HOW LONG UNTIL YOU BURN – What’s Your Skin Type?

People with fair skin are more likely to sunburn than are people with dark skin. That’s because people with darker skin have more melanin, which offers some protection from sunburn but not from UV-induced skin damage.

Skin color is determined by the number, distribution and type of pigment-producing cells (melanocytes) in the skin. Dermatologists refer to the degrees of pigmentation in skin as skin types. Skin types range from very little pigment (type I) to very darkly pigmented (type VI). How easily you burn depends on your skin type and how light or dark your skin is.

Classification of skin types
Skin type	Skin color	Reaction to sun exposure
Type I	Pale white skin	Always burns, never tans
Type II	White skin	Burns easily, tans minimally
Type III	White skin	Burns minimally, tans easily
Type IV	Light brown or olive skin	Burns minimally, tans easily
Type V	Brown skin	Rarely burns, tans easily and darkly
Type VI	Dark brown or black skin	Rarely burns, always tans, deeply pigmented

Regardless of your skin type, the sun’s energy penetrates deeply into the skin and damages DNA of skin cells. This damage may ultimately lead to skin cancer, including melanoma. Even people with type V or VI skin can develop skin cancer, often on the palms, fingers or other more lightly pigmented areas of their bodies.

In addition to skin type, living in a sunny or high-altitude climate increases your risk of sunburn. People who live in sunny, warm climates are exposed to more sunlight than are people who live in colder climates. In addition, living at higher elevations, where the sunlight is strongest, exposes you to more radiation and increases your chances of sunburn and skin damage.

About sunnysleevez

I'm a freckly red head, originally from London now living in LA with 2 pale children. Frankly with our coloring we have no business being such an outdoorsy family and living in southern California. I grew up in a time when factor 8 sun milk was considered the best protection available to combat the hot rays of a holiday in southern Spain, that lead to 3rd degree burns and the rest of the vacation spent in the shade of our apartment. As a family we love to be outside, going to the beach, camping, swimming & hiking. We can't completely avoid the sun (nor should we) but taking sensible measures to avoid unnecessary UV damage is a priority. How do we do that? By staying in the shade in the middle of the day, wearing sun protective clothing (that's why I created Sunny Sleevez), a broad brimmed hat, UV rated sunglasses, using chemical-free broad spectrum sun screen on exposed areas & eating a healthy diet with as few chemicals as possible & lots of antioxidants.

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5 Responses to HOW LONG UNTIL YOU BURN – What’s Your Skin Type?

Anthony says:

April 29, 2014 at 12:25 pm

I fall in the medium brown katagory.

ugiridharaprasad says:

April 29, 2014 at 5:29 pm

Reblogged this on ugiridharaprasad.

karenlorenzo07 says:

April 29, 2014 at 9:28 pm

This is very informative, I have always wanted a fair skin, but now that I learned that they are more prone to skin cancer, I am thankful and proud of my color 🙂

karen says:

May 5, 2014 at 5:35 am

Thanks for following my blog. I think your blog is very informative and pertinent to walking/being outdoors – hope you don’t mind, I put your site in my blogroll, for the good of the many!

the resilient child book says:

May 5, 2014 at 11:02 am

This is great content and pretty cool to see you have a diverse amount of info in here 🙂 Thanks for dropping by my children’s book blog project. I hope your business is going well! I’d definitely recommend my friends to drop by here and educate themselves more about skin care and health.