Urban Beauty Myths from Your Momma Revealed

Black people don’t get lice!

While it’s a once-in-a-blue-moon scenario, black folks can indeed get head lice. The reasons why African-Americans rarely have a lice problem is our hair texture, chemicals used, grooming techniques and natural oils which all detract the pesky insects. Although it doesn’t happen often, if faced with head lice  use tea tree oil shampoo– it gives moisture to your scalp which lice cannot survive and stops their eggs from sticking.

Shaving makes your hair grow back thicker.

Shaving cuts the mid-shaft of the hair making it seem more coarse and wider. Although it appears larger when grown out, your hair texture, width, and color do not ever change. Dr. Marjory Nigro, a Houston dermatologist suggests shaving with warm water at the end of the shower to soften the hair. He also says applying cortisone cream to the shaven area, if prone to razor bumps, “works like a charm”.

Vaseline is the answer to all problems.

Although Vaseline is a tub of amazingness, it doesn’t cure all ashy or aging-ills. Momma was right that it will keep you moisturized as petroleum jelly is the strongest moisturizer – forcing oils into the skin and preventing them from evaporating. But Chicago dermatologist, Kevin Pinski, says rubbing it all over your face every night doesn’t prevent aging and may cause breakouts. “Petroleum jelly can make wrinkles less apparent because it’s adding moisture to the skin, which softens lines, but it can’t actually prevent aging,” he said. Try creams with active ingredients such as retinol to prevent wrinkles.

You need to take vitamins everyday.

OK, so this one is actually legit. But I did ask my mother, so she might be biased. According to her, while every woman doesn’t need to take pills everyday, certain women do. “People under stress—like pregnant mothers, busy working mothers, people with ills—should be taking vitamins every day,” said Janet Kwateng ARNP for the Palm Beach Health Department and a mid-wife for thirty-plus years.  “Vitamins level the body, because they have minerals. For women who don’t have time to eat regularly, this is vital. Vitamin D is great for the skin and prevents certain forms of cancer. Vitamin C is good to relieve a cold. But both of these can be found naturally in food.”

Grease your hair everyday!

Oprah tried to tell us a few years ago and black women collectively gasped, but it’s true, you don’t need to grease your hair all the time. “No, no, no. The grease thing is not true. You don’t have to moisturize [your hair] every day, everyone’s hair differs. While it does keep the roots soft, which is good for moisture to prevent breakage, it shouldn’t be done every day,” says Kimberly Price owner of Burzh-Wa Salon in Brooklyn.

You can shrink your pores.

How many times have you heard spas say they can shrink your pores with an expensive facial? Liars all liars! Well, sort of. Elizabeth McBurney, a clinical professor of dermatology at Tulane University School of Medicine, in New Orleans says that the size of your pores cannot be changed, but they can appear smaller. “Egg whites tighten the skin, giving the illusion of smaller pores, but it’s a temporary effect,” she said.

Fresh food is better than frozen.

Obviously this rule applies to the frozen box of marinara sticks in your freezer, but with fruits and veggies it’s a different story. Stacy Beeson, R.D., a wellness dietitian at St. Luke’s Boise Medical Center in Boise, Idaho says, “Frozen can be just as good as fresh because the fruits and vegetables are harvested at the peak of their nutritional content, taken to a plant and frozen on the spot, locking in nutrients.”

You can get diseases from toilet seats.

Truth be told, there are very few cases of people getting STD’s or any other type of ailment from toilet seats. Most STDs, such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes, and genital warts, are spread only through direct sexual contact with an infected person. Crabs and scabies, which are often sexually transmitted, can be passed through contact with infested items like clothes, sheets, or towels. Once they’ve left the skin, viruses immediately die. So another person would have to sit on the toilet immediately after someone with a virus, with an open sore, at the same exact spot on the seat to possibly catch something.

WebMD reported:

“To my knowledge, no one has ever acquired an STD on the toilet seat — unless they were having sex on the toilet seat!” says Abigail Salyers, PhD, president of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM).

Common cold germs, like most viruses, die rapidly, and thus may be less of a threat than you think. “Even if you come into contact with particular viruses or bacteria, you’d have to contract them in amounts large enough to make you sick,” says Judy Daly, PhD, professor of pathology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.