Thread: What's wrong with being pale?!

Had a club gig on Friday. Young audience, averagely aged 18. Wore the purple Eman I got from Eden Lamour. Felt pretty! Everything went ok, the boys were a bit hyper (especially during the drumsolo bit, of course, could see their fantasies running by) and a lot of the girls gave me some kind of envious look, how did I dare take up all the attention!

Afterwards (behind my back, mind you) I heard the remark I've heard so many times before - I'm too pale, tanning bed isn't that dangerous etc etc.

Well yeah, my (unintended) summer tan is already gone. So? I like being pale!

Other pale bhuzzers? Do you get these remarks as often as I do? How do you deal with them?

HAHAHAHA dont worry........if thats all they can come up with to put you down you MUST BE A BEAUTIFUL girl and dancer........just be glad that they dont say your behind is too big ;-)

Under strong stage light, pale skin is too reflective. That's why performers normally get spray on tans, like bikini models or competitive bodybuilders. I have seen bellydancers do the same thing when they hit the big stage with bright lights.

I am extremely fair skinned and have heard the same things from friends for years. Now that we are all getting close to 50 those girls who tanned all the time have many wrinkles and I don't. There are advantages to embracing your paleness.

At this point, I think I've conceeded that I'm always going to look either like I'm doing something gothy/dark OR like I've just recovered from the flu.

I'll take option number 1, please.

(but yeah, I think they're just jealous!)

i'm wicked pale in the winter and people have said to me....

"it's called getting a tan" blahhhh blahhhhhhh while they snicker

This is my natural color and i'm sticking with it! I'm not going to get colored contacts because a different eye color is in and i don't really feel like the tan trend fits me. i have light eyes, hair (getting darker during pregnancy), and skin...it's my normal state of being and existance.

beauty comes in all different shapes, sizes and COLORS (pale gal's included)

:soapbox:

PLUS...there are always people who will give you some sort of BS about your physical self...like your too thin, heavy, dark, light, curvy, straight, tall, short etc.... you can't make everyone happy only yourself.

(i love using the smilies)

Yes, I once had a patron say this to my face after a show! I had come out during the break (yes, in full cover-up), and she stopped me and complimented me on how much she enjoyed the show. Then she proceeded to tell me how I really should be more tan, blah, blah, blah...

I just nodded and smiled. Of course she was probably in her 30's, but looked way up into her 40's because of her tanned, leathery skin and over-processed blond hair (this is TX afterall).

I like being pale! Its my natural color, why would I want to change it? If I worked outdoors or something, had more sun, I would be happy with that too! No fakin-bakin for me... I guess the only argument that could be made is that I was dancing at a Middle Eastern restaurant, and I looking decidedly un-Middle Eastern. But I don't think getting a tan is going to change that!

I used to sometimes hear that comment from Americans. In countries where many people have darker skin, pale skin is considered "exotic" (as in good different).
It drives my nuts at a makeup counter when people (who consider themselves makeup artists) try to get me to buy a foundation that's darker than my skin color- either because their line doesn't go pale enough or because they think I "should add some color". Eww.
My personal feeling is that people's natural skin color is usually gorgeous just the way it is - the full spectrum is wonderful.

yeah, I don't tan, I burn. So I hide from the sun, and wear at least sph 15 all the time. So I look like snow white, people can deal. I do not feel like baking myself. ,m::

I got my makeup done by a makeup artist last month. I was about 6-7 feet from the mirror and in artificial lighting...when I got home and saw myself in sunlight I realized she'd coloured me ORANGE! :( I grabbed some white powder and put it all over my face so that my head would match my neck again...honestly.

Lol I am alibino. The pics of me in my profile are of me when I was tanning!!! When I am under harsh stage lights, I just use a light bronzer (Micabella I highly reccomend! for albinos like me!!) Otherwise, hail to the see-through!!

I could be very dark olive, very easily...but I'm not a sunbather (besides sitting fully clothed and covered in a sunbeam, soaking it up like cat), and I like being pale (good thing I'm goth too, eh?)...and my skin thanks me for it. I've only had it suggested to me once that I should try some tanning cream, to show up better on film. Uh..nope.

And my skin is in pretty great shape, and whether I'm in California, New England, or England, I seem to get stopped and commented on about the quality of my skin--by NON-goths...so not having a tan is good for something.

my friends call me "INSTA-TAN" anyone who stands next to me immediately looks tan. with dark hair and eyes, i am usually thought of as exotic..
during the winter months i use the jergens glow lotion- it doesnt darken my skin per say but it does add a glow. im still pale but not as jarring. at least once i started using it i got the pale comment less...
i think pale= cancer free!

Well, having a type of Mediteranian skin I never get real white. Nor do I prefer to get too sun tanned (the 1970 years have passed - where almost everyone looked like fryed chicken). But it is realy a matter of taste. Just image when I was working as a dancer a summer in Marbella (Spain) I used to go each late afternoon to the beach to sit under an umbrella and to get some fresh air. After 2 weeks naturally I got darker and the singers in the Club (as well as the band - all Arabs) told me: "Stop ruining your wonderful light skin!"

Well -to each his own....

As a former suntan bed champion, no one who makes any comments about your lack of a tan would be willing to bear the skin-cancer surgeries that I have had to endure.

Tell 'em to shove it!

Real beauty knows no age, no nationality, and no skin/hair color!

GRRRRR!

Originally Posted by amity

When I am under harsh stage lights, I just use a light bronzer (Micabella I highly reccomend! for albinos like me!!) Otherwise, hail to the see-through!!

This is something I probably should do too, becausing the lighting... I'm surprised none of my troupe friends have pointed out this caveat. But then again, most of us are pretty pale.

Originally Posted by HubicRuzz

Under strong stage light, pale skin is too reflective. That's why performers normally get spray on tans, like bikini models or competitive bodybuilders. I have seen bellydancers do the same thing when they hit the big stage with bright lights.

For sure, darker skin shows off muscle definition more, thus the competing bodybuilders have to use spray on tans if they are not naturally brown or tanned. But even this is culturally based. In ancient Greece athletes would powder down to look very white.

But personally, I have never thought my very white skin looked bad under even very bright stage lights. I have seen myself on video under stage lights, and I have also been complimented about how porcelain my skin looked on stage. I don't use makeup or even powder except on my face. I agree with Samira Shuruk -- I like my whiteness, am not going to tan and ruin my skin for anyone, and viva les differences!

My only gripe with my skin is that, despite dedication to sunblocks, I have accumulated sun damage at the neckline of my chest and so it is browner but not in a good way.

Sedonia

Pale is beautiful! I love it! I used to hate it, but now I see that it makes me stand out as different. I've had compliments, too. "like porcelain"!

Hi Queenie

i think your skin colour is just beautifull (and definitely together with your hair, eyes, it works really well, and you do your make up very nice, well i've just seen your daily make up so i'm sure your performing one is even more smashing).

i've also embraced my pale colour. i've gotten remarks in summer, after outdoor shows, where everyone else had a tan, and i didnt, that i was too white. and sometimes other professional dancers have given me remarks too!. where i used to dance and teach they asked us to go to a tanning salon even!

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.

unless you have a choice of lighting and the lighting technician knows how to make everybody look good!

Sedonia - I, too havea 'tan' on my neckline and my forearms. Mircodermibrasion and photo facials. And reapplying sunblock. COnstantly.

Of course the other option is to never go out into the sunlight. Which for most of us is NOT an option.

Oh, and include me in the so pale you can read the times through my skin club. At 44 I have young women ask me how I managed to have such beautiful skin. I have complete strangers walk up to me in restaurants and touch the skin on my lower back if it is exposed. Both men and women. While that might be a little freaky - personal space issues -, definately a sign that pale skin is NOT looked down upon.

{{{HUGS}}}

i forgot: instead of getting a tan, i changed my hair colour! since i went red, less people comment on my skin! and i dont even have the porcelain skin (i like that look btw). i'm just very pale. but with the red hair, less comments.

i think sometimes it also has something to do here with people wanting dancers to look "from over there". i'll never pass, and i dont even want to try. maybe when you have black hair, black eyes, it's sort of expected even more?

I've been hearing this cr@p all my life - what's up with people's preoccupation with tans? My arms have a light tan (that I wish would go away) because I wear short sleeves all the time, but otherwise I'm as white as the new driven snow - and I like it that way.

I don't like the bronzed look on myself, or on others (natural skin tone not withstanding). I think pale white skin looks better, and is certainly more healthy. I've become so annoyed with tanning comments that I've started telling people "get a life"...

I am very pale, and I have just decided to rock the look. In fact, my dance name means "pale" or "milk-white". If I got a tan, I'd have to change my name!

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?

As somebody who always buys the "ivory" foundation myself, I can relate to paleness.

But I do want to put in a plug here about my pet peeve: people who are UNEVENLY pale. I've seen several dancers with very tanned (fake or real, unknown) faces and arms... and then absolutely dead white midriffs. This looks bizarre, like you're a patchwork doll. I think in that case some bronzer to make all your skin a little closer in tone might be called for.

pale is fine & in the long run better for maintaining a youthful appearance. i get loads of skin comments cause i live on a desert where the average woman has tanned herself to look like a leather shoe. most people think i'm younger than i am!! yay me. tina

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 have blonde hair, fair skin, and blue eyes. Light-colored skin is more compatible with these features than a tan would be. I like my light skin color, and intend to keep it that way.

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.

If someone else chooses to prioritize cosmetic fads (tanned skin) as being more important to her than health (skin cancer risk and prematurely wrinkled skin), she has the right to make that choice. But for me personally, health is more important than fashion.

Queenie, if I were you, I'd chalk up that remark to the women just being jealous at you getting so much attention and looking so great.

I'm a natural (Irish) redhead, freckles and all. I used to be afraid of looking to pale, but now I wish I was paler. lol I'm pretty pale but my freckles give me some color. In the summer my freckles multiply like rabbits and I look like I'm getting a tan but it's really an illusion. I like being pale. It stinks under bright lights, but even if I were to "fake bake" it wouldn't look natural on me. I say, hale to the pale!

I think the most important thing if you're pale is that you choose a costume that contrasts well with your skin. If you're very pale and wear a pale pastel or white costume, it doesn't look very good under stage lighting. Stick with vivid colours. I am fairly pale but with olive, not peach or pink tone, and tend to look a little better (in my own opinion) with some tan-in-a-bottle if I'm going on stage. I have friends who are basically ivory in skin tone, and who look just fine on stage as long as their costume is a good colour.