During the 1970s, Dr. Thomas Fitzpatrick, a dermatologist from the Harvard University School of Medicine, suggested classifying the skin into 6 types according to its ability to tan and its risk of possible sunburn. A person who knows his or her skin type can take the correct precautions to protect it.
Skin Type I : includes fair-skinned people who always burn and never tan. The people in this group are usually fair-haired as well, having either red or blond hair and light eyes, and there is very little difference in color between the exposed and unexposed areas of their skin. Their faces turn red after only a few minutes in the sun, and after half an hour or more they may be so badly burned that their skin blisters.
Skin Type II: includes people who burn easily and tan with difficulty. Most, but not all of them, have light hair and eyes. 10 to 20 minutes of sunshine at noon will cause them to develop red, burned skin. Characteristic of this type of skin is the tendency to develop freckles.
Skin Type III :includes people whose skin burns after about an hour in the sun, but who later tan. As opposed to Types I and II, who produce practically no melanin, tanning occurs in Type III skins only after severe damage has been done by the sun. After tanning they produce but a small quantity of melanin, only partially effective in protecting the skin from continued exposure to the sun.
Skin Type IV: includes the dark-skinned people whose ancestors came from North Africa, Asia and the Mediterranean basin. They have dark hair and most of them have brown or black eyes. Even the unexposed areas of their skin contains melanin. People with Type IV skins tan after exposure to the skin and rarely burn. Nevertheless, ultraviolet rays penetrate and damage the deeper layers of even Type IV skins, although the damage is not as serious as that done to the skins of Types I-III.
Skin Type V : includes dark-skinned people who come from India, the Yemen and Native American Indians. They are better protected from sun damage than the other skin types.
Skin Type VI : includes the Blacks. Their skin is dark even in places which are normally never exposed to the sun. They do not burn in normal exposure to sunlight and their skin color darkens quickly. Although sun-induced skin growths are rare for people of Types V and VI, they should also avoid overexposure to the sun to keep their skin color uniform.
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Thanks for good stuff