I love being a pasty white Goth, but there's a downside....

[Khephra]

Other than being called a Satanist in small-town Indiana.

And that's being totally unprepared for Summer.

All my clothes are black or gray, and my skin isn't used to the light. I'm nursing one of my worst cases of sun poisoning that I've had in years--and I was only out in indirect sun for 10 minutes!

Bah...I think I'll just go back and crawl up in my Den of Iniquity (my bedroom that's protected by black leather curtains).

I'm starting to feel like the Creature from the Black Lagoon. I'm constantly having to rub myself down with a wet rag to keep from itching to death.

[Beware the Beast Man]

1. How about blood-red, or purple?

Those are festive summer colors :shrug:

[Khephra]

4. I'd wear purple

sad to say, all my purple clothes were dirty when I went out.

[judge_smales]

2. black leather curtains huh?

Cool.

[Khephra]

3. Get this -- I didn't even buy them

My mother did...as a surprise gift.

Now is that a mother who knows her kid or what?

;-)

[GCP]

16. They must cut out the light really well in the morning!

I could do with something like that - I wake up as soon as the smallest amount of light is visible in the eastern sky.

[Khephra]

19. They're great for cutting out the light

If Bele wasn't dead, he'd be doing ads for the curtains.

:evilgrin:

[RubyDuby in GA]

5. Don't know what to tell you about the clothes

but as someone who worships the sun and has had some nasty cases of sun poisoning, I can tell you to drink lots of fluids, like Gatorade, and take aspirin every 4 hours until you feel better.

[Khephra]

6. Thanks for the helpful hints!

Fluids being drank as I type! Lots o' cold water.

[NorthernSpy]

7. have you tried titanium/zinc sunblock?

Admittedly, it makes a person look even pastier, but at least it's non-irritating. The chemical sunscreens are completely transparent, but they make my face feel like it's on fire -- and I suspect a lot of people avoid sunblock for similar reasons. The mineral sunscreens are micronized now, so they're translucent on your skin rather than opaque.

My 2c, FWIW


Mary

[Speck Tater]

8. Speaking as an old fart of 59...

this whole goth thing is just way cool. I wish we'd had that when I was a kid back in the stone ages. I would have been a goth dude for sure. As it was I had to settle for being a beatnik. (Hippies hadn't been invented yet.) And doing the goth thing at my age would just be sad and pathetic. :)

[notadmblnd]

13. I was a goth in 1959

would you believe that my actual maiden name is Gothard?

[Khephra]

20. The thing unlike other "styles" or counter cultures

Is that most people are either born goths or not. I was one of the born-goths, so I'm still stylish in my late 30's.

[toddaa]

23. Goth as genetic mutation

Perhaps the whole goth thing is just evolution's way of selecting for people who won't die of skin cancer.

[Khephra]

25. And having a built-in adjustment to death

If you dwell on death most of the time, you aren't so unhappy when someone actually does die.

(Just ask the ancient Egyptians.)

[jdonaldball]

9. The ancient Romans thought pale skin and eyes were sexy!

Get with the program, you Gothic Beauty!
The ancient Romans used to dye their hair red or yellow, and try to whiten their skin, because they thought the very white, pale, Celts and Romans were SO SEXY!
:-)
And so we are!
When the ancient Romans first met the old Celts and Germans in battle, the Romans were freaked out by the green and blue eyes! And so the ancient Celts and Germans won many battles against the old Romans, simply by stunning them with our luminous, very White beauty and our weird, weird green and blue eyes, and our tall white bodies.
Now, this is NOT the same thing as White Racism, when I tell you this. I say this in the same way Black is beautiful:
WHITE IS BEAUTIFUL!
Pearaline white skin has its own beauty. It freaked out the ancient Romans.
That said, I sometimes envy beautiful African skin, because Gold looks especially good on African skin.
But then, very white skin looks especially beautiful under moonlight.
So I say, claim your beauty, as your Human Birthright, and be VERY WHITE, and you will look especially good at moonlight.
And then find a good partner of African blood, to love between night and day! :-) :-)

[Khephra]

10. Pasty white is DEAD SEXY!

As Austin Powers would say.

[Lisa]

12. not just the Romans -- as late as the Victorian era, paleness was in!

A relative of mine, who was a museum docent, showed me all kinds of devices developed to shade women's skin not just from sunlight, but even the heat of fireplaces! Makeup wasn't intended to make a person look tanned, but as if they'd been untouched by UV rays. (Okay, so the lead-based stuff were pretty bad, but she showed me a tin of face powder made from strawberry blossom petals.)

There was a very nice girl in my high school class who was called "The Ghost" by the mean snobs (the same ones who snubbed me for being an "Asian geek"), because her skin was pale and blemish-free. Unfortunately this was in 1980, when Goth fashion hadn't made its way to my city yet -- but she would have looked great in Goth clothing.

[zanana]

11. I go for the red nose look.

I am also pasty white and have very rarely had a sunburn. The tip of my nose gets beet red. It's an attractive look.

[Nikia]

15. Sunburn and complexion aren't always how they say it is

They always say that the lighter that you are, the more easily you burn and the darker you are, the less likely you are to burn. Antedotally, though, it doesn't always seem to be the case. I know some really light people who don't burn. I also know some rather dark people who burn easily. Melonin is suppose to protect you from the sun but I think that there are other factors at work too.

[Nikia]

14. Wear lots of strong sun block

It also helps to expose yourself to the sun in early spring to help get your skin used to the sun. My legs never burned, even without sun block, when I ran all the time because they got sun exposure before the sun was very direct when I was out running. I know that it doesn't help you now but maybe you should try that next year.

[Susang]

17. Hey, I didn't know you lived in Indiana

I'm in Chicago and its pretty freakin hot out today, isn't it? I am also pasty white, with very dark hair to boot. I'm even anemic at the moment, which gives a lovely Victorian sunken eye effect, particularly if I go without makeup (which I do daily).

BTW, where about do you live, if you don't mind me asking. The hubby and I have many friends in Indiana, you see. ;-)

Don't forget to wear your sunscreen!

[Khephra]

21. IndyNoPlace...errrr Indianapolis

Drop me a line if you're ever coming to town!

[Susang]

24. My friends in Dyer and I were going to road trip to Indy this past spring

Some guy was giving a reading or performance art thing about how having the ten commandments posted in public buildings was all a bizarre Masonic or pagan conspiracy. I think it was called In Diana Pan Opolis. I wonder if you've heard of the guy, Stephen M Schroeder. We were convinced that hearing him speak would be hysterical.

Here's a link I found on the dude: http://prattle.antipope.org/archives/001250.html

Oops, I just found a recent thing on him: http://www.indystar.com/articles/2/154950-6592-019.html

[Khephra]

26. I've never heard of him

But as a Hoosier, Liberal, AND a Mason, I'd LOVE to have seen him speak.

[Canuckistanian]

18. I think the cadaver look is hot!

Er... I didn't say that out loud, did I?

[Khephra]

22. MEEEEE-yow!

:evilgrin:

[Iris]

27. SPF 30-45 - Never leave home without it! Also

when you do get burned, soak in a bathtub with some vinegar added to the water.