Diary of an Honest Naturalista: Week 26

I remembered when five years ago, my face broke out in uncontrollable, multiple tiny dots of acne. I have a very acne-prone face, and I found ways to control it with cheap facial cleansers, but that time around, the situation was very serious, and it went on for months. It obviously was an allergy to something I was doing, but finding the cause seemed almost as difficult as impossible as holding an eel with my bare hands. After several months, I made a breakthrough when I accidentally found out that the cause of my unending acne was the fact that I was using Pears Baby Oil as hair cream, after I mistakenly forgot this ‘hair cream’ of mine when I went on a trip. It was hard to explain how something I was using on my hair could affect my face, but I was not interested in explaining or investigating the medical reason. The culprit had been caught, and that was the most important thing.

After this incident with Dimeji, I finally decided to show my hair that I am the boss, and it would not be the one to cause the demise of my relationship. So I decided that it was time for it to serve its punishment. I had to ‘teach it a lesson’, and therefore, put it in kinky braids extensions. Another thing is that like many naturalistas, I like to jump on bandwagons, without actually knowing why.

In fact, my typical mentality goes thus.

“I must not use shampoos with sulphates on my hair.” “But Anna, why?” “I don’t know, the natural hair gurus said so.”

“I must not use products with silicones on my hair.” “But Anna, why?” “I don’t know, the natural hair gurus said so.”

“I must not use products with mineral oil or petrolatum on my hair.” “But Anna, why?” “I don’t know, the natural hair gurus said so.”

I’m sure by now, you get the picture.

After I discovered that I shouldn’t use products with mineral oil and petrolatum, I dumped some culprit Vaseline-like products in my closet, and basically did nothing with them, but just stare. Funny thing was I had just bought them, and not even used them. So after I put my hair in kinky braids, I decided it was time to put these products to good use, by using them to add shine to my extensions. After all, I am not using them directly on my hair. Wrong!

After about three days, I noticed my face had broken out in heavy acne. I was like OMG!!!

My mind immediately went to my gruesome experience five years ago, and I immediately knew it must be something I had just recently started applying to my hair. The culprit was definitely the Vaseline-like mineral oil hair cream I was using. It then occurred to me that there must have been mineral oil/petrolatum in the Pears Baby oil I used in those days, and I was allergic to it. Ignorance is definitely not bliss.

Wow, I thought the reason why we were asked not to use mineral oil was because it was too heavy, and caused build ups. I never knew it aggravated acne on acne-prone faces like mine. Well, I have now learnt my lesson, which is, ~~never disobey the natural hair gurus, or else, you will be plagued with the curse of acne, lol~~ know the exact reason for any hair care advice that is being peddled in the online world, and not just follow them blindly. Wow, I feel like a genius with this world-changing discovery of mine. Don't you agree with me?