Pale or Tan?

[cherry lips]

I'm currently reading "Compacts and Cosmetics" by Madeleine Marsh (I'm absolutely smitten!) and stumbled upon something I hadn't heard before:

"Dancer Josephine Baker, 'The Black Pearl', 'The Panther with the golden claws', left America for Paris to star in La Revue Negre in 1925.[...] Baker showed the french that black was beautiful and took Paris by storm. Admirers showered her with expensive gifts and she received a reported 1,500 marriage proposals. Men wanted to sleep with her and women wanted to look like her - slicking down their hair with 'Bakerfix' brillantine and darkening their skin with tinted powder and cream to look like 'the black Venus'."

1931 French ad for brown face cream feat the fashionable dark face.

Already in 1923 english Vogue commented on the recent French winter fashion for brown face make-up.

Did any of you know about this? I think it's fascinating!

 

[boone33]

Pale

 

[nosferaturoams]

I like both
Though my pale is like a tan for some of you ladies
I live in a predominately hispanic community and many of them believe me to be pale. However, I'm tan. I used to be pale but I started swimming, and you know the rest

 

[McVolke]

I'm currently reading "Compacts and Cosmetics" by Madeleine Marsh (I'm absolutely smitten!) and stumbled upon something I hadn't heard before:

"Dancer Josephine Baker, 'The Black Pearl', 'The Panther with the golden claws', left America for Paris to star in La Revue Negre in 1925.[...] Baker showed the french that black was beautiful and took Paris by storm. Admirers showered her with expensive gifts and she received a reported 1,500 marriage proposals. Men wanted to sleep with her and women wanted to look like her - slicking down their hair with 'Bakerfix' brillantine and darkening their skin with tinted powder and cream to look like 'the black Venus'."

1931 French ad for brown face cream feat the fashionable dark face.

Already in 1923 english Vogue commented on the recent French winter fashion for brown face make-up.

Did any of you know about this? I think it's fascinating!

I think it's very neat that an african american was copied to the point of women wanting darker skin, especially in that era. By the way pale or tan? Freckles. Lots of freckles to go with my red hair.

 

[Formeruser012523]

I'm so pale, but I prefer it. I don't mind it & use an umbrella if I'm out in the sun too long. It's hard to tan because I burn like a lobster.

 

[shazzabanazza]

I'll be the lone voice of ghostie dissent: I like being pale. I think I look fine with a bit more color (I grew up in California, so usually got a bit browner during the summer), but I just prefer not having a tan. Makes me think I'm safe(r) from skin cancer.

As far as other folks go, though...I'm not a fan of tanorexics, but beyond that it's really just what looks good on each individual person.

I prefer pale over tan too. Seems these days, in order to be beautiful one must have a tan so I like to go against the grain and stay natural, therefore pale is me

 

[bunnyb.gal]

I'm currently reading "Compacts and Cosmetics" by Madeleine Marsh (I'm absolutely smitten!) and stumbled upon something I hadn't heard before:

"Dancer Josephine Baker, 'The Black Pearl', 'The Panther with the golden claws', left America for Paris to star in La Revue Negre in 1925.[...] Baker showed the french that black was beautiful and took Paris by storm. Admirers showered her with expensive gifts and she received a reported 1,500 marriage proposals. Men wanted to sleep with her and women wanted to look like her - slicking down their hair with 'Bakerfix' brillantine and darkening their skin with tinted powder and cream to look like 'the black Venus'."

1931 French ad for brown face cream feat the fashionable dark face.

Already in 1923 english Vogue commented on the recent French winter fashion for brown face make-up.

Did any of you know about this? I think it's fascinating!

I had no idea about that, but it does so make sense knowing how much the French adored her. And I imagine only in France could that have happened, as there was that acceptance of blacks at that time as actually worthy of being emulated.

 

[Stray Cat]

Arrrr!
I went hiking, my skin burned!
I peeled off like a snake.
And now I'm freckled again! So, back to bleaching creme..
This is going to be a long summer for me: protecting every part of my skin from UV light. Irony is: I used to tan so easily- now not so much. Now I burn, peel and all that remains becomes some gray pigment.. Strange. So I avoid sun. AS much as I can. And if I MUST go out.. SUN BLOCK. SPF+50.

Just like Dita.
I love her paleness.. she inspires me.

 

[cherry lips]

Swedish sun lotion ad from 1947 - protects your skin from hurtful sunburn but gives you the desireable tan, makes you enviously golden-brown, etc.
http://blog.johannaost.com

 

[SgtRick]

My sister in law is a "tanner", always in the sun. Her face looks like a catchers mitt.

 

[Stray Cat]

@SgtRick
Post some pics.. please?
lol

 

[Almost Vintage]

I don't avoid the sun, per se, but I don't make a point of "tanning", either. Currently I'm a light tan, I guess you could say. lol.

 

[Edward]

My sister in law is a "tanner", always in the sun. Her face looks like a catchers mitt.

I forget the source, but a reliable scientific study here in the UK a few years ago concluded that 90% of the visible signs of aging are directly attributable to exposure to the Sun. Here in London, I stay inside during daylight hours when at all possible, all Summer. J hate to tan. I used to just go red and peel, but now alas my face seems to take it, making me look like I simply haven't washed for a week. I much prefer my natural pallor.

 

[SgtRick]

Here in Iraq I try to stay out of the sun as much as possible. The sun is very intense here in the Middle East. The wind is bad enough in the summer, feels like your standing in front of a huge hair dryer with no "off" switch.

 

[member 19219]

I have the redhead genes (thanks, dad!), so I have no other option than pale or firetruck red. I wear SPF50 every day so my skin won't age as fast.

 

[Odalisque]

Arrrr!
I went hiking, my skin burned!
I peeled off like a snake.
And now I'm freckled again! So, back to bleaching creme..
This is going to be a long summer for me: protecting every part of my skin from UV light. Irony is: I used to tan so easily- now not so much. Now I burn, peel and all that remains becomes some gray pigment.. Strange. So I avoid sun. AS much as I can. And if I MUST go out.. SUN BLOCK. SPF+50.

Just like Dita.
I love her paleness.. she inspires me.

I'm right on board with you- I wish I could be perfectly pale like Dita but the Italian in me will never let that happen
I don't know if you were referring to using commercial bleaching cremes but please be careful, a lot of lightening cremes are just as dangerous as getting a sunburn! Hydroquinone, one of the more popular ingredients in those cremes, has been linked to cancer in some studies.
There are quite a few homemade recipes for lightening your skin without the chemical risk.

 

[monicacaroline]

Fair!

Fair skin please! I like looking like snow white and not having wrinkles.

 

[Yeps]

I generally prefer darker skin, but that is more about complexion. I am not a fan of the California blond look with lighter hair than the over tanned skin. That is not attractive. If you are tan, that is fine, if you go tanning, that is silly.

As for myself, I have been deathly pale for the past couple years, and it looks a bit unnatural on me (I have a generally olive complexion) but I just started working at an outdoor pool and in the past week, despite sunscreen, my skin has gone 5 shades or so darker.

 

[Alex]

Whatever is natural is my opinion. Kind of to echo what Yeps said, I thinking tanning is unnecessary unless it happens from being outside.. not just for the sake of tanning.

 

[Bluebird Marsha]

As a child and teen, I hated to out in the sun; I didn't tan, and I'd rather read a book with a glass of sweet tea than go swimming or playing. Mom was always fussing at me to "get some color" dang it! So outside I went, with tea and book to find a tree to lounge under. I hate to admit that I was happy when the first articles came out connecting skin cancer and tanning, but I was. Mom didn't think they knew what they were talking about, but at least I could feel virtuous about it. There I was, a teen in the Seventies, wanting to look like a Victorian lady.

Years later, I'm going out on field exercises, and my colonel is laughing that I'm one of the few LT's that used the sunscreen in a tin. Didn't I want a tan? No, I did not. I pointed out to him that on men his age, grey hair and a few sun "wrinkles" looked distinguished, but it just made women look old. I intended to fight it early and every step of the way. I don't mind picking up a tan when I'm out doing something, although I've burned to the point of blistering when I didn't put on enough sunscreen. I still shudder when I think of my hike up the Mt. Rainier trail. Ouch!

Yeah, I'm pale, although I will slap some fake tan on my legs. They can look pasty. And I will go outside to a pool now. With a cabana overhead, and a cabana boy to bring me a drink.