Why do people have different skin colors? Skin color Brown human skin.

We have noticed that the most frequently asked question of our mineral makeup consultants is how to correctly determine your skin tone / undertone / skin tone and choose the right foundation? In this article, we will try to help you both with determining the skin color type and with the selection of cosmetics itself.

So, getting your skin tone right can be helpful in many ways, whether it's choosing a mineral foundation shade, lipstick color, or even clothing choices. To begin with, we propose to define the conceptual apparatus: what is tone, undertone and skin tone?

What is what?

In general, there are no approved characteristics as such, and you may find completely different classifications on other sites, but in this article we will proceed from the fact that:

Exists three basic tones skin: warm, cold and neutral;

Exists four basic colors skin: light, medium, swarthy and dark;

Exists five main undertones skin: beige, yellow, olive, peach, pink.

Well, at least we use just such a classification on our website of mineral cosmetics :) Now let's define each of the listed characteristics separately.

Before carrying out the experiments, tests and experiments proposed in this article, make sure that the skin is clean (no cosmetics, lotions, masks are applied). If you have just washed your face, wait about 15 minutes, as the skin may appear pink from wiping or the temperature of the water, making it difficult to determine the color type. It will be better if the hair is pulled back into a ponytail. Also try to use natural light; lamps can affect color in different ways - they can give a yellow or green tint and only confuse you.

Determine skin tone

As we found out earlier, skin tone does not refer to undertone or undertone. This characteristic determines which group of colors the immediate color of your skin belongs to. In fact, the tone is a consequence of the content of a certain amount of melanin or pigment in the epidermis and does not change from exposure to the sun or skin diseases (rosacea, acne). That is, even when a person's skin becomes pale in winter or dark in summer, the skin tone remains the same.

Skin tone can be cool (often with bluish, pink, or ruddy undertones), warm (yellow, yellowish, peach, and gold undertones), or neutral (no overt undertones).

Experience 1. Look at the color of the veins around the wrist. If the veins look blue or purple, you have a cool skin tone; if they look green, you have a warm skin tone; if neither, then you are most likely neutral. By the way, a neutral tone is often accompanied by an olive undertone of the face.

Experience 2. Think about how your skin usually reacts to the sun. If you tan easily and you rarely burn, then you have more melanin and probably a warm or neutral skin tone. Conversely, if you burn quickly and the tan does not stick, you have less melanin and therefore a cooler skin tone.

Experience 3. Hold a white sheet of paper to your face. Looking in the mirror, try to determine what the skin looks like next to the white sheet. If your skin looks sallow or yellow, you have a warm tone; if pink, blue or bluish-red, then a cold tone; if gray, then a neutral tone. If it is impossible to determine any color in this experiment, then you also most likely have a neutral skin tone.

Experience 4. Use gold and silver foil or embellishments to set the tone. Hold a sheet of gold foil up to your face so that it reflects the light on your skin. See if this reflection beautifies the face, or vice versa, makes it grayish and lifeless. Then do the same with a sheet of silver foil.

If gold foil reflections look best, you have a warm skin tone. If it's silver, you have a cool skin tone. If you don't notice a difference (beautifies both), then you probably have a neutral tone. In the absence of foil, this experiment can be done with jewelry: which metal (gold or silver) looks best on the wrist?

Experience 5. Have someone look at the skin behind the ear shell, just above the lobe. If the skin there is yellowish, then the skin tone is warm, if it is pinkish, then it is cold.

Now that the tone has been determined, we must warn you: the use of mineral makeup, classified by us as cold or warm, does not always guarantee the best result. For example, on rare occasions, foundations that we classify as "cold" can make skin appear overly pink when applied, while those categorized as "warm" tones can make skin appear overly yellow.

If you have a cool tone, your chosen foundation should look a little pinkish in the jar. If the tone is warm, it will be better if the powder has a slight yellow or golden tint.

Determining skin tone

Basically, when determining skin tone, girls do not have any special problems. It was previously stated that there are 4 basic shades, but in fact, makeup artists distinguish a little more. In particular, the shade is:

Very light (it includes whites, snow whites);

Light (an example is most of European Russia in winter and spring);

Medium (the same most of European Russia, but already in the summer, rested and tanned);

Olive;

Swarthy (you can include mulattos, oriental girls);

Dark (African women, cosmetics for this shade are almost never found on our website).

Based on the above gradation from pale skin tone to the darkest, we think you yourself can easily attribute yourself to one or another type. It is also important to remember that even cosmetics manufacturers themselves very often attribute one or another article of cosmetics to two adjacent skin tones: for example, cosmetics can be intended for medium and dark skin, or for light and very light skin. This means that the choice here is not so unambiguous, and there are borderline shades. In general, it's hard to go wrong.

Determine skin tone

When classifying on this basis, problems should also not arise if you do not suffer from color blindness. Skin undertone is the closest color to skin from the color palette at the moment. The undertone of the skin, like the shade, can change over time and depending on the season.

On our website, we divided cosmetics into five main undertones: for beige, yellow, olive, peach and pink. It is these colors that are most often found among our customers and are most in demand.

Of course, we are all different, and there are always exceptions to the rules, however, still, you should not worry too much about this, because the main advantage of mineral makeup is that it can be mixed with each other, creating your own, suitable only for your beloved. , colors.

It may seem that determining your color type is an incredibly difficult task, but it's worth it, because once you choose the right foundation, everything else becomes much easier!

We will be enlightened further =). Since skin color has been analyzed, today there is some scientifically popular information about skin color. Consider combinatorics and genetics.
Information used
http://halibi.livejournal.com/231820.html#cutid4

Skin color depends on three elements - melanin (saturation, brown), hemoglobin (reddish tint) and carotene (yellowish tint). Each person has their own combination of these three elements, which gives a unique skin tone. In men, the skin is slightly darker - the hormonal background also affects. The skin on different parts of the body is colored unevenly.

The darkness of the skin depends on melanin. Two genes are responsible for the production of melanin, each of which carries two characteristics - dominant and recessive. Dominant characteristic - black skin, recessive - white. But this does not mean that one constantly dominates - they mix. Therefore, 16 combinations are possible.

Let the first gene be labeled with the number 1, and the second - with the number 2. The dominant characteristic of black skin color will be M, and the recessive characteristic of white skin color will be m.

Let's decipher the picture

1 - M1M1M2M2 - all dominant characteristics - Black skin

2. MMMm - three dominant and one recessive characteristic - Dark brown skin.

3.MMmm - two dominant and two recessive characteristics - medium brown leather .

4. Mmmm - one dominant and three recessive characteristics - light brown skin color

5. mmmm - all characteristics are recessive - white skin color

There are transitional combinations between them.

If you wish, you can calculate what skin saturation your children can have if you are friends with combinatorics. Just like that - just for fun.
my type Mmmm, my husband's type Mmmm. We can pass on two genes to a child. I got several combinations. Of these, a little MMMm , a little Mmmm, and mostly Mmmm. Everything is predictable with us. =) The lightest skin color can be like mine, the darkest - like my husband's. And it happens much more interesting - when the child is darker or lighter than both parents.

Carotene and hemoglobin determine the dominant skin tone (semitone) - either pink (hemoglobin) (top line of the picture) or yellowish (carotene) (bottom line of the picture)

Usually these semitones are taken into account by the manufacturers of tonal means, but this will be a separate topic.

Anthropologists often use the Von Luschan scale to describe skin color. (Von Luschan Chromatic Scale)
To find out the color of your skin, look at the skin under the forearm, which usually does not tan.

Here is the natural version of the scale

Here is a more convenient digital

I can't determine exactly my skin type - either 15 or 16. I can only say that it is clearly beige, i.e. not 14, and obviously not olive, i.e. not 17. 16 seems closer, because the skin is a little yellowish on the hands - but the color may depend on the monitor settings ..

Skin saturation is closely related to phototype - the reaction of the skin to ultraviolet light. I will talk about this next time.

How to determine skin tone?
Makeup for olive skin
Makeup for porcelain skin
Makeup for bronzed skin
Do I need to change my usual makeup in winter or summer?

If, when looking for care products, the determining factor is the type of skin (normal, dry or, for example, oily), then decorative cosmetics should be selected taking into account its shade. Moreover, it is not whether your skin is pale or swarthy that matters; “temperature” parameters are much more important - you need to know whether your tone is warm or cold. In the material, we understand how to determine the skin tone and how this knowledge is useful.

Skin color palette

Pale skin

It has a bluish undertone. It seems that a person with this type of skin does not exist at all in the sun. It includes such shades as porcelain and "ivory" - very light, almost transparent.

peach pink skin

Slightly less light than the skin of the previous type. Another important difference is a delicate pinkish undertone, which makes the shade warmer overall. But despite this, it is better to choose makeup products in colder colors.

Medium tone

These are mostly beige skin tones that have warm undertones. It seems that she is a little "browned" in the sun and has become slightly golden. Brown lipstick, bronzer and shades in beige tones will look especially good in makeup.

Olive skin

In the undertone of this skin type, yellow and green shades are combined. From the outside, she is both warm and pale at the same time. Owners of this skin tone often seem earthy - but the lack of hydration and radiance is to blame.

bronze skin

Tanned skin tends to have a warm undertone.

dark skin

It is distinguished by darker golden brown tones. For girls with dark skin, a warm color type is also characteristic. For makeup, beige-brown tones are ideal: lipsticks, shadows and blush.

How to determine skin tone?

To determine the skin tone and clarify whether it is warm or cold, girls can take a test that will be reliable, even if they do it themselves at home. An important condition: this must be done in natural light. Electric lamps distort perception.

Look at the wrist from the inside - where the veins are visible. If they appear blue or purple, then your skin is cool. If they give the impression that they are green, this indicates that your skin tone is warm. It is difficult to understand what color the veins are? In this case, the tone is most likely neutral - neither warm nor cold; this is typical for owners of olive skin tone.

Hold a white sheet of paper up to your face and look in the mirror. If a pinkish, reddish or bluish undertone appears on the skin, you can definitely say that the shade is cold. Yellowness indicates, on the contrary, a warm type. And those who see that the skin is “grayed” next to the leaf can be sure that they have a neutral skin tone.

Remember how your skin usually reacts to the sun in the first days of tanning. If she blushes after half an hour, then she is of a cold type. In people who rarely suffer from sunburn and easily acquire an even golden tan, a warm skin tone.

Makeup for olive skin

Foundation

The main characteristic of olive skin is neutrality: it combines both warm and cold pigments. Because of this, it may appear gray, earthy. Therefore, the foundation should be with the effect of radiance (look for the word glow in the title). As for the shade, it should be chosen depending on the goal: if you want your skin tone to become brighter and warmer, take a product with a beige-yellow undertone. Ivory would also be a good choice.

Eye makeup

It is not worth emphasizing the eyes with cold shades - this will make the skin duller than it really is. The same applies to neutral gray-brown tones. It is better to use warm shadows with a light shimmer, as well as eyeliners in classic colors.

Lip makeup

Body nude girls with olive skin are not suitable. Cold pink shades will "argue" with the tone. A successful accent on the lips will create bright red-orange shades, red-brown, burgundy and coral.

Makeup for porcelain skin

Foundation

So that porcelain skin does not look too pale, you need to opt for a foundation with pink pigments - they will refresh the complexion, make it more “alive”. If such a cream was not at hand, blush of a cold pink shade will help out.

People are different: black, white, and also brown: from light to dark. Skin color varies from continent to continent. Where did this diversity come from? What does a person depend on? What is melanin? Let's figure it out.

Melanin. What's this?

In medical terms, melanin is synthesized in skin cells called melanocytes. Interestingly, it is present in the bulk of animals, including humans. It is the pigment melanin that gives the skin a variety of shades. It is synthesized in two leading forms that range in color from yellow to dark brown to black. Eumelanin is the form of melanin that gives skin its brown color. The second form of melanin is pheomelanin, which has a reddish-brown hue. Thanks to pheomelanin, people have freckles or fiery red hair.

Today almost everyone knows about genetics. Each of us has inherited a set of chromosomes from our parents, including those responsible for human skin color. The more active genes in the cells, the darker the skin color. Not so long ago it was possible to observe a unique case in one family where twins with different skin colors were born. But in addition to the genetic predisposition, external factors also influence the production of melanin.

The impact of melanin on humans

Any person on our planet has an approximately equal number of melanocytes. This fact proves that all people on the planet, whether white men or black girls, have the same skin. The question arises in the synthesis of melanin by a separate organism and some external factors. Under the influence of ultraviolet radiation, human skin begins to produce more melanin. This helps prevent DNA damage in human skin.

Until now, this process has not been fully explored, but thanks to the protective reaction of the body, our skin remains intact. And in people living in the equatorial region, where the sun's rays scorch ruthlessly, the skin has acquired its characteristic swarthy color.

Crash in the program

But unfortunately, there are exceptions to the rules. Today you can observe a rare disease - albinism. It is characterized by the absence of melanin in the skin cells. This process is observed in both animals and humans. We are happy to watch snow-white animals, for example, you can see or magnificent, but if this happens to a person, this is really a tragedy. A person cannot stay in the open sun for a long time, his skin burns instantly. The body suffers from strong radiation.

There is another failure in the genetic program caused by the progressive loss of melanocytes - vitiligo. In this case, the skin becomes patchy. Whatever color of a person's skin prevails, with this disease it becomes completely white in places. And as a result, a dark-skinned person by nature can become completely white. Unfortunately, today genetic failures are incurable.

Light-skinned inhabitants of the planet

An interesting fact is that representatives of the white population make up 40% of all mankind. As we have already said, the genetically light color of human skin is due to the activity of melanin in the cells. If we take into account that the people who settled on the planet had facial features and dermis color characteristic of a certain group, then over time the isolation of the group led to the formation of a light-skinned race. The bulk of these people live in Europe, Asia and North Africa.

Human skin color, as already mentioned, also depends on external factors. For example, people in Northern Europe have lighter skin than Asians. are less active in the north, and therefore it is easier for white people to get the vitamin D they need. Although it should be noted that there are northern peoples who have enough. According to scientists, this also depends on food.

Interestingly, in people with fair skin, melanin in the upper layers of the epidermis is present in single copies. Eye color also depends on which layer of the iris contains a large amount of melanin. If this is the first layer, then the eyes will be brown, and if the fourth or fifth layers, then, respectively, blue or green.

black people

The main population with dark skin color lives in Central and South Africa. People in this climate zone are exposed to intense solar exposure. And exposure to ultraviolet radiation causes the synthesis of melanin in the human body, which has a protective function. Dark skin is the result of constant exposure to the sun.

A distinctive feature at the gene level in people with black skin is that their cells produce melanin in large quantities. In addition, as scientists have found out, the top layer of the epidermis in such people completely covers the skin with pigment. This fact gives the skin a color that ranges from brown to almost black.

An interesting fact is that the pigment melanin appears in humans even in embryonic development. But by the time of birth, melanocytes practically disappear from the baby's body, and after birth they begin to develop intensively in the skin. Many people are surprised when they see light-colored babies from a dark-skinned mother. The fact is that children are born light and darken over the next few months.

In conclusion

At present, science is based on the fact that human skin color is the result of the adaptation of a certain group of people to the intensity of solar radiation in their habitat. Melanin in this case performs protective functions from the ultraviolet radiation of the sun, in the absence of it, the skin would become decrepit very quickly. In addition to aging, the possibility of skin cancer increases.

Interestingly, women have lighter skin than men. This is why black girls look much lighter than guys. In people with a light dermis, this difference is practically not noticeable. Unfortunately, in today's world, skin color often gives rise to stereotypes. The division of mankind on this basis often leads to But after all, we all belong to the same species and are people.

Why do some people have lighter skin color than others? Scientists sought to prove the difference by examining human evolution over tens of thousands of years. Everyone knows that people with darker skin protect themselves better who live closer to the equator from the intense radiation of the sun. But a new study of ancient DNA concludes that the color of Europeans has continued to change over the past 5,000 years, suggesting that additional factors, including diet and sex drive, may play a role.

Human skin color depends on evolution

Homo sapiens, modern humans, first appeared in Africa about 200,000 years ago, and researchers have speculated that the first humans were dark-skinned Africans like today because dark skin is more advantageous in Africa. Dark skin has higher levels of the pigment melanin, which blocks UV and protects it from dangers such as DNA damage - which can lead to skin cancer - and the breakdown of vitamins A and B. On the other hand, skin cells need exposure to a certain amount of UV light to in order to produce vitamin D.

These competing dependencies mean that as soon as primitive people moved away from the equator, their outer cover began to lighten.

Recent studies, however, have suggested that the picture is not so simple. First, a number of genes control the synthesis of melanin (which itself comes in two different forms in the human body), and each gene appears to have a different evolutionary history. In addition, everything manifested itself after the ancient people migrated from Africa to Europe starting about 40,000 years ago. The scientists looked at variants of four pigmentation genes in modern Portuguese and African populations and calculated that at least three of them evolved strongly tens of thousands of years after the migration from Africa. Another group of scientists sequentially examined the genome of an 8,000-year-old male hunter-gatherer skeleton found at the site of La Brana Arinterro in Spain and found that the outer coat was dark but with blue eyes - again indicating that natural selection came into play relatively late in prehistory. .

DNA studies on the composition of melanin

To get a better idea of how Europeans' skin pigmentation changed over time, a team of geneticists at University College London extracted DNA from 63 skeletons previously found at archaeological sites in present-day Ukraine and nearby areas. The researchers were able to isolate three genes associated with pigmentation from 48 skeletons ranging in age from 4,000 to 6,500 years. The TYR gene, which is involved in melanin synthesis, the SLC45A2 gene, which helps control the distribution of pigment enzymes in skin cells, and the HERC2 gene, the main gene that determines whether the iris is brown or blue. These three genes, like all pigmentation genes, are found in numerous variants that result in different skin tones, hair, and eye colors.

By comparing variants of these ancient skeletal genes with modern humans living in these areas, as well as a larger sample of modern genes, the scientists found a significant increase in the frequency of variants associated with lighter skin and hair, as well as blue eyes, between ancient and modern populations. For example, contemporary Russians and Ukrainians living in those areas have, on average, more than eight times fair skin and four times as many blue-eyed variants.

Thus, prehistoric Russians and Ukrainians seem to have undergone comparatively fair skin and hair and a higher frequency of blue eyes while their ancestors left Africa.

To further test this conclusion, the team of scientists showed computer simulations designed to distinguish between natural selection and "genetic drift". These tests of ancient populations have determined the rate at which genetic change occurs and can determine whether there is genetic drift in the modern world. Using ancient DNA, scientists have provided direct evidence for choice in pigmentation.

Natural selection of fair skin

But why did strong natural selection for fair skin, hair, and eye color occur thousands of years after humans migrated from Africa with their harsh UV rays?

With regard to skin color, scientists suggest that these ancient populations previously received a lot of vitamin D from their food, such as vitamin D in fish and animal liver when they were hunter-gatherers. But after the advent of agriculture, when grains such as wheat and barley became a major part of their diet, early Europeans synthesized large amounts of vitamin D into their bodies from these foods. That's when lighting became very beneficial. The study provides evidence that getting regular vitamin D as a result of shifting to a more heavily farmed lifestyle may have caused the evolution of skin lightening.

As well as a tendency to lighten and color hair and blue eyes, scientists also speculate that it may be due to sex drive - something that in evolutionary terms is called sexual selection.

If so, then the originally rare men or women with blond hair and blue eyes would have been more attractive to the opposite sex, and so there would have been more offspring. This kind of sexual preference for humans has been confirmed in other animals.

Of course, in some modern cultures, summer tanning is also considered sexy, and here the study may provide some positive news: Modern tanning options can also turn golden skin like sun exposure.