diff --git a/pkg/ignore/doc.go b/pkg/ignore/doc.go
index a66066eb2..7c5708a92 100644
--- a/pkg/ignore/doc.go
+++ b/pkg/ignore/doc.go
@@ -63,6 +63,19 @@ Notable differences from .gitignore:
   - The globbing library is Go's 'filepath.Match', not fnmatch(3)
   - Trailing spaces are always ignored (there is no supported escape sequence)
   - The evaluation of escape sequences has not been tested for compatibility
-  - There is no support for '\!' as a special leading sequence.
+  - There is no support for '\\!' as a special leading sequence for files that begin with `!`
+  - The first filename match will determine if it is included or excluded, subsequent lines are ignored
+  
+Example:
+
+	# This is valid .gitignore syntax to only include Chart.yaml and values.yaml, but invalid for .helmignore
+	*
+	!Chart.yaml
+	!values.yaml
+	
+	# Instead, this syntax will work as .helmignore takes the first match per file
+	!Chart.yaml
+	!values.yaml
+	*
 */
 package ignore // import "helm.sh/helm/v4/pkg/ignore"
diff --git a/pkg/ignore/rules.go b/pkg/ignore/rules.go
index 3511c2d40..f83cf8a8b 100644
--- a/pkg/ignore/rules.go
+++ b/pkg/ignore/rules.go
@@ -105,26 +105,19 @@ func (r *Rules) Ignore(path string, fi os.FileInfo) bool {
 			return false
 		}
 
-		// For negative rules, we need to capture and return non-matches,
-		// and continue for matches.
-		if p.negate {
-			if p.mustDir && !fi.IsDir() {
-				return true
-			}
-			if !p.match(path, fi) {
-				return true
-			}
-			continue
-		}
-
 		// If the rule is looking for directories, and this is not a directory,
 		// skip it.
 		if p.mustDir && !fi.IsDir() {
 			continue
 		}
+
+		// For negative rules, we need to capture and return non-matches,
+		// and continue for matches.
 		if p.match(path, fi) {
-			return true
+			// if negate, then return false to "should I ignore"
+			return !p.negate
 		}
+
 	}
 	return false
 }
diff --git a/pkg/ignore/rules_test.go b/pkg/ignore/rules_test.go
index 9581cf09f..b1f071fed 100644
--- a/pkg/ignore/rules_test.go
+++ b/pkg/ignore/rules_test.go
@@ -113,10 +113,12 @@ func TestIgnore(t *testing.T) {
 		{`helm.txt/`, "helm.txt", false},
 
 		// Negation tests
-		{`!helm.txt`, "helm.txt", false},
-		{`!helm.txt`, "tiller.txt", true},
-		{`!*.txt`, "cargo", true},
-		{`!cargo/`, "mast/", true},
+		{"!helm.txt\n*", "helm.txt", false},
+		{"!helm.txt", "tiller.txt", false}, // Don't ignore files that match zero patterns
+		{"!helm.txt\n*", "tiller.txt", true},
+		{"!*.txt\n*", "cargo", true},
+		{"!cargo/\n*", "cargo", false},
+		{"!cargo/\n*", "cargo/a.txt", true},
 
 		// Absolute path tests
 		{`/a.txt`, "a.txt", true},