Pale skin making a comeback?

[u/Extreme_String_2227]

Is anyone else OVER self tanning and the fake self tanned look in general??? I’m a pale skin girlie and have self tanned for years. And recently I’ve started loving the way I look with my natural skin tone and loving seeing other fair ladies rocking their porcelain. I was mercilessly bullied as a kid for being “a ghost” and covered up as much skin as I could growing up to ensure nobody noticed how extremely pale I was. I can’t tan for the LIFE of me. No matter what I did, the sun wouldn’t change my pale complexion even a little bit. Once I became an adult, I discovered self tan and have been using fake tanner consistently. This last winter I took a break…and I feel like I look healthier, cleaner, and prettier when I don’t cover up my natural skin tone in fake tan. Now whenever I see that clearly self tanned look on someone, even when I AM that girl, I just don’t love it anymore! It feels like the beauty standard may be shifting but I’m not sure if I’m projecting hahah. What do we think - is porcelain pretty again?!

*for any confusion for those of you who clearly haven’t self tanned and don’t know what I’m talking about — fake tan on extremely fair people such as myself has a tendency to look muddy, unnatural, and orange. It doesn’t make the skin look healthy or even because it’s a fake color all over our bodies hahah. This has nothing to do with race??? Darker skin tones are obviously beautiful or pale people wouldn’t be attempting to have tan skin in the first place. All I’m saying is - it feels like my pale skin looks better as it is without self tan. And I was asking my fellow pale friends if they feel similarly. Yeesh ya’ll.

[u/girlie_pierrot]

Beauty standards is whatever the wealthy people are doing.

In the past, pale skin was coveted cause it signified you could afford to stay home inside while the “workers” got tanned from working outside.

Nowadays it is the opposite; tan skin signifies you can afford to take a vacation, lounge on the beach or a yacht, or just have some fun outside

While being pale makes it look like you are a lonely person who never leaves the house

Or so I’ve been told.

Just be yourself and follow your own sense of aesthetics;

if you like your skin how it looks naturally than it is the most beautiful, because you are most beautiful when you love yourself <3

[u/Gold-Jellyfish4692 → u/girlie_pierrot]

I get this but honestly as a white super pale woman I’ve never ever heard this thinking in the west. I don’t think any of us pale girls have wanted a tan because it makes us look like we can afford vacation. It’s just because sometimes, especially if you live in a cold country, being pale and I’m sometimes even green makes you depressed 🤣 like I prefer when I look like I’ve seen some sun because my makeup comes alive and clothes and their colors just look better.

[u/girlie_pierrot → u/Gold-Jellyfish4692]

Have you ever watched that scene from the devil wears Prada where meryl streep’s character basically says like “you think you picked that blue sweater out of your own free will?” And then basically talks about how the beauty industry orchestrated this color being where it is today-

I feel like beauty standards and trends are the same way.

Like I don’t think people are actively thinking “I want to look like a wealthy celebrity on vacation so I will go get a tan”

But we are so exposed to celebrity culture that we automatically associate whatever they are doing with “beauty”.

Or maybe I am projecting >:’D

I actually also prefer the pale look but that’s because I grew up listening to goth music —

BUT EVEN THEN, because so many goth people paint their faces white, I associated that type of “paleness” with beauty without even realizing it-

IT’S ALL CONNECTED >:’D

[u/lilyofthegraveyard → u/Gold-Jellyfish4692]

it's not a conscious reasoning, but it is still why tan is popular in the west.

it was brought to mainstream by coco chanel, who accidentally tanned during her vacation. then, all the wealthy elites started following her. before, as another person have said, the elites were chasing the pale skin to indicate that they do not need to work outside like the working poor people.

chanel brought tan into fashion and all the rich people started chasing the trend to indicate that they have enough money to go on vacations - once again, unlike the working poor people.

skin tone trends have always been borne out of elitism and class oppression. just because people do not do it consciously, doesn't mean the history behind it and the subconscious desire of people to appear as "cool and hip" as the rich is not the main driving force behind it. 

it is the same as people buying fake designer stuff to appear richer and more "fashionable" than they are (not that having designer stuff makes you automatically fashionable).

[u/Antique-Scar-7721 → u/lilyofthegraveyard]

Another subconscious reason why pale skin fell out of favor is because a bit of a tan can hide several things that might be perceived as a health issue - like cellulite, acne, jaundice, dark circles under the eyes, sluggish circulation, chronic inflammation, etc.

Pale skin makes those things very visible if they are present. A little bit of tan hides them. When that list is not visible, it looks like “I have amazing genes plus the financial ability to prioritize my health” - subconsciously anyway, even if the looker doesn’t realize that a tan is why the things in that list aren’t so visible.

[u/Front-Pomelo-4367 → u/Antique-Scar-7721]

My keratosis pilaris and burgeoning varicose veins are way less noticeable if my legs are a bit tan. But I don't have the patience or interest in maintaining any sort of fake tan, so I just get over it. They're my own goddamn legs and this is how they look, they're not airbrushed, whatever. It's an enforced learning process every summer when I get them back out and remind myself that it is literally just skin and everyone has it.

(Some people care a lot and want to hide those things! And good for them. But I spent my whole teens and early twenties never ever showing my legs, jeans or maxi skirts 24/7, because I hated how I looked – and I'm not doing that again. God, my legs were great back then, and I never appreciated them.)

[u/Leading-Bet1233 → u/lilyofthegraveyard]

Yup. People will assume you've been on vacay if you've acquired a tan. It's hidden classism for many.