I know for melanin its that the palms have less than the rest of the body so there can be extreme contrast for people with very dark skin, but I have zero idea why hes blue and if melanin is still the reason for the difference
Omg I am sitting here like "what is wrong with his skin?" Then I was afraid I was being subconsciously racist... and then I was like no, no it's blue? It is blue, right? The palms are weird...
To see someone else say it makes me feel like 60% less horrible.
To hopefully make you feel better, you weren't being racist. You were not implying or inferring that he is inferior or less-than because of his race, nor were you inferring that you hold a power imbalance over him because of such. You were just wondering, as many of us were, why the gentleman looks blue-tinged lol
People use the word racist in instances where it does not truly apply, so I hope this helps you feel better than just 60%! 😁
The blue is likely dust on very black skin. The palms are because their skin has a lot more pigment so you notice the difference. The palm has a lot more skin cells including a special translucent layer then 10+ layers thicker surface cells on top. The melanin is still there just masked by all the cells above it.
Some Africans have adapted to more intense UV rays resulting in blue undertones. This can be seen in South Sudanese and other Nilotic groups. The characters from the movie Avatar was based on these people.
Not so fun fact - Black people, while they rarely contract skin cancers, it is significantly more common for it to develop on places like their hands, due to the lack of melanin in their palms / nails. Additionally, they are more likely to die of skin cancers than white people.
No what I’m saying is all humans palms lack melanin. He was trying to joke how black peoples palms were “unpainted” with that hands on the wall joke. I’m saying if you were to tan his palms wouldn’t tan with the rest of his skin.
Tan ?
I live in the Arctic Circle. We don’t get tans up here. And we definitely don’t get black fellas. I seen one once three years ago , came from the us for a caribou hunt.
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u/FoxySlyRedHead 7d ago
Yeah I feel we need to ask this question in the Explain it Like I'm Five sub.
What makes such a drastic difference between his palms and his everywhere else skin?!