Day 23:
 
I notice my facial hair has all gone very dark.
I'm growing it out now to see what it looks like.
The texture has changed too. It feels thicker/coarser.
 
I got my first "black man" comment at work. :p
 
I wish my chest, back and legs would tan faster on the weekends to catch up with my face.
I need to wear long sleeves for work, so my hands and face get a lot more exposure.
Funny, but even a light, frequent exposure is making my face look a bit darker than my chest now.
I'm considering wearing an SPF 30 daily just to let my chest catch up to my face.
I'd rather wear SPF 15 or lower, less chemicals, but I'd rather my skin match first.
But other parts that were disproportionate are blending now.
 
For my face, I think my lips have the most dramatic change.
They no longer have a pinkish undertone,  
but look brownish-hued light purple to me, as if I'd been drinking dirty purple Koolaid, lol.
Probably why I got the "black man" comment.
 
I'll post some new photos soon...

Scaly white pimples... Did they ever hurt? Mine felt like my skin's been pinched.  
 
Other bits? I think partly because it's naturally a tad darker than my legs, so they colour up a lot easier.
 
As you can see from my first posts, I'm also blond and blue eyed,  
but I suppose I'm lucky as I wouldn't consider my naturally tanned skin "fair."  
I've always wondered why blue eyes and blond hair is supposed to increase your risk of skin cancer
when there are plenty of brown hair, brown eyed Caucasian people paler than me.
 
Are you saying you can see the difference in colour between my first photos?
Yes I'm in sunny southwestern Australia, where winters are partly-cloudy and summers are nearly-cloudless.  
We are in early Spring, and the sun angle would be about the same as being in San Diego on April 1st.
UV max is currently 7, I think.
UV max will get up to 13-14 here though mid-summer,  
about 2-3 higher than southern California gets in summer. (which is why I wanted to try melanotan  )

I hope my last photo's pose didn't look too weird.    
 
Day 29:
 
I'm getting close to the end of my 10mg vial.
Probably 12 needles at 0.15mg left, so that's about 8mg in...
 
My fingers are so dark today, it's ridiculous.  
 
Like as if they'd been soaking in brownish-red Koolaid compared to my forearms.
Probably from driving and wearing long sleeves at work.
Seems even a hint of sunlight over a long time (working inside but with a door open, lol)
will cause them to continue to darken.
I think I will have to wear SPF 30 on my fingers everyday, reapplying several times a day.  
Perhaps wear gloves while driving too.  
 
My lips are less extreme,  
but I'd say mahogany-coloured is the closest description.
They scarcely have any red/pink undertone left.

I would say with melanotan II, the UV intensity that I experience  
feels anywhere from 3/4 to 1/2 of what I'd expect without melanotan II.
 
I actually don't usually notice when I am getting exposed,
so I sometimes forget to cover up to protect myself from getting excess tan.
 
That said,  
I still wish it would work faster on my upper arms, legs, chest and back
when they get a chance to see lots of sun for on the weekends.
Usually at least 1 day a week my chest, back, arms and legs see tons of sunshine,
and I'd usually put on sunscreen on my hands and face when I do,
but you'd never know since my face and hands stay darker.
 
I wonder if I have the darkest hands of anyone using melanotan II now.  

Because I might be freaky-dark to some,
I'm experimenting with going off melanotan II for a few days.
My last injection was Sunday night and now it's thursday night.
 
Initially,  
I was going to skip Monday's injection and go for Tuesday morning,
but after the response I saw on my "Am I Too Tanned" thread,
I thought it might be worth trying a week off of melanotan II.
At the moment, I'm using lots of SPF30 and seeking shade  
to see if my hands and face will lighten a little...  
and to let my chest and legs catch up.
 
So I'm considering either starting melanotan II again Friday night, for a weekend of sun
or perhaps melanotan II stays built up in your body a long time,
I could "inject as needed" if I find Saturday night or Sunday morning
my skin isn't recovering from sun exposure as fast as I'd like it to.
This weekend is supposed to be sunny, so it should be a good test.

Quote from paradiso on 10/06/11 at 17:00:36:


How long does melanotan II stay in your system?
 
I injected once last night, 0.16mg, since I've been off it for 5 days.
I didn't want to suddenly be more sensitive to the sun...
although I think I'm still underestimating melanotan II  
 
I actually wish melanotan II's effects were more like week2
where I was injecting regularly and tanning moderately... I felt more in control of my colour.
 
melanotan II is extremely sensitive it seems to sun exposure.
My hands and face no longer go red, or even look tanned...  
rather instead they just change Fitzpatrick skin type.
Maybe that's because I'm frequently using SPF30 on them.  
 
My hands belong on a Skin Type 5 who hasn't seen sunlight in a long time.
Say a naturally darker-skinned Indonesian who has covered up or been indoors a lot.
 
My arms, legs, chest and back are still mildly-photosensitive,  
and look more like a lightly-tanned Skin Type 4 than my darker, "untanned-looking" hands.
 
I think I actually prefer to be mildly-photosensitive,  
as I get a bit of a glow from being in the sun,
plus it means I can spend longer without worry that I will become too dark causing tone-mismatch on certain body parts.
 
That said, if melanotan use was common, familiar in society and proven a safe skin-protectant,
I probably wouldn't care if I turned into a black man as long as I had just enough melanotan to feel comfortable in the sun.

I think my darkness has stabilized.
 
I took 5 days off, took 0.16mg, another day off then another 0.16mg.
 
I think I'll try 0.16mg every second day and see if I stay "dark enough."  

Quote from HeatAddict on 10/22/11 at 15:48:04:

still appears to be for sale on their website(s) to me?

So far I've finished 10mg of melanotan II
and now I've started melanotan-1 as an experiment to see if I can use it for maintenance dosing.
I've doubled my dosage to 0.33mg/injection.
 
I've taken it twice; yesterday and today.
 
I'm hoping to take just enough melanotan to make by beard go black.
That usually yields a nice rich tan colour.

I think I'm starting to tan again.  
 
I noticed an outline on my foot from my thong-sandals.  
 
It's possible that melanotan-1 will let me go darker than melanotan II,  
for any given darkness of mole or freckle.
I will have to see once the 3rd week kicks in what melanotan-1's really like.
 
So far I've been dosing 0.66mg one day, 0.33mg the other day.
The effect is like taking 0.5mg of melanotan-1, daily.
They're already pre-loaded at 0.33mg,  
since 0.16mg of melanotan II was so successful for me.