Starting from the small tip at the top, gently pulling away the golden tin foil, picking up the small black ball, Hangzhou's post-90s sister Xiaocen took a small bite and chewed it carefully. This was the fourth can of black sesame pills she had eaten, one before breakfast every day, and another one before bedtime, full of ritual.
As a girl who didn't have much hair, she reached the tail of the 2-character head, and a lot of hair fell out when grooming, which made her feel anxious. "Maybe it's the stress of work, staying up late, maybe it's the age." Eating black sesame pills is Xiao Cen's effort to "save the hairline".
Who would have thought that black sesame, an old Internet celebrity who has been tied to "dark hair" for a long time, wrapped in a piece of tin foil, transformed from the form of "paste" and "powder" into "pills", ushered in the second spring of the career, and the fire reached a new height. At the same time, this inconspicuous little black pill, in the promotion of the merchant, in addition to anti-shedding, black hair, but also provoked more burdens: beauty and beauty, anti-aging, kidney supplementation, calcium supplementation...
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The shampoos are out of the co-branded black sesame seeds
"Nine steaming and nine sunscreen", "black raising black", "staying up late and always preparing", "ancient method concoction", "new trend of health maintenance"... When many labels are labeled with black sesame pills, Xiao Cen is not the only one who has entered the pit.
Last week, I casually sent a circle of friends: Has anyone eaten or is eating black sesame pills? In just a few minutes, more than a dozen people blew up and brushed back: eaten. The age ranges from the post-00s to the post-70s.
"I bought it to fix my hair, and it fell out badly." Xiao Jin is a post-95 girl, "I think fixed hair is useful, obviously less lost, you must insist on eating every day." ”
"Useless, will be fat." Talk from the experience of a person who has eaten 12 cans. Fei Fei after the 80s left a sentence. There are not many words, but the indignation conveyed is quite obvious.
After 75 years of suffering from white hair and hair loss, Lao Huang, sent two photos in a private message, which is a black sesame pill jointly signed by a health food brand and a hair loss prevention shampoo. The package is printed with a man in a suit, exploding in a staggering amount of hair; the product name is straightforward: Burst Pills. "At first, my wife let me buy it. Bought two boxes, the taste is OK, the children also love to eat, so I bought it a few times. As for the effect, "the white of the white, the less or less." He also bought anti-shedding shampoo, which is a joint model of the shampoo brand and a cocktail brand.
"Eat it first, I don't know if it's useful." Cats and cats after 00 are prepared for the rain, "Sesame milling powder is troublesome, balls are convenient to carry, just eat as snacks." ”
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4 month mutation "hair volume king"?
Xiao Cen, Fei Fei, Xiao Jin, Lao Huang, Cat Cat... Individual purchases, on major e-commerce platforms, have accumulated into considerable sales data.
Search for the keyword "black sesame pills", sorted by sales volume: in Taobao, the top two stores, monthly sales of 100,000 + pieces, the top ten also sold five figures; in Pinduoduo, sold well, are "spelled 100,000 +"; and in Jingdong, there are several stores where the recent evaluation of the product is 200,000 +, 500,000 +... According to cCTV Finance reported in January, the big data monitored by the Ministry of Commerce on key e-commerce platforms showed that black sesame pills increased by 105.9% year-on-year in 2022.
When exactly did it start to catch fire? In a recent interview with Nanjing Tongrentang OEM chaos, an agent who has been engaged in the OEM industry for 6 years told me that black sesame pills were once a hit for Nanjing Tongrentang health products (OEM). But since last year, "in a very short period of time, more than 80 brands have popped up at once, all of which have come to share a piece of the pie." ”
At present, long-established pharmaceutical companies, health food brands, leisure snack brands, each of which has come up with black sesame pill products, followed by a variety of propaganda.
In the live broadcast room, this ordinary little black pill was regarded as a "self-help saint" by major anchors. "Bald star people", staying up late party, sedentary "workers", postpartum mothers... It seems that all can get the redemption of black sesame pills. There have also been several internet celebrity brands here.
On social platforms, search for "black sesame pills", and various pictures and texts of "small compositions" are waving at you in front of you.
"Poor skin and unable to control my mouth, I recently found a delicious and inexpensive snack in the live broadcast room of the ××. Not only to relieve hunger, but also low calorie and low fat, enjoy the happiness of plain face frozen age muscle... I didn't expect to spend a small amount of money, but it was better than a thousand dollars of skin care products. "This girl, recommended is a certain Internet celebrity brand black sesame pills."
Another influencer brand is certainly not to be outdone. A programmer brother who claims to have been plagued by hair loss for 7 years ate his family's black sesame pills, and in only 4 months, he mutated the "hair volume king" and quickly took off the single to harvest sweet love.
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Product Type: Pastry
Behind the explosion of black sesame pills is the "hair loss anxiety" of contemporary people, especially young people. According to the survey results of the hair loss population released by the Health Commission as early as 2019, the number of hair loss in the mainland exceeded 250 million, with an average of 1 in 6 people. According to the statistics of the Mob Research Institute in December last year, the age structure of China's hair loss population accounted for 39.3% after 90 and 37.9% after 80.
All kinds of merchants accurately grasp the psychology of young people and try their best to market their own products. But do black sesame pills really have such a magical effect?
Lao Huang bought a shampoo co-branded black sesame ball, the ingredient list reads: black sesame, black rice, chia seeds, black soybeans, black quinoa and rye; a pack (12 pieces, 108 grams) is priced at 49.9 yuan, almost 4.1 yuan a piece. At present, on the market, black sesame seeds are priced at 20 to 30 yuan to 40 or 50 yuan a catty.
And the four different brands of black sesame balls I bought from the Internet, the ingredients are similar, most of them are black grains, plus black dates, mulberries, yellow essence, etc.; some use honey, some claim to be sugar-free, and the added is sugar substitute. Looking at the labels carefully, you will find that the vast majority of the production licenses of these black sesame balls begin with "SC", that is, food production licenses, rather than health products (the logo of mainland health food is "blue hat"); the product type column is marked with "cold processed pastries" and "cooked flour pastries".
According to Article 38 of Chapter 4 of the Regulations on the Implementation of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China, food other than health food shall not be claimed to have health care functions.
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This black is not the other black
"First of all, we must affirm that black sesame seeds are very nutritious. It has 18% protein, as well as calcium, magnesium, zinc and other minerals; although the fat content is high, accounting for 40%-60%, the calories are therefore relatively high, but it is dominated by unsaturated fatty acids. Yang Renhua, director of the Nutrition Department of Hangzhou First People's Hospital, said. She was once curious about this popular food and also ate black sesame pills. "Black sesame seeds are made of pills, some also add black beans, black goji berries, mulberries, etc., most of them add cooking oil, sugar and other ingredients, the calories will be higher, and people who need to control their weight are not suitable for eating."
As for anti-loss and black hair, Dr. Yang frankly said: "There is no such effect. The 'black' of black sesame pills is a polyphenol pigment, while the 'black' of hair comes from hair follicle melanin. The two are completely different, the former does not translate into melanin on the hair. The argument that "black is used to raise black" does not hold water.
Dr. Yang explained that the decrease in melanin in hair follicles is caused by comprehensive factors such as age, diet, living habits, and mental stress. Therefore, anti-shedding requires a balanced diet, reasonable living schedule, healthy mentality and other all-round cooperation, and can not rely on a single food.
So, why do people eat a burst of black sesame seeds (pills) and have the feeling that their hair has "fallen less" and "darker"? This is because "black sesame seeds do have nutritional value, and taking them in moderation is good for the body; at the same time, it may be accompanied by some adjustments to lifestyle habits."
Dr. Yang suggests that if you want to eat black sesame pills, you should prefer low sugar (sugar substitute), and the number should be one or two per day. "In fact, it is better to eat black sesame seeds that are ground into powder and not added sugar."
Orange Persimmon Interactive City Express Reporter Tong Wei Photography Shi Deyong