The Student Room Group

Very pale - tanning machines?

Not sure whether this should be here or in fashion, but, here goes:

I am naturally very pale - Irish and Northern European blood!! - and frequently burn during the summer. I'm wondering whether it might be safer for my skin if I were to attempt to build up a tan via tanning beds in order to prevent myself from burning in the summer. I'm going to Spain at the end of August, and really don't want to have to keep out of the sun for ages at a time, or getting things stuck to me because of the amount of sun cream i have to wear!!

Any suggestions would be good :smile:

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Reply 1
Don't use Tanning Bed's. They are really bad for u & can cause skin cancer.

How about getting a,professional Fake Tan body spray, - just before u go away ?
Reply 2
isabella
Don't use Tanning Bed's. They are really bad for u & can cause skin cancer.

How about getting a,professional Fake Tan body spray, - just before u go away ?


There's still the problem of burning; as a fake tan I doubt it would help to protect my skin at all, whereas actually having a bit of "natural" colour to my skin may mean I wouldn't burn so easily. It's less of an aesthetic thing (I kinda like being pale) and more of a holiday/summer practicallity thing.
Reply 3
pixiepeep
There's still the problem of burning; as a fake tan I doubt it would help to protect my skin at all, whereas actually having a bit of "natural" colour to my skin may mean I wouldn't burn so easily. It's less of an aesthetic thing (I kinda like being pale) and more of a holiday/summer practicallity thing.

Oh okay,i see ur point ! Personally i still wouldn't use Sun Beds - not worth the risk. Not saying u can't - if u do, just be careful & don't spend to long in them.
Reply 4
isabella
Oh okay,i see ur point ! Personally i still wouldn't use Sun Beds - not worth the risk. Not saying u can't - if u do, just be careful & don't spend to long in them.


I was considering going for a session once a week, just to build up a base. I'm not after a bronze tan, just something that would mean I don't have to paint sun cream on!!
Reply 5
pixiepeep
I was considering going for a session once a week, just to build up a base. I'm not after a bronze tan, just something that would mean I don't have to paint sun cream on!!

Well,if u do it at a professional salon - they will know how long / much, is safe for you to do :smile:
Reply 6
Fake tans can offer sun protection though - I'm pretty sure they can help prevent burning.

Fake is much better than going on a sunbed - if you're very pale, you probably won't even tan on a sunbed unless you have extensive sessions, you'll just go red and burn.

I don't think I could use a sunbed again - well, I only ever used a sunshower 'coz they're not as scary - after watching Final Destination 3! Anyone who has seen that probably won't wanna use a sunbed! Haha.

Yeah, deffo go with faking it - using a sunbed will damage your skin more than going out in the sun with a fake tan will.
Reply 7
inject melanin into your skin?
I go on the 'sun showers ' once a week, and was originally very pale. I am now a pretty healthy lightly tanned colour. I have 8 mins a week. Dont expect to go black though.
Reply 9
Going on a sunbed will have the same effect as going out in the sun. If you have pale skin, you'll burn with them too. Building up a "base" won't really make you any safer.

It sucks, but if you have pale skin the only option is to either fake it or just slap on the suncream and keep the pale and interesting look.
Reply 10
Rouge
inject melanin into your skin?

What's that ?
Reply 11
Even if you have built up a slight tan you will still need to wear suncream and cover up if you don't want to burn. Especially if you're going on holiday somewhere sunny. If your skin is very pale, any reputable tanning salon will refuse your custom anyway.

I have very pale skin too but, last time I went on a foreign holiday, I slapped on the suncream and got a big hat, and didn't burn or change colour at all. It is possible. If you don't want everything to stick to you, just give your suncream time to dry before you get dressed.
Rouge
inject melanin into your skin?


Melanin is a natural pigment that is generated by melanocytes.
Melanocytes were once migratory cells derived from neural crest cells
during embryogenesis.

Some people have areas of absent skin pigmentation because the clonal
ancestor of neural crest cells died before it could migrate to the
specific region of skin where it was programmed to diferentiate into a
melanocyte. The distribution of these areas of absent pigmentation
resembles the "dermatome maps" of spinal cord sensory neurons. This is
because neural crest cells also lead to development of peripheral
nerve cells.

The melanin pigment manufactured by melanocytes remains within
endosomes (vacuoles) in the cytoplasm of these cells. If you were to
inject melanin pigment into the skin you would not be able to control
its distribution as well as the distribution of melanocytes controls
distribution of cytoplasmic pigment. It would take an enormous amount
of small needle pricks to accomplish this. The pain by itself might
prevent someone from doing this. Furthermore, there would be no
certainty that the pigment would stay where it was injected.

Since melanin is a natural material, cells could engulf it and carry it
away, were it deposited in the extracellular matrix. Some cells might
concentrate it in phagocytic vacuoles which would yield dark dots of
pigment surrounded by unpigmented areas. Using existing Tattoo
pigments might be more successful in darkening patches of nonpigmented
skin, but there would be a cost of lots of pain.

While it is not possible at present to cause melanocytes to develop in
areas where they are missing, it may be possible to stimulate existing
melanocytes to make more melanin. This is what happens when people get
a sun tan.
I wouldn't recommend a sunbed, they're really not very good for you! Why don't you get some of that Johnson's holiday skin or similar, to build up a bit of a tan, I'm sure some of them offer sun protection. Then put on lots of sun cream! It sucks having pale skin :frown:
fleur de lis
It sucks having pale skin :frown:


It's the hand you've been dealt, live with it. I do and everyone that laughs about it can go to hell. :smile:
TheDutchy
It's the hand you've been dealt, live with it. I do and everyone that laughs about it can go to hell. :smile:


I know :smile: I'm not all that bothered, like you say it's the hand I've been dealt and I can't be bothered with fake tan! :p:
You are aware that a tan is in fact just burnt skin? It's the preliminary stages of sunburn.

Embrace being pale - believe me, my boyfriend is Italian, and in Italy having pale skin is seen as being a sign of beauty as it's so rare over there. I get so many compliments about it despite being white as a sheet!

Back in the Tudor/Elizabethan period, paleness was also seen to prove good birth and royal connections as all the commoners had to work in the sun all day, thereby giving them darker skin.

There are ways to get around pale skin in the sun:
*Use a high factor, long lasting lotion. I belive Ambre Solaire do a 75 or 100 SPF that only has to be applied once a day, and it doesn't leave you with white streaks.
*Choose a foundation with at least 15SPF in it: Maybelline, Max Factor and L'Oreal usually have some in, but check the back of the packaging.
*Wear a headscarf (very in now!) or hat, as the parting and tops of the ears are the first bit to burn if you are very pale.
*If worried about burning on the beach, wear a sheer kaftan. That way you don't burn directly, but your skin still gets the benefit of some vitamin D.

Basically, if you go away somewhere hot in a different part of the world to where you were raised, your skin won't be accustomed to it. No matter what, you're going to have to be careful in the sun. If you get sunbeds, you'll just be burning your skin before you get there, and if you go a deep brown, you won't actually be able to tell whether you're burning your skin.

An extract from the recent World Health report about sunbeds:
"Once hoped to offer a better way to brown, tanning salons now take as much heat from medical experts as the sun. The World Health Organization recently stated that artificial tanning "provides the ideal setting for the development of malignant skin cancer" because users get periodic bursts of intense radiation. In addition, people in tanning beds often place their whole bodies under the ultraviolet light, leaving about twice the surface area exposed to direct rays."

If you want to volunteer for cancer, go right ahead but I think that really you value your health more than that...
Reply 17
fleur de lis
I wouldn't recommend a sunbed, they're really not very good for you! Why don't you get some of that Johnson's holiday skin or similar, to build up a bit of a tan, I'm sure some of them offer sun protection. Then put on lots of sun cream! It sucks having pale skin :frown:


Mum uses that whenever they go away on a hot holiday. Although she does have quite dark skin. I used it last year before Egypt - Worked really well - so atleast i had a bit of colour. :smile:
Reply 18
I only ever used a sunshower 'coz they're not as scary - after watching Final Destination 3! Anyone who has seen that probably won't wanna use a sunbed! Haha.


That was horrible! Put me right off sunbeds, although im sure the cancers a bigger worry! You said you're going away at the end of august, and even though english summers are pretty unreliable :frown: you can still get a pretty good base tan if you start going out in june. I'm very pale, and I'm forever getting burnt but you don't have to if you're vaguley sensible with sun cream etc.
Reply 19
it always amuses me so much to hear people ranting about how bad sunbeds are for you, then those same people cook themselves in the sun for three weeks solid when they go on holiday in the summer and somehow think this is more righteous.

it's actually safer for you to have a short sunbed session every week or fortnight for a year than it is for you to spend every day of the year getting minimal exposure with three weeks of the summer spent cooking yourself on a beach. Fact.