It’s summer time and it’s time to figure out what you’re going to do with that hair after you’ve seated it out running, jumping, biking and swimming or whatever your exercise regime happens to be.

Now as black women, I know many of ya’ll have an aversion to sweating out the “do” you just paid way too much money for. However, as I’ve noted on this blog on many an occaison, not sweating is not an option. Black women’s health depends on a bit of sweating so ya’ll just need to get with the program and figure the best way to keep those locs stylish and that body moving. Here are a few suggestions I found around the web:

Put a Wig On It!
f you still haven’t learned to care for you own hair don’t let it hold you back any longer. You have options you can get braids, a weave, or put a “Wig” on it. Now, I have never been really been in favor of wigs or weave but Ladies you got to put your health first. So if that means getting a sew-in or sporting a wig a couple of days a week then do just that. Oh, and these days you don’t have to worry about your wig falling off. Consult with your beautician about getting a lace wig. One of my girls has one and she loves it…Keep Reading

Hair Care Tips for Sisters on the Move
This is a pamphlet created by Harvard researchers back in the 90’s. Yes I know it’s old, but it still holds up to time. It gives great suggestions fro relaxed and natural hairstyles. Goes into detail on the may hairstyle choices available to women from short dos to locs and braids. I recommend all black women who are concerned about their hair as it pertains to their workouts download the pamphlet and check it out.

Healthy Summer Hair Tips for Black Women
As the summer gradually descends on the nation’s capitol, thousands of African American women are considering what to do with their tresses. In addition to being harangued by the humidity of the city, Black hair is often caught in style limbo due to damage from over-processing or the many summer activities that “sweat hair out.” But according to area stylists, all is not loss...Keep Reading

Hey All!

Just some random thoughts for ya tonite….

New goal – at 182, I will have lost 75 pounds!!  This goal might take a little longer to reach, cuz all of a sudden:

1.  My body is just now realizing that I have dumped a major amount of weight in the past 7 months and is now  playing hard to get ( or hard to get lost..). And..

2.  Since I now walk/run about 8 miles a day and try to squeeze in some weight training time, I am HONGRY!!  All of the time!  If I don’t do some kind of exercise, it is worse.  Yesterday, my relax and cheat day (yes I can now have one cheat day a week – I use my weekly extra points!), I ate two sections of those cheap shortbread covered -with -some -kind -of -plastic- chocolate -flavored coating cookies.  You know the ones where you get about 100 cookies for a dollar!  They were never so good!  AAaand at about 10:30 p.m.,  I found myself spinning (in my Ronco Showtime Rotissere) two pork chops!  As long as they were devoured by Midnight it was ok!  Madness!  So, I know that my overeating  issues are far from over, but I can better control them.  Those cookies tho….mmm mmm!

So, anyhoo, new goal is 182, Whatcha Gonna Do?  I’m gonna dance the Stanky Leg! Will make sure that gets filmed, and by that time I should have my video converter softwear installed.  Then I can finally stop all this damn typing!

OK next…the job front here is pathetic, but I am still plugging along and trying to pick up side work.  One of my little jobs is being a Fitness Consultant.  For a small fee, I will help you start your eating plan, and everyday I will take you on a 4 mile powerwalk.  I have two customers so far.  One customer is a dream, she will do whatever it takes to lose weight and get healthy and since she has seen me at my biggest, takes my word as Gospel.  Her first weigh in was last Monday   – She lost 2 pounds!!  I can see success in her future…..Way to go girl!!  YCDI!!

My other customer…..hmmm….my other customer is half Indian.  She is a descendant of the Ohahcaint tribe. Everytime you tell her something….

“You need to drink at least six glasses of water a day”  “Oh I caint do that, I’m allergic to water”.

“To get a good workout with your walk, you need to move your arms”  ” Oh I caint , I’m double jointed and will throw something out”.

“You need to get some measuring cups and spoons and a food scale to monitor your portions”  “Oh I caint eat smaller portions, I’m anemic and need to eat more”.

She “caint” do anything I tell her, but she can put on makeup that would make a clown say “Damn!”, an outfit with matching hair and nail color, and of course a head band.  That has yet to trap any sweat cuz when I call her and it is a little warm “Oh, I caint walk today, heatstroke”.  Or if it is too cold “will catch pneumonia”.  Don’t let it rain…

This heffa had the nerve to get mad at me cuz Monday, she didn’t lose any weight….and wanted her money back…which leads me to this conclusion: If I am going to make any money at this, I’m going to have to leave Negroes alone for awhile.  I’m meeting  too many clients like the latter ( “Walk EVERYDAY?!?”) and not enough like the former (“When can we start weight training!”) I would love to reach out and help my sista’s go that extra mile and reach their physical goals, but it seems like, around here anyway, that we still don’t take this seriously enough.   Coupled with the fact that we think everything should be for free (“Can my two cousins walk with us today? and can I make copies of the eating plan for them?”) things are just not looking too good on this venture.  Ah, well, I will stick with Ms. Go Getter tho – she’s got a hunger for it, I see me in her eyes.

All right, home stretch…the hair thing.  Natural, weave, wig, whatever….If you sweat, you are gonna have to wash your hair!  You know when you wake up in the morning and that crusty stuff is in your eyes and around your mouth? That is what sweat does – it crystallizes in your hair.  If you let it sit there or God forbid brush it thru your hair and scalp, the salt will eventually harden and snap your very delicate hair right off.  So if you can’t wash , at least rinse it out.  And if you swim, which is next for me, sorry, you gotta wash.  Find a gentle shampoo and conditioner and get that chlorine out, cap or no.

I can hear the screaming already! I’m immune, I have heard all of the excuses – now here are your choices.  You can:

1.  Wash your hair, learn to blow dry and barrel curl your hair on a moderate (not not) setting.  Have your stylist give you a more do-able style that is easier to maintain.

2.  Go natural and wash – n – go!  Or for more variety, get braids.

3.  For weaves, make sure that you are drying the underside (the anchor braids) completely – trapped water will give your hair a mildewy smell..

One thing a fitness minded chick that sweats cannot have – the multi do head! Twists on one side, finger waves on the other, boop – de – boop curls in the back, all finished off with a coat or two of shellac.  Ladies, if you are over the age of , oh say, TWELVE, this do shouldn’t even be an option.  Like your new fitness routine, keep it simple.

Well, that’s about it…getting a little knackered.  Hello to all the Diva’s and if you didn’t agree with all that I had to say in this post, well write your own telling me how stoopit I am….

Seriously, we wanna hear from you!!  You all are from the Ahcando tribe – and you  can do it!!

Til next time…..get to typing girls!!

I can do it in my bedroom, but I would much rather do it outside…..

I’ve done it in the woods. I can do it in broad daylight or the darkest night.  Recently, I did it in the rain, and just this morning, I did it in the snow…..

Yes, folks, you can walk just about anywhere, anytime.  You don’t have to buy and expensive treadmill, or join a gym, just get out there and get in touch with nature. It’s free!

Experience the thrill of cussing some idiot out for almost running you over with their car (I had the light AND the right of way!). 

Marvel at the beauty of a new snowfall, or a gentle rain.  Grow to love the feel of Spring’s warm sun on your face and it’s light breezes in your hair (or wig). 

Get scared sh-tless when you see lightning strike just yards from you, or when you think that big cloud up ahead is moving awfully fast in your direction…and don’t forget the joys of a surprise hailstorm!

Seriously, check the weather first, and get movin’!  Reached 189 today, just four more pounds to mini goal –  say bye bye to Obesity and hello there to Just Fat.  That in itself is worth getting your hair wet!

Til next time!  GET OUT THERE!!  YCDI!

It’s been awhile since I talked about hair on this blog, but on the few times I’ve been able to make it to they gym, I’m always amazed at what length black women will go to not to sweat. Not sweating…in the gym? Isn’t that the point? But god forbid they mess up their hair.

This leads me to ask the question: Is your hair really worth your health? Really?

I want to look fly like everyone else, but even when I had relaxed hair, I was in the gym sweating it our six days a week. Never was my hair going to prevent me form being healthy and in shape. And lets be real, how fly can you look if you’re grossly overweight? There is more to your body and looking good then a hot hairdo. It’s long past time for us to get out proprieties straight where are health is concerned and realize the superficial (fly hair) is not worth our health.

Make this the year that it’s okay to sweat out the do. It can always be fixed. Here are some some tips to help with the post workout hair from Nubian Fitness Goddess:

1. While working out wear a cotton sport headband. It absorbs most of the sweat while I workout and keeps my hair flat. I do not recommend tying your hair up with a scarf. I have found that my hair sweats more that way.

2. Do NOT touch your hair until it dries. When I first started working out I would try to comb my hair while it had sweat it in. This does not work; it spreads the sweat throughout your hair. I learned that my hair is much more manageable if I wait 30-45 min after working out so it can dry.

3. Learn how to care for you own hair. This past year I had to learn how to care for my own hair. Caring for my own hair gave me the opportunity to wash and deep condition it at least once a week ( as opposed to paying someone every other week). Doing this has kept my hair healthy and I work out when I want to without worrying about wasting my money at the hairdresser.

4. Hair Products that Help
*No Rinse Shampoo- if you’re on the go and you really need to get the sweat out use No Rinse Shampoo.
*Aveda Reviving Mist- this is useful if you need a refresh, you can also dry Dry Shampoo. It’s really helpful in between washes
*Aveda Anti-humectant – this little jar is worth the investment during the summer time. It helps prevent frizziness in humid weather.

We are letting our hair kill us:

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – About a third of black women cite complications of hair care as the reason they do not exercise or exercise less than they would like, according to Amy J. McMichael, M.D., the lead investigator of a study from Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

McMichael, associate professor of dermatology, specializes in hair and scalp diseases, ethnic and pigmented skin diseases, and general dermatology and skin care. “I see a lot of African American women in our clinic and had noticed how many of them are overweight. This puts these women at risk for hypertension, diabetes and other serious problems.”

In fact studies show that 77 percent of black women are overweight or obese, McMichael said. “I thought it would be interesting to look at what role their hair plays in their amount of exercise. Many African American women with coarser hair use either heat straighteners or chemical products to straighten their hair. Depending on how coarse or fragile their hair is, they can’t just wash their hair after exercise without having to go through the whole process again, and that can take hours. Over-washing fragile hair can make it break off easily.”

McMichael and the team of investigators from the Department of Dermatology, the Division of Public Health Sciences, and the medical school interviewed 103 black women about how much and what types of exercise they do, and the time, expense and complications of caring for their hair. Sixty-four of the respondents had relaxed their hair by various means.

All of the respondents believed it was important for them to exercise. And 50 percent stated that they considered changing their hair to make it easier to exercise.

To read the rest of the article click on “Dermatologic Barriers to Exercise in Black Women” in the left sidebar under “Articles.”

I’m not unsympathetic to the hair issue. But I will readily admit I don’t understand it. When I had hair I still exercised and exercised hard. I never allowed my hair to stop me from working out, but then again I rarely went to the beauty salon either, unless it was to get a relaxer. So, I rarely had a hairstyle I had to “protect.” I’ve talked hair on this blog before, but as the study notes there are no easy solutions. If you have straightened or relaxed hair, you’re gonna sweat it out. There’s no way around that if you’re working as hard as you should work.

To those who navigate their workouts and their hair, how do you do it?

Zabeth over at Zabeth’s Corner has a great post called How the Gym Saved My Hair. You should take a look at it. It’s well worth the read. Read the comments too.

Today is a new day. What are you waiting for?

This isn’t exactly a weight post but it does deal with hair and we all know that hair is one of the main reasons black women site for not working out.

Why children who braid it like Beckham risk losing hair

Girls who plait their hair too tightly or scrape it back in braids or a ponytail may be at risk of permanent hair loss, researchers suggest.

Hairstyles such as corn rows or braids and those that require chemical straighteners, weaves or hair extensions can damage hair and cause bald patches over time, the British Journal of Dermatology reports today.

Related diseases of the scalp, skin and hair are thought to affect people of African descent particularly. However, dermatologists have underlined the dangers of excessive treatment or scraping back for any hair type.

The tight bun styles favoured by ballet dancers, the corn rows once sported by David Beckham or the dramatic “Croydon facelift” look parodied by Vicky Pollard, the Little Britain character, could all potentially cause problems, they said….keep reading.

So just some things to keep in mind for those of you who swear you can’t sweat out that hair. Maybe you should try something else as well. Healthy hair. Healthy body.

Tiday is a new day. What are you waiting for?

Alright ladies. Let’s talk hair. In studies that are done about what’s preventing AA women from working out, hair often comes up.

From the Baylor College of Medicine:

Most of the women who participated in the study reported that managing their hair made exercising a challenge.

From: Cutural Factors Keep Some Black Women Away From The Gym

Also, to get black women to exercise and adopt healthful lifestyles, you must take hair and appearance into consideration, Railey says.

“If a woman spends hours in a (salon) chair and spends $60, she’s out of the gym for at least two days,” Railey says.

So as you can see hair is a problem. A Big problem. My take on this is this: If it comes down between a a nice hairdo and heart disease/diabetes/cancer/hypertension and a slew of other illnesses. Which would you choose? That should be a no-brainer. But apparently it’s not.

I’m a black woman so I understand how a lot of BW’s confidence is tied up in their hair (and a myriad of other things) but at the end of the day your hairstyle shouldn’t dictate your health.

The way I see it there are only 2 options to the hair dilemma. Option 1:

The Wrap

When I had hair (I’m currently a member of what I like to call: The Happy, Nappy, Natural and Free, Club) I used to wrap it before I went to the gym and slapped a scarf on it. Any Black woman worth her salt knows a well executed wrap can secure salon style straightness with minimal effort.

What wrapping your hair also does is prevent a lot of the excess moisture (read sweat) from wreaking havoc on your do. I know that for many Black women the worst thing that can happen is to have their freshly relaxed hair “turn” and those edges not be a s straight as they were when they left the hairdresser.

Wraps help to cut down on the “turning” and once you’re ready to leave the gym if you have somewhere to go, comb out the wrap, apply a light bump with a curling iron or flat iron (optional) and you’re good to go. Just as fly as when you left the salon.

Now obviously if you’re working our regularly and you sweat profusely you will need to up how many times a week you wash your hair. Once a week to twice a week (three times a week is pushing it with relaxed hair ’cause it dries out so easily) should do the trick and be prepared to wrap it again.

If that sounds like it is too much work for you then there’s Option 2:

Go Natural

Yeah I said it. Go natural. Black women are the only women on the planet who are told that there is a problem with their hair being in its natural state. White women may dye their hair (we do it too) but the texture of their hair remains the same.

To sistahs I say: Get out of bondage. Stop letting your hair rule you and wear (and love) the hair that God gave you.

With natural hair the issues Black women have with their hair and the gym disappear. Natural hair is wash and go hair. As a kid I used to envy White women and other non-black women for their wash and go/less labor intensive hair. It took me to get older to realize that I had wash and go hair too; it’s just when you chemically alter our hair it doesn’t do what it is naturally supposed to do.

I’ve been natural before. I had a min-afro for awhile and then at my mother’s insistence I relaxed it. Then after a bad chemical burn that took out part of my hair and countless breakages and dryness I said, “Enough is a enough,” and chopped it all off.

So now I have a very low boys haircut. And when I say low, I mean low. There are men running around with more hair on their heads then I have.

And here’s a secret: Men LOVE it. Black men ladies. I get complimented on my hair ALL of the time. Young black men. Old black men. Rich, poor. Professional, blue collar. Compliments all of the time.

When I first cut it I was worried that I was completely ruining my dating life. I just KNEW brothers weren’t going to pay me any mind. Big butt aside I didn’t have any hair and all you hear (and see) is how a black man wants a woman with long flowing hair, whether it’s hers or not.

Here’s the other secret. The other thing I learned from this year of no hair: Men like women. Period. If they think you’re hot then it doesn’t really matter what’s going on with your hair as long as it’s neat and looks nice on you.

Oh and the bonus for those of you who want to date inter-racially: White men love it. I mean you’d think I was Halle Berry or something with the way they react. LOL.

My point is that you shouldn’t let your hair determine you health. AND whether or not a man likes your hair isn’t important, even though I know appearing attractive to the opposite sex is important to just about everybody.

While I’m trying to start a weight revolution maybe it’s time we start a hair one to. It’s time to stop ladies. Stop letting you hair rule you and time for you to rule your hair. Take back your life.

Today is a new day. So what are you waiting for?