Melanin, the beautiful pigment that determines the color of our skin, hair, and eyes, plays a major role in protecting our skin from sunlight, as 2022 research suggests.
But, besides its physical attributes and a number of health benefits, melanin holds great cultural and social significance as well.
It represents identity and heritage, reminding us to embrace our unique skin tones and celebrate the beauty of diversity.
Here are the best melanin quotes I collected from various online sources, recognizing its power in all shades!
Top 10 Melanin Quotes
1. “Our melanin will always make us marvelous… Just imagine what that sea of sisterhood would look like. Magic!” ― Alexandra Elle
2. “A biomarker of evolution, melanin is the color of life.” ― Neri Oxman
3. “Like all readers, I want my limits to be drawn by my own sensibilities, not by my melanin count.” — Zadie Smith
4. “You have to make melanin while the sun shines.” — Kim Harrison
5. “Let your melanin be a celebration of your ancestry, a testament to your uniqueness.” — Lupita Nyong’o
6. “Melanin is not just pigment; it’s a testament to resilience and heritage.” — Angela Davis
7. “Our melanin is a symbol of power, a mark of strength that cannot be dimmed.” — Malcolm X
8. “I cannot run away from who I am and my complexion or the larger society, and how they may view that.” — Lupita Nyong’o
9. “Melanin represents unity in the diversity of life on earth.” ― Neri Oxman
10. “Melanin is an expression of love, woven deeply into the fabric of our existence.” — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Melanin Beauty Quotes
1. “Dipped in chocolate, bronzed in elegance, enameled with grace, toasted with beauty. My Lord, she’s a black woman.” — Yosef A.A. Ben-Jochannan
2. “In a world full of shades, melanin reminds us that diversity is the truest form of beauty.” — Nikki Giovanni
3. “…Beauty shouldn’t be defined by whether you wear the Deepest Deep Foundation (like me!) or the Translucent one. It’s all about confidence in your own skin and in your beauty. It’s corny, but it’s true.” — Jayne Mandat
4. “Your beauty will be in shades of melanin and light.” ― R. YS Perez
5. “We aren’t beautiful in spite of our blackness, we are beautiful because of it. So don’t dare try to give the credit to anything else.” — Shayla Pierce
6. “Beauty is being comfortable and confident in your own skin.” — Iman
7. “Melanin is an incomparable beauty. From the lightest to the darkest skin tone, Black women and Black girls are exquisite beauty in every shade. Yes, Black females have that special something that just can’t be ignored. We are Melanin Queens, beautifully created! Respect the complexion.” ― Stephanie Lahart
8. “No, I’m NOT Team Light Skin. No, I’m NOT Team Dark Skin. No, I’m NOT Team Brown Skin. I’m Team Melanin because we are one! I’m a Black Queen that celebrates ALL shades of Black beauty. ” ― Stephanie Lahart
9. “Oftentimes due to the societies we live in that promote the European standard of beauty, many black women can feel that their beauty is not good enough. But this is starting to change more and more as they start to realize that their melanin is like magic.” — Chime
10. “I realized that beauty was not a thing that I could acquire or consume, it was something that I just had to be.” — Lupita Nyong’o
11. “Their skin drips the melanin, it absorbs the sun rays too, their hairs are graciously curly, aren’t they magical human beings? At times I get jealous of them because, ‘black is beautiful’. The always makes my head turn!” — C. Vais Hnawi Rao
12. “You cannot be defined by your skin color, where you come from. The world is yours, embrace it.” — Angelique Kidjo
13. “Black Girls… Beautiful in EVERY shade and size. We’ve got that special something! Our melanin is exquisitely beautiful! Love & embrace the skin that you’re in. Our skin tones represent beauty. Light, brown, and dark-skinned girls are equally gorgeous!” ― Stephanie Lahart
14. “Whether light, whether dark, whether mixed, there’s only one of you. Don’t waste your time thinking that you’re not good enough. Don’t waste your time thinking that you’re ugly. Don’t waste your time because somebody else is thinking the same thing. If you’re thinking you’re beautiful, you can pass it off to someone else.” — Robin Tavares-Russell
15. “I don’t care about skin color, everybody is a human being. Beneath every skin color, you bleed red. That’s just the bottom line of the truth.” — Angelique Kidjo
Melanin Poppin’ Quotes
1. “Actually, I am kind of busy right now,” I drawled as I settled back into the chair and closed my eyes. “You have to make melanin while the sun shines.” — Kim Harrison
2. “Black women were beautifully created at birth. We were blessed with melanin in our skin, which makes us Exquisitely Beautiful. From the lightest to the darkest skin tone, our melanin is Fiercely Poppin’ on Purpose.” ― Stephanie Lahart
3. “Black excellence, opulence, decadence.” — Jay-Z
4. “Melanin Poppin’ and No Worries!” — Stephanie Lahart
5. “I am dripping melanin and honey. I am black without apology.” — Upile Chisala
6. “Melanin touches your eyes like the sun-kissed bliss of mankind.” ― Mimi Ton
7. “My melanin is powerful. It threatens the ignorant, challenges the misinformed. My articulation intimidates. It demands respect the moment I speak. You understand me clearly and with all that all I’ve ever had to be, was black.” — Nii Lee Cyrus
8. “My complexion is exquisite!” — Stephanie Lahart
9. “My melanin is what gives me strength.” — Dr. Kofi Leeniles
10. “That bubble of doubt within? It’s time to stick a pin in it. And wear your dark and lovely face with a grin on it.” — Princess Latifah
Inspirational Melanin Quotes
1. “The more melanin you have, the more beneficial it is to your being and your body. How could anyone ever be ashamed of the melanin that possesses so much magic?” — Chime
2. “Melanin is the most ancient and worldwide pigment in living organisms. The very thing that colors the bark on trees brown and the soil of the earth. It dwells in your very essence.” — Unknown
3. “Melanin is the embodiment of the sun’s kiss, a reminder of our connection to the cosmos.” — Audre Lorde
4. “Humanity today forms a single species and can interbreed freely. Differences in color of hair, skin, and eyes are largely due to differences in the quantity of a pigment called melanin, and this does not affect humanity’s essentially unitary character. Nor do differences in the shape of the eye or nose, in the shape of the skull, or in height.” ― Isaac Asimov
5. “Historically it had always been thought that melanin played a significant role in the intellectual propensity of African people.” — Dr. Umar Johnson
6. “One day our descendants will think it incredible that we paid so much attention to things like the amount of melanin in our skin or the shape of our eyes or our gender instead of the unique identities of each of us as complex human beings.” — Franklin A. Thomas
7. “The world wants to define me by my mammary glands and melanin. It is just fascinating that Michael Mann has never been asked what it is like to be a white male filmmaker.” — Victoria Mahoney
8. “Melanin is a molecule and the concept of melanin, it is black in its nature and we find it in the cosmos and we find it in the heavens, we find it in water, we find it in the land, we find it in everything that exists.” — Dr. Kaba Hiawatha Kamene
9. “Melanin from a physical standpoint is that substance that accounts for what Black people refer to as ‘soul’. We move differently, we walk differently, we talk differently because we have access to a different form of energy than other folks.” — Dr. Anthony Browder
10. “We are not even tapping into a small fraction of what it is that we are capable of as highly melanated people.” — Zanemvula
11. “Black women were created of brown sugar and warm honey. The sweetest thing to bless the earth. Be wary of anyone who tells you otherwise.” — Alexandra Elle
12. “It’s been a war on the heavily melanated. For your own security, you better be educated, listen.” — Black Thought
13. “I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. . . . Even in the helter-skelter skirmish that is my life, I have seen that the world is to the strong regardless of a little pigmentation more or less. No, I do not weep at the world — I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.” — Zora Neale Hurston
14. “I think the reason I went into theater, ultimately, was because that was one of multicultural groups. Because you identify with other people that share similar passions to you, so it didn’t matter how much melanin was in their skin.” — Keegan-Michael Key
15. “Celebrate your melanin, for it holds the stories of generations who fought for your right to exist.” — Maya Angelou
16. “Can anything good come of a backward way of thinking like judging someone based on skin color? No way.” — Adam McKay
17. “As an African-American male born with a couple of strikes against you because of your skin color, I think it’s very, very important to have some positive role models around, especially male influences.” — Omari Hardwick
18. “I can finally say I’m comfortable in my own skin, grew up despising the skin tone I was in because it’s been bashed for so long & society has been putting in our heads that dark is ugly. For all you beautiful chocolate girls/women out there you’re BEAUTIFUL & don’t let anyone tell you different.” — Cori B. Essence
19. “It brings my heart great joy to see black women embracing their blackness, natural hair, distinctive features, and beautiful brown bodies! You should be proud of your melanin.” — Unknown
20. “You have strength in your black skin. The soulful dust in it makes you the heir of the soil.” ― Mitta Xinindlu
Melanin Skin Quotes
1. “I look at my skin and it is glowing with constellations of ancestors. I ask them about escape and freedom and listen for revelation.” ― Junauda Petrus
2. “Stop comparing skin tones. Who cares if your skin is lighter or darker than the person standing next to you? Change can only happen once you can truthfully look in the mirror and love that Deep Chocolate, Cinnamon, Mocha, or Caramel complexion.” — Alicia D.
3. “The black skin is not a badge of shame but rather a glorious symbol of national greatness.” — Marcus Garvey
4. “Glamour is about feeling good in your own skin.” — Zoe Saldana
5. “Dear Exquisite Black Queen… No matter what shade of MELANIN you are, know that your skin tone is brilliant. You, my Queen, are phenomenally made!” ― Stephanie Lahart
6. “I just can’t conceive of how a person could hate another because of skin color. I love every race on the planet Earth.” — Michael Jackson
7. “God made me this way so I have to be happy with who I am. And it’s a journey. And I embrace my brown skin sisters. I love them and I hope that they embrace me.” — Kym Whitley
8. “My skin absorbs the sun’s rays and my hair defies gravity. You can’t tell me I’m not magical.” — Unknown
9. “Your skin is your home.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
10. “I am not my hair. I am not this skin. I am the soul that lives within.” — India Arie
Quotes On The Importance Of Melanin
1. “Melanin exerts a protective effect on skin and underlying tissues.” — Kevin Tokeph
2. “Melanin is a versatile molecule, not only is it responsible for giving us our UV blocking completion, at the cellular level it gobbles up harmful radicals that lead to diseases such as cancer and Parkinson’s.” — Eduardo Di Mauro
3. “The key to our ancestors’ survival lay in their own personal sunscreen, manufactured beneath the skin, melanin. The type and amount of melanin in your skin will determine whether you will be more or less protected from the sun.” — Angela Koine Flynn
4. “The evolutionary advantage of melanin is to protect us from the ultraviolet rays, especially in regions which the planet is most exposed to the sun like Central America, Africa, and the Middle East. That is why these people possess more melanin.” — Kevin Tokeph
5. “We need melanin because the sun releases damaging and carcinogenic ultraviolet radiation.” — Kevin Tokeph
6. “Because melanin is 100 percent compatible with our body’s makeup, it is a much safer starting material for building electronic devices, both for us and the environment.” — Eduardo Di Mauro
7. “Squids, cephalopods in general, when they squirt out ink, the ink they squirt out is made up mostly of melanin. Organisms of other species have also used melanin as a protective and defensive means.” — Dr. Raven Baxter
8. “Melanin is not just found in the skin, it’s actually found in places like our hair, our eyes even, in our brain stems, and also in our adrenal gland which sits on top of our kidney.” — Dr. Raven Baxter
9. “Melanin may play a bigger role than just absorbing all this radiation, if you get it into your body it actually has a major effect on your immune system. It protects genes and repairs broken DNA. Isn’t that wonderful?” — Dr. Karl Merat
10. “The more melanin in the skin, the more protection you have against the harmful effects of sun exposure.” — Kevin Tokeph
11. “In invertebrates, melanin plays a huge role in their immune system. When they have a pathogen coming into their system, they will coat the pathogen in melanin and kill it.” — Dr. Raven Baxter
12. “Melanin is an intelligence. It’s an intelligence because it’s the primary dynamic in every single cell, it’s a primary dynamic in the core of the human being as well to the surface of the human being.” — Dr. Phil Valentine
13. “Melanin exists in many other tissues as I mentioned. It’s actually a very important molecule to any woman who is having a baby because the fetus has all of this melanin in it.” — Dr. Karl Merat
14. “Black and brown melanin was used in ancient Egypt as a form of like a conductor or transmitter. They would also use it to share information by sending vibrations and energy.” — Zanemvula
15. “Black women greatly benefit from melanin because it prevents them from aging as quickly as other groups.” — Chime
To Sum Up
Just like my collection of melanin quotes suggest, melanin serves as a powerful marker of identity.
It reinforces a sense of belonging and connection to one’s cultural roots and redefines beauty standards that have historically favored certain skin tones over others.
So, let us celebrate the uniqueness and beauty it creates!
