Once You Go Black...

Lately, it seems like we have the ability to choose oour own skin color. Are Caucasian people making melanin a trend in 2019? From famous Instagram models to masculine white men, melanin injections seem to be getting more and more popular. I guess you can say tanning is out of style.

I was recently taken back by a Snapchat post, posted by Hooked by the Look. I had never seen anything so taboo. Hannah Tittensor, 23, and her boyfriend Ben Dunlop, 24, from Belfast, Northern Ireland, grew an obsession for dark skin just a few years ago. Tittensor admitted her brother had influenced her to get darker skin when he came home one day.

“My brother came in one day and he was so dark. Everyone was like, 'What happened? How did you get that color?' and he told me he used tanning injections.”

It’s called Melanotan also known as “The Barbie Drug.” According to WebMD, Melanotan is used to darken skin pigment and is known to cause erections of the penis. Some of the side effects include nausea, stomach cramps, decreased appetite, flushing, tiredness, darkened skin, spontaneous erections and more. The National Health Services has declared the drug illegal in the UK as of 2008. The NHS has also warned people to stop taking the drug for their own well being because it has not been properly tested. My question is, what is the point in all of this foolery?

Some people have mistaken the couple of wearing blackface because of their darker complexion.

“She’s really dark. She doesn’t think so, but she is. There’s a risk for cancer, but there’s not talking to Hannah. Hannah is Hannah. Her whole image has to do with insecurity,” her sister Rachel states.

Ben has no history of cancer in his family. Hannah does, which means she is more prone to attracting a skin disease or cancer. He talks about how he’s worried about Hannah at times when she’s taking the injections.

“I don’t really worry about myself but I worry about when she takes more mgs than me. Sometimes she would do 15mgs and I would do 10mgs,” says boyfriend, Ben.

The FDA issued a warning letter in 2007 to an American vendor who was selling the product online to prevent skin cancer and can cause tanning.

The FDA states, "There is no evidence that the product is generally recognized as safe and effective for its labeled uses."

I gathered some data and according to a chart provided by visualcapitalist.com, by the year 2100, more than half of the population will have melanin in their blood or will be from some type of African origin. I thought this was very interesting. When I first found out about this statistic about five years ago, I never would've thought we would be scientifically producing melanin in labs and willingly injecting it into humans for appearances and erectile dysfunction.

In the 1960s, scientists of Arizona University decided to test Melanotan on rats. The results showed a higher rate of sexual arousal. The University also tested human subjects. In 1996, three males were subjected to the injections and experienced nausea, random erections of the penis, fatigue, and darkening of the skin.

"Melanotan II has tanning activity in humans given only five low doses every other day by subcutaneous injection," from The University of Arizona in Tuscon.

Surprisingly enough I couldn’t find any information on who came up with the idea of the drug. Although I don’t know anyone personally using this drug, I can see it becoming more popular after a few years. I do not promote this drug for anyone’s consumption and I believe people should love the skin they’re in. Not only is this drug harmful, it could also have a significant impact on society.

For more information, visit Hooked by the Look on Youtube. Tips and shares on other platforms are greatly appreciated.