Skin types

Human skins vary in their sensitivity to UVR and they have been categorized into six different groups.  This classification is based on differences in sensitivity to UVR ie how easily they become sunburnt and whether or not a tan subsequently appears.

Type	Description	Natural colour	Reaction to UVR
1	Sensitive	Fair – white skin	Always burns easily Never tans
2	Sensitive	White skin	Always burns Tans minimally
3	Normal	White skin	Burns moderately Tans slowly
4	Normal	Light brown skin	Burns minimally Tans well
5	Insensitive	Moderate brown skin	Rarely burns Tans profusely
6	Insensitive	Dark brown-black skin	Never burns Deeply pigmented

Sensitive skins need only 8 or 9 minutes of exposure to UVR before sunburn whereas ‘normal’ skin requires 12 minutes.  About 70 percent of the white population tends to be in categories 3 and 4.

Although it has always been known that people with fair skin have a greater chance of having skin cancer from the sun than people with darker skin, it hasn’t always been known why.  The reason is the type of melanin we have.  It is not just the fair skinned people – it is the fair skinned, light haired people.  It seems that the type of melanin that blondes and redheads have a different type of melanin– pheomelanin – which acts as a co-conspirator in causing a person to be more at risk for developing skin cancer.  People with the other type of melanin – eumelanin – have darker hair.  Although dark-haired people can have fair skin, they don’t burn as readily as a blond or a redhead.

It is important to remember that even though darker skin and hair offers natural protection against UVR those people are still not immune to developing skin cancers.