Being a redhead myself, some people call us Ginger, not a name that has gone down well with me I am afraid.
In the current intense heat which I am not used to, I often wonder why I look lily white in the sun and by night time I am red.
So I raised the question Can redheads get a tan?
You never really see it do you?? We are always white and pale.
An article in the Daily Mail I read today is that redheads are 500 times more able to get a tan than those than actually tan, however there is another chemical in Redheads skin that makes it sensitive so they are unable to actually tan easily.
They also say that because of this the quality of the skin of a redhead is much better than, that of a person who is able to tan. Because effectively if you tan without the use of sun protection you are going brown but you are damaging the skin.
So what is the science behind it??
Well I credit this from Kidzworld.com which gives a really good explanation.
They say that there are special skin cells called Melanocytes these are what produces something called Melanin which is the pigment of the skin when exposed to UV light. It is this pigment that absorbs the UV radiation in sunlight so it actually helps to protect the skin from the suns damage. There are two different types of pigment produced, one is called eumenalin which is what produces the brown skin color, and the other is called phaeomelanin which produces the red color Redheads produce more phaeomelanin than eumenalin which is why they turn a red color in the sun.
So that means I can't be brown then right??
Actually no thats not the case it seems now, the guardian published an article earlier this month to state that scientists now have created a way for fair skinned people to get a natural fake tan through releasing a chemical that will allow the growth of eumenalin.
Professior David Fisher of Massachusetts General headed up the study and said "It would not acutally be a fake tan, it would be the real thing." So a tan that you would not have to sunbathe for, how would this make the appearance of redheads seem to others, maybe a little strange perhaps.
So in conclusion there is now a way for redheads to be able to tan if they really want to do it.
However if their anything like me its better just to be happy with what we have.
Thank you for reading this.
