It goes, “White skin can help conceal 100 other defects in your appearance.” Pale skin has been a beauty standard in China for a very long time and even today, roughly 40% of Chinese women regularly use skin-whitening products according to a World Health Organization study.
Areas like Scandinavia and Siberia have very low concentrations of ultraviolet radiation, and indigenous populations are all light-skinned.
Researchers have found that men are subconsciously attracted to fairer skin due to its association with purity, innocence, modesty and goodness, while women feel that darker complexions are associated with sex, virility and danger.
Pale white skin along with rouge cheeks and blue eyes was considered quintessential beauty of the European Middle Ages and snow-white skin, lightly rose coloured cheeks and dark-brown eyes was the beauty ideals of curvy women of the Renaissance period.
Research shows facial skin color that's brighter and yellower (right) looks healthier than the less bright and yellow counterparts (left).
The rarest skin color in the world is believed to be the white from albinism, a genetic mutation that causes a lack of melanin production in the human body. Albinism affects 1 in every 3,000 to 20,000 people. What is this? People with albinism usually have very pale or colorless skin, hair, and eyes.
The general rule of thumb is that skin with cool undertones look best with greys, browns, blues, greens and purples. Skin with warm undertones look best with either bright or light colors. And skin with neutral undertones looks great in bold, bright colors.
Unless pale skin is accompanied by pale lips, tongue, palms of the hands, inside of the mouth, and lining of the eyes, it is probably not a serious condition and does not require treatment. General paleness affects the entire body. It is most easily seen on the face, lining of the eyes, inner mouth, and nails.
One big foundation mistake is to assume that pale skin means a cool undertone and vice versa, warned Aimee; "It's a total myth that fair skin tones have cool undertones and darker skin tones have warm undertones. Different undertones can be seen across all skin tones."
As a cool skin tone often means your skin is pale or has light features, you'll want to use darker colors. The best outfits for pale skin often rely on colors like emerald green, navy and bold shades of blue.
Considering the detrimental effects that the sun can have on our skin, it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that lighter skin tones typically ages faster than darker ones. “More photoaging occurs in pale skin, as there is less protection from UV damage,” explains Dr. Alexa B.
Pale skin makes the skin appear lighter than usual. Another term for this is paleness, and it can occur in a person with any skin tone. While people associate paleness with the face, it can also cause the nail bed to become very light or white. The color change can also affect the lips, gums, and tongue.
Fair skin, on the other hand, is not associated with any health issues. Pale skin may have a sudden onset, but fair skin is something people may be born with. Pale skin makes the skin look very dull, but fair skin looks healthy and bright.
While most of the Western world have embraced the idea of bronzing their skin – a majority of South Koreans are utterly convinced that having fair, pale skin is the only way to look beautiful. Both historically and universally, having tan skin was once a telling factor in being of a lower class.
If you want to look young and have a great complexion, adapt a lifestyle similar to Japanese women who are known for having smooth, clear and youthful skin. Many Japanese women maintain a diet rich in vitamins and minerals that contain antioxidants.
Pale skin can be a sign that you have a shortage of normal red blood cells (anemia), which means that less oxygen is delivered to your body. This can be from a nutritional deficiency, blood loss, or a blood cancer like leukemia. Other causes of pale skin include low blood pressure or infection.
The major difference between pale skin and fair skin is that one is a developed medical condition and the other is a natural skin tone. Many internal and external causes can make your skin appear pale. This is often temporary. Pale skin usually lacks the glow that healthy fair skin would have.
Sun Exposure Test: Observe how your skin reacts to sun exposure. If your skin burns easily and doesn't tan, you have a fair skin tone. If your skin burns as well as tans a little, you have a light tone. If your skin tans easily but rarely burns, you have a medium tone.
It is commonly believed that individuals with darker skin are generally less sensitive, while those lighter skin are more sensitive. However, there is little objective data correlating sensitivity with skin type or with objective measures of sensitivity.
Sun Spots - After wrinkles, pigmentation is about the most noticeable sign of aged skin, and, surprise surprise, they don't manifest if you stay out of the sun. In general, staying paler helps to keep you looking young.
Two genes are SLC24A5 and SLC45A2 that lead to skin depigmentation and, therefore, Europeans' pale skin today. The third gene, HERC2/OCA2, causes blue eyes, and it contributes to light skin color and the blonde hair.
Avoid blacks
For pale skin owners, black makes too harsh of a contrast, taking away all the natural blush in the skin.
If you've got fair or pale skin, then hues that clearly contrast with your skin tone works best for you as they can, quite literally, give some colour to your complexion. Darker colours like grey, brown, burgundy, bottle green, navy can contrast beautifully with your skin tone, making you look vibrant.
The most frequent skin color coded was white with pink undertones, which comprised 42.3% of the anatomical images. The second most prevalent color was pinkish brown, at 29.1%.