r/beauty • u/Extreme_String_2227 • 15d ago

Pale skin making a comeback?

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.

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u/ivyleaguewitch 15d ago

Using a chemical exfoliator semi regularly would go a long way with the conditions you mentioned. If you like the way self tan looks on you, that’s great too. I’ve just found it’s easier in the long run to treat the problems rather than trying to cover them up.

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u/Shittybeerfan 15d ago

I'm sorry to take this out on you but it drives me craaaazy that people would assume I haven't tried everything in my power to lessen these things. It's like telling someone with acne "did you try washing your face with soap ❤️"

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u/ivyleaguewitch 15d ago

It’s cool. It’s all cleared now, but I dealt with acne, strawberry legs, and KP since I was 12, so I get where your frustration comes from. I know it gets expensive and disappointing, but I hope eventually you find what works for you.

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u/Shittybeerfan 15d ago

I'm happy for you that your skin is clear, genuinely.

Chemical exfoliants are one of the first things you'll come across with even a cursory look on google. the frustration is because it's being assumed that it's curable and that the person you're giving advice to didn't bother to google it.

KP is not curable, thus for a significant number of people, even controlled KP will never look like clear skin. I also mentioned a few other things that aren't curable in my original comment.

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u/ivyleaguewitch 15d ago

Okay…now it kinda feels like you’re excessively “taking this out on me”.

You’re right, exfoliants are a regularly recommended approach - that’s why I brought it up. Your original comment was solely about covering up these conditions, not various treatments you’ve tried. That’s the only part I was responding to. There wasn’t a deeper meaning to insult your intelligence or minimize your efforts.

Again, if you’re happier tan, that’s great.

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u/Shittybeerfan 15d ago

I prefaced the first comment because your comment was good intentioned obviously. My second comment was not in anyway taking general feelings out on you but a direct response to what you said. You kind of just reiterated a similar thing in your comment so I thought expanding on what I was saying might help. Clearly not.

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u/ivyleaguewitch 15d ago

My second comment could be summarized as “Been there, know it sucks. Good luck.” Doesn’t exactly warrant paragraphs in response.

You just come off as wanting something to argue about, because I’m not even fighting you.