Ethnicity vs. skin tone

[darkerhorse]

There's a view that skin color ranges from fair/light to medium to tan to brown to black (without tanning), with skin undertones of red, blue, olive, gray, or cream, in any combination of skin color and skin undertone.

If true, I have olive undertones with probably medium skin color. My father might have had gray undertones. My grandfather had tan to brown skin but I'm not sure of his undertones.

By the way, it was mentioned that the fairest skin comes from Scotland, because of the lack of UV rays and frequent cloud coverage to boot. My Y haplogroup has been traced to Scotland.

[MarcuccioV]

There's a view that skin color ranges from fair/light to medium to tan to brown to black (without tanning), with skin undertones of red, blue, olive, gray, or cream, in any combination of skin color and skin undertone.

If true, I have olive undertones with probably medium skin color. My father might have had gray undertones. My grandfather had tan to brown skin but I'm not sure of his undertones.

By the way, it was mentioned that the fairest skin comes from Scotland, because of the lack of UV rays and frequent cloud coverage to boot. My Y haplogroup has been traced to Scotland.

My tone is unquestionably olive (green undertones), however my face can have a ruddiness to it at times. I have to associate that with the Italian/North Eur mix. Especially depending on time of year, my grandfather would have probably been considered 'bruno', especially when tanned. I have seen Asians yellow or ruddy, but never olive. The greenish tint (olive) seems to be mostly concentrated from Italy to western Asia along the Med, both north & south. Even many Spaniards are not olive, but more like the French, either light-skinned or slightly ruddy. Most Hispanics from the New World (mixed with indigenous peoples) are more brown undertoned than olive. At least that is my observation living in Los Angeles, where you can find people from almost every corner of the world...

[darkerhorse]

According to what I read, yellow is included in olive skin undertone, and brown is a skin color not an undertone.

[darkerhorse]

This is pretty interesting:

"Our skin color is determined by a pigment called melanin, and while everyone has melanin (both fair and dark-skinned people), it comes in different forms and ratios. The two forms of melanin are called eumelanin and pheomelanin. Eumelanin comes in primarily brown and black hues, while pheomelanin appears as red and yellow hues. It is produced by a specialized group of cells called melanocytes.

For example, someone with very dark skin would primarily produce eumelanin, while pale-skinned Europeans might produce a majority of pheomelanin. Perhaps most importantly, the amount of melanin is also a factor in determining skin color."

map_of_skin_color_distribution.gif-.gif

[darkerhorse]

I wonder if a person's melanin ratio can be measured?

[darkerhorse]

This is close to what I had thought.

"Olive skin tone refers to light or moderate brown or tan skin with undertones of green, golden, or yellow. It is a common skin tone of people from the Mediterranean, Latin America, and parts of Asia."

[darkerhorse]

There's a view that skin color ranges from fair/light to medium to tan to brown to black (without tanning), with skin undertones of red, blue, olive, gray, or cream, in any combination of skin color and skin undertone.

Marcuzz,
How would you classify your father's skin using this scheme?

[darkerhorse]

Olive can be yellowish or greenish.

[MarcuccioV]

There's a view that skin color ranges from fair/light to medium to tan to brown to black (without tanning), with skin undertones of red, blue, olive, gray, or cream, in any combination of skin color and skin undertone.

Marcuzz,
How would you classify your father's skin using this scheme?

He has been gone now for almost 38 years, but it fits the olive description best as undertone. My face has more ruddiness to it than his did, but that could be due to off & on roseacea issues I have had on my cheeks over the years. His unexposed skin had very green-appearing veins (as did his forehead) and not bluish or purplish...

As for color, harder to say. It was light when unexposed but tanned extremely easily with no burn or redness. If he went shirtless for any stretch of time in the summer, his upper back & shoulders would get a deep brown, similar to what you might see in someone with indigenous blood from Central America. I can never recall him ever having a sunburn.

[darkerhorse]

How about his natural color/undertone (before any tanning)?

I assume they mean "color" is on or in the skin, while "undertone" lies under the skin.

[darkerhorse]

I think skin color refers to flesh color in a spectrum ranging from light to medium flesh color through tan and brown to black, while undertone is more discreet hues with no spectrum, including red, blue, gray, green, yellow, cream, etc.

Skin color might be what we call shades of melanin.

It's the combination which determines what we see as skin complexion.

All that is before any tanning which just enhances what's already there.

[MarcuccioV]

How about his natural color/undertone (before any tanning)?

I assume they mean "color" is on or in the skin, while "undertone" lies under the skin.

Hard to say, exactly. It was light only where completely unexposed (always covered by clothing). His exposed skin always had color to some extent.

[darkerhorse]

Is there anything in DNA test results related to skin color?

[MarcuccioV]

Is there anything in DNA test results related to skin color?

Certainly none that I know of. You could make inferences based on ethnicity (or mixtures thereof). Some matrices have suppositions based upon your DNA, but they are not always accurate. I took a few of those tests & they were usually between about 60-75% correct, but that leaves a lot of room for error. Not something I would put a lot of faith into...

[darkerhorse]

As I recall, the significance of your father's olive skin was that it might suggest hidden Italian ancestry. Have you found any?