Hair Over Health?

I was on my commute to work and found myself stroking the front of my hair, I wear a weave but underneath my weave I’m natural, there is an area right in the front of my head where my natural hair is out and that is it.

While stroking my hair the thought crossed my mind “it’s still straight”. I don’t have any chemicals added to my hair and I work out daily. A coworker of mines gave me some advice over a year ago and said to put a scarf on my head and leave it there until my head is dry; since that time that is exactly what I’ve been doing. I don’t have time, nor do I want to straighten that area of my hair on a daily basis.

What I usually do is wear a cotton scarf to the gym, I find that a cotton scarf is more absorbent, I then leave the scarf on while in the shower and until I got to bed, I then switch into my satin scarf and bonnet. On the weekends when I work out in the mornings I just keep the scarf on until hair and the scarf is dry then I take it off.

Some black women spend a lot of money keeping their hair up and for some keeping their hair fly is more important than keeping in shape. A study published in the Archives of Dermatology, showed about 40 percent of black women don’t exercise due to hair issues. "I treat a lot of African American women in our clinic and had noticed how many of them are overweight, and I wanted to know why," Dr. Amy J. McMichael, a dermatologist at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, said in a written statement. "I'm treating them for dermatology related issues, but as a doctor this was even more concerning because excess weight puts these women at risk for hypertension, diabetes and other serious problems."

Four out of five African-American women are overweight or obese, the highest rate in the country, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

I’m confused on how someone could care so much about their hair and not the rest of their body, I think some women truly believe that as long as their hair looks good the rest of them does too, they are sadly mistaken and misguided. The truth is, it’s easier to sit in a chair than it is to workout. Do you know that only one third of the people studied said they would exercise more if it wasn’t for their hair and only half of that said they would change their hairstyle in order to work out?

If you are someone who would work out if you could find other alternatives for your hair I’ve found a few tips you could use:

Try a sweat-absorbent headband like Save Your ‘Do gymwrap by Nicole Ari Parker
You can’t avoid sweat but you can keep moisture away from your hair with sweat-absorbent headbands that focus on your forehead and the back of your neck.

Rock an updo.
By wearing a sweat-absorbent headband and pinning your hair up, you can help keep your hair away from sweat on your scalp, forehead and back of your neck and stop moisture from ruining your look.

Wear your hair in braids or twists.
If your hair is natural, try wearing it in braids or twists while working out so it doesn’t shrink.

Wrap your hair up with a scarf.
A scarf will help soak up the sweat while you work out and protect your style. If you don’t want to cover your entire head, try folding the scarf in half and using it as a headband.