Major Hair Setback - My Dudu Osun Mishap :(

Hey guys,

 

Not too happy right now. All ramblings cut short, I'm going straight to the point. African Black Soap (ABS) really isn't a miracle product afterall. DO NOT believe the hype. I used it and I have lost lots of hair!

It was after I had this mishap that I realised I had previously had some misfortune with black soap/Dudu Osun. Ok, I shall do a bit of story-story. What's my blog without some story though?

 

Remember I told you a little while back about my battle with eczema? Several years back when I was in the university, I was battling the skin allergy all over again. Because my body always built (builds) a resistance to any product that worked against the allergy after some successes, that period, I tried using Dudu Osun, a black soap made in Nigeria. Don't get me wrong. ABS is naturally good. It is made from purely natural ingredients and is indigenous to many tribes that run along West Africa. It has always been known traditionally to cure skin ailments. When I was a kid, I used locally made black soap while bathing severally until it stopped working to stop the eczema and my mum moved to other alternatives.

 

Back to uni days. I used Dudu Osun (a packaged brand of black soap) in the hope of helping my skin allergy. It worked. Then stopped. After about 4 weeks of continuous use, the eczema was back with even more force than I had before I used the soap. I was confused. I went to the school pharmacy and saw the pharmacist and asked her to recommend me something else I could use. I told her about my experience with the Dudu Osun. That was when she warned me against using black soap. She told me in layman terms that the contents were too strong for many skin types and that it can be so drying that it robs your skin of moisture and kills the healthy bacteria on your skin's surface. As a result, your skin is not protected against allergies. She further warned me off antiseptic/medicated and strong smelling soaps.

 

Fast forward to 7 weeks ago. I had ran out of my Hawaiian Silk Shampoo. After an unsuccessful search about town for a non-sulphate shampoo, I looked to Youtube and the Worldwide web. I saw lots of roving reports on the wonders of Dudu Osun or African Black soap on natural hair. I had totally forgotten the warning I had been given about the soap and if I had remembered, I'm pretty sure I'd probably have excused it as skin being different from hair.

 

I used Dudu Osun to wash my hair. I even planned to do a review on it but I got lazy. I noticed that the soap washed out my hair a lot. Perhaps too much. I noticed a squeakiness to my hair after the wash. What I mean is, it was so squeaky clean that I felt my hair had lost all of its natural oils. It left my hair feeling stripped but I didn't want to think too much of it. I moisturised and afterwards, got weaves in for protective styling.

The weave was in for the next 3 weeks. I noticed my scalp itched from day one of installing the weave but I was too stubborn and the thought of the money I spent on it kept the hair in for 3 and a half weeks. I removed the weave. In the process of loosening the cornrows, I noticed a good number of hairs coming out. I put it down to shed hair. Although I wasn't sure if shed hair was hair from the roots/scalp or if it was broken midway as I noticed these hair strands seemed to be coming off the roots. When I got into the bathroom to washed the hair, I used the Dudu Osun again. Mistake number 2. During the wash, my hair started coming off with alarming volume. I mean my hair was falling off. Every time I put my fingers into the hair, it came away with hairs from my roots. Full complete strands! I was really concerned. I couldn't take any photos because I was immediately dropping the hairs into the WC as they were coming off.

 

I did the LOC method after the wash and braided (read calabarised) the hair in sections. The next morning, when I combed out the hair, it had become really obvious that I had lost a lot of hair. I found that none of the product I had put in the hair had penetrated. The hair was remarkably dry. So dry that when I separated the hair apart, my scalp hurt a lot. I found that although I had lost hair all over my head, a lot of the lost hair was concentrated at the top left part of my head. I could see my scalp through my hair. My hair had grown in length but I had lost a lot of volume.

After I put the hair in twists. Look how scanty it is

I freaked out actually. I was scared that it was something deeper that was only showing itself through my falling/uprooting hair. I consulted my doctor immediately. First question he asked after my freaking out was "Did you change your soap/shampoo recently?" I told him I did but I further told him I was sure that wasn't the issue. He insisted it was very likely the soap and told me to stop using the black soap and watch for the next 3weeks and then return to him. Honestly, I thought my doctor was just trying to get rid of me because he believes I'm a hypochondriac (rolling my eyes). I told my sister and she told me too that it had to be the soap and she reminded me that black soap is very drying and that was what probably happened. This was when I remembered my previous experience with Black soap.

 

I immediately went in search of some not so positive review on Black soap or Dudu Osun. That was when I came across this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=NG&hl=en-GB&v=HA7NkyUffQ8 (I tried to copy the video here but it refused).

 

Thanks to DuchessGabrielle, I have been able to discover that black soap has a high alkaline content with a pH10! This is incredibly high and drying as the human hair and skin are about a pH4.5 - pH5! I was really stomped.

 

At this stage, I have decided to mostly leave the hair alone. (Maybe?) I am just generally weak and tired. This hair journey is filled with so many thrills and plummets. It's sad, really. But then, what can I do? I just know this is it for me and black soap of any kind.

 

Major lesson learned from all of these? Where it works for the majority, watch out. You may be the minority. Black soap obviously works for most people. Next time, I'd reduce my adventures to other areas of my life, leaving my hair.

 

We trudge on.

 

Ciao.

Stay beautiful and be cautious when trying out new products.

PS: 3 weeks have passed since this incidence and the hair loss has stopped and my hair is back to absorbing products. Needless to say I am back to battling Seborrhoeic dermatitis. My doctor and sister were right. It was the Black soap that caused it.

PSS: In my talk of leaving my hair alone, I have planned for about 2 months to do a henna conditioning highlight to my hair. I have planned it for this long. I will still do this. Just a little more cautiously. What can I say? I love to do stuff with my hair.