Over time, they’ve been made up of anonymous rules wrapped in our pretty little brown heads. The “beauty rules” for dark girls: what we can and can’t wear, what looks fine on us, and what doesn’t. But now, we set our own ideals of appearance and play by our own rules.

Here are a few myths that I hope we’ve all either broken or after you’ve done reading this, will do so.

1. Myth # 1: “Black Don’t Crack”

First, since this is the most important part of beauty, I’m going to talk about skincare. “Black Don’t Crack” is a common phrase that people use. It is real because Black women age slower than other female races, and that melanin is one of the main and very obvious reasons for this. The risk and danger of this saying, however, is that it insinuates that we do not do other things as black women to take care of our skin and we don’t need to, which is wrong. Our beautiful skins still need skincare to glow.

2. Myth # 2: “Black people Don’t get Sunburn and don’t need sunscreen”

This leads to the next comment that we don’t need to wear sunblock or SPF, or in other words, that “black people don’t sunburn.” It’s an incredible myth, and the biggest one in this article because it’s risky. We are prone to it, although black people are less likely to develop melanoma or other forms of skin cancer. Our melanin is the sun’s defensive shield, but there are also forms of skin cancer that are more lethal to us. Indeed, our melanin is lovely and strong, which is why we need to protect it by using SPF-containing items and wearing sunscreen while we are out for long periods of time in the sun, such as on the beach.

As for black people getting sunburnt, of course, we can. Not all of us have the same amount of melanin in our skin, or eyes,, and that’s okay.

Sunscreen isn’t made to prevent you from tanning, nor just to prevent sunburns. It protects your skin from UV and IR rays that can cause, together with redness and sunburns, also irritation, eczema, dry skin, skin spots, and cancer. So, everyone, black people need sunscreen to keep their skin protected and moisturised.

3 Myth # 3: “Black Girls can’t Wear Blush”

Black ladies can rock blushes. Using a blush after adding your makeup brings more life to your face. So carry a blush for real today. Deep red or orange? The choice is yours.

4. Myth #4: ” Black women shouldn’t wear bright coloured fabric or wear bright/pastel lipstick”

As black people, one of the main misconceptions we hear is that we cannot or should not wear vivid colors. Bright shades on dark skin will make you glow.

“black women lips are too big and their skin is too dark, so they won’t look good with a pastel or with a bright lipstick”

This is also 100% wrong. Full lips look gorgeous with bright shades.

5. Myth # 5: “The movement of natural hair is just for loose curls”

The bottom line is that the curl pattern doesn’t signify much regardless of what products you’re going to use.

There is a side of this myth that makes it appear that the natural hair revolution is only appropriate to those with a looser curl style, that those of those with a tighter curl have what others call “nappy hair.”

The other side of this myth too is the assumption that you would be less black than anyone else if you have looser curls; “What are you mixed with?” It’s something you’ll always hear.

It’s all nonsense. We are not monoliths. Black doesn’t look or act in a particular way. It doesn’t matter what texture your hair is; natural hair is for every black textured hair.