my skin. I don't dye my hair (that's another one, why am I not allowed to like my hair colour?), why would I dye my skin on top of that by smothering myself in chemicals or frying myself. Same thing for the whitening creams, I mean what possible good is in the chemicals that bleach your skin?

I swear, women are happy to poison themselves to have what they don't. Why, in order to please others do I have to coat myself in crap on a regular basis to change colour? The upkeep is just tremendous

Bugger that, quite frankly. I actually tan very easily, but I hate the sun (okay, I hate tanlines) and cover up. Tanning is a reaction that shows your skin is being damaged anyway.

So if they don't like your skin, just move to the other side of the world where it might be appreciated.