mfh asked:


I am Hispanic. My neighbor is also Hispanic. Whenever we go to the beach we turn different colors and I was wondering if there is more than one pigment that has to do with the color of your skin. My neighbor gets a very dark tan but it has this very nice golden bronze hue, it definitely looks like a sun tan.

I get dark too but I turn this deep brown chocolate kind of color that has no bronze hue. People don't usually think it's a tan, it doesn't look like one. I asked him if he puts something on but he told me that he doesn't. I noticed that white people generally tan that way, they get this nice bronze shade. Some Hispanics tan that color too. But other Hispanic turn chocolate brown without the golden bronze undertone.

What does this have to do with? How can I develop and nice bronze tan instead turning such a deep brown? I am really into genetics and I recently had a DNA panel done to trace my ancestry because although I am Hispanic we are a very mixed people. My DNA profile came back as 20% Native American, 35% white, 40% black and 5% Asian. Does a person's ancestry have anything to do with the way you tan.