What gives your tan a brown color?
Skin color can be everything from very pale to very dark, and many shades in between. That's because of a pigment called melanin.
When you go out in the sun, your body makes more melanin. That's because it's trying to protect you from the sun's damaging rays by deflecting or absorbing them. But melanin isn't strong enough to completely protect you, especially if you have pale skin. You should always protect your skin from the sun by covering up and using a sunscreen.
More Info:
www.aad.org
What are your thoughts on this subject?
38 Comments
ninakamwene
Got it. I have an inherited tan.
Theda Davis
I learned something in my late thirties, Black people can get sun burned. --OUCH!!!
Anna Grimes
Warning for all of those that love the beach and sun bathing.....lots of 50 sunscreen and frequently apply it....I got my first basal cell cancer at 38.....am now 58 and had at least a dozen removed after biopsy....many many gassed off. I have to go to the dermatologist every 6 months for check ups...and yes tanning beds are just as bad too.
Penny Siewert
There was no such thing as sun screen when I was growing up. Spent every day in the summer at the community pool and was was burned several times where I had huge blisters in my shoulders. Now I'm in my 60's and have had several spots of squamous cell carcinoma removed from my chest and shoulder area. The sun is not my friend!
Sindy Kimmis Farris
As a licensed esthetician, I now regret all the time I spent at the beach. The damage can still show up years later.
Jeff Evans
Ginger people don't have this that's why they stay white and burn!
Noelito
Theda Davis, This will depend on their skin tone...also the intensity of sunshine that they have been exposed to in recent years. Viz, those native to Africa are less likely to burn than somebody with exactly the same hue hailing from, say, Canada or the UK 🙂
Armadillo
ninakamwene, It's lovely.
Player
There was a bizarre German woman a couple of years ago who received melanin injections to turn herself black. It does not look right, like a white person got too much spray tan. Her name is Martina Big.
joycekingsmith
...and it's a very pretty tan, Nina.
Chrissie
Irene Townsend, I'm jealous!
Irene Townsend
Jeff Evans, Wrong not all red/ginger hairs stay white, my son goes a nice brown
Joanne Serin
I have very little melanin, so I get terrible sunburns if I don't watch it. Now, besides that, I try to stay out of the sun to avoid skin cancer.
Joanne Serin
Shibon Tembhekar, why? It's scientific information.
Nan Riefler
Jaminator, this is a trivia game not a political commentary
dsneed
After three third degree sunburns the sun and I don't have a good relationship. It's not painful to be in the sun, it's just detressingly uncomfortable. But anyway ... Yay me.
Anna Grimes
Sindy , Yes , you are so right....although I am using LOTS of sunscreen 50 , hats , avoiding long exposure etc.....I am living proof at 58 that I am PAYING for what I did to my skin when I was younger!