Black Women Avoiding Exercise To Maintain Hairstyles: Study

Vanity crosses all color lines!

This is so true!!! I know many women that dont want to work out to hard for fear of messing up their hair.

Because it easier to talk about hair rather than other things..........just saying. This is interesting although I've experienced more of "my" female black friends avoid working out..., especially with weights, out of fear of looking like Serena Williams or losing their booty, more than messing up their hair.

Your friends need to pay better attention - Serena has quite the booty.

I only wash my hair once a week. I wear a sweatband to keep my bangs and the hair at the back of my neck from getting damp. My forehead and neck sweat but not my scalp. Do many people have sweaty scalps??

Oh yeah... and I sweat a lot. For running I had to switch from a basic ponytail to a bun because the ponytail would be literally be dripping sweat down my back and then swishing it around.

I know, I'm pretty much super sexy when I workout.

You just described me after my run last night...intervals...I was a hot mess. This is why I no longer workout at our work gym and do most of my stuff at home - after work. And then I shower before bed, blow dry my hair straight, then straighten it in the am before returning to the real world. HOT MESS.

I did not want to comment at all on this topic since I'm a white guy. I thought just to post it and let it be food for thought. I guess what you say is true for all woman. LIke to see a survey about this topic for all woman and I wonder why they singled out black woman.

"They" singled out black women because the author of the study is herself a black woman and noticed that among her and her friends it was an issue. She was curious to see how wide spread of a concern it was.

It clearly states that in the first few sentences of the article.

No need to bite his head off. Its not that serious.

I guess from his perspective the article could have included a discussion about women of other races and not just focused on this one study which was exclusively limited to black women. The study itself could have also included non-black women. Would have been interesting to see a comparison. Especially since we have so many comments here from women of all ethnic backgrounds having the same issues. Don't think he was trying to imply anything about the "They".

I personally admit that I when I get my hair freshly done I am not overly eager to do Jillian MIchaels for an hour. i will do pilates or something that won't make me sweat as much for the first couple of days. But I try to get something in.

i workout hard regularly, but i will NOT walk around with my hair looking crazy!!!!! call me vain if you want to, i don't care, my hair HAS to look nice all the time... i'm 100% natural and sometimes i wear protective styles (like the weave pictured)... & sometimes i'll wear a natural do... either way, my hair must be on point... i have a standing biweekly hair appointment and i maintain it myself between salon visits...

having said ALL that... i don't let my hair get in the way of working out, la la la

oh, & my fitness pals get regular updates of how my hair is doing ((they just got one today)) :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

because the point of the article isnt whose hair is more difficult to deal with, it's who is using hair as an excuse not to exercise.
and sorry to say, that is majority black women.

The survey was on 103 black women, now in your world this may be a majority but not mine!

so not what i was saying. but you are free to project whatever you want on to what i can honestly say i typed in plain and simple english.

since you and some others are clearly confused about what i typed i'll repeat it simply :

i said nothing about whether or not the majority of black women in general are using hair as an excuse. what i said was that the majority of women using hair as an excuse to not work out are black. these are not the same things.

This article is interesting but in any low-socioeconomic region, I'd think white or black women would want value for money. It's stupid that a standalone race/gender is focused on when statistics of white women and black men are marginalised... Thus, the article focus (black + women) cannot be justified. My white gym-rat guy friends complain about their hair because they feel the pressure to be perfect and it's not just black women. I wear natural, waist-length hair in a loose ponytail for workouts. If my hair were expensively styled, i'd probably avoid style-damaging workouts too.

Washing with just conditioner (aka co-washing) works surprisingly well to remove sweat and oil. I do this everyday and only shampoo, maybe, every third day.

I'm white but honestly, I have thought twice about working out because of my hair :laugh:

My hair is long and extremely thick and washing it/drying it/styling it is an ordeal. If I don't get all sweaty I can make it last at least 2 days. Working out daily means washing it daily and I admit, it's a consideration though I've just sucked it up and done what I had to do.

I have not tried yet, but actree Nicole Ari Parker (wife of the fine actor Boris Kodjoe) invented this sweat headband for women dealing w/this issue: check it out http://frugivoremag.com/2012/02/nicole-ari-parker-invents-headwrap-that-saves-your-hair-from-sweat/

This is an issue for most women, but we can't let it hold us down!

Happy journey, shan

I'm a slaphead so find this fascinating!

Natural hair gal her due to pregnancy two almost back to back, but now that my natural hair is longer it is easier to manage. The sweating from working out might be why my dreads and twists didn't take. When I meet the creamy crack again, I am thinking ponytail and sweat bands.

Loves it!! I don't have time to be worried about my hair when my body is clearly my focus. My hair will be dealt with afterwards. I myself am relaxed but I sweat a lot in my scalp. I wash off all traces of make-up & put my hair up. I wash & condition my hair a few times through out the week so that I can continue to go hard in the gym & my hair is actually healthier now than it ever was which I also associate with working out. I would rather be healthy / fit & easily fix my hair later than to be overweight & always have my hair done up!

Washing with just conditioner (aka co-washing) works surprisingly well to remove sweat and oil. I do this everyday and only shampoo, maybe, every third day.

This is what I do too every 3 days & then regular shampoo on the weekends! My hair loves it!

Because it easier to talk about hair rather than other things..........just saying. This is interesting although I've experienced more of "my" female black friends avoid working out..., especially with weights, out of fear of looking like Serena Williams or losing their booty, more than messing up their hair.

Your friends need to pay better attention - Serena has quite the booty.

Serena has quite the BODY. I would LOVE to look like her (if I didn't have to spend hours a day in training)!