Does Skin Care Vary With Skin Color and Type?

The reason people have different skin colors is because there are three main pigments that give human skin a wide variety of colors: melanin, carotene and hemoglobin. Melanin is mostly located in the epidermis of the skin, carotene is mostly in the dermis and hemoglobin is in red blood cells within the capillaries in the dermis.

Melanin, a naturally occurring sun-block that protects our skin cells from the harmful effects of ultra-violet radiation from the sun, is produced from the amino acid tyrosine by special cells called melanocytes. The production of melanin is controlled by an enzyme called tyrosinase and is stimulated by exposure to sunlight. People whose melanocytes do not produce very much tyrosinase will most likely have fair skin and will not tan easily. Some people inherit an inability to produce melanin because their melanocytes cannot make the enzyme tyrosinase and these people have a condition known as albinism.