JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<input type="text" value="Please enter an email address" name="email" id="email" class="defaulted_input" />

CSS

input.defaulted_input {
    color: #999999;
    font-style: italic;
}

JavaScript

var email_input = $("#email");
var email_value = email_input.val();
email_input.bind("focus blur", function() {
            if (this.value === email_value) {
                this.value = "";
                email_input.toggleClass("defaulted_input");
            } else if (this.value === "") {
                this.value = email_value;
                email_input.toggleClass("defaulted_input");
            }
                    
        });