Okay Sistergirls with marvelous manes and devout divas of dynamic hairdos: is your hairstyle helping to make you fat?
Oftentimes, an African American woman’s hairstyle is a big factor in her amount of physical activity (or the lack thereof). And there is some research to prove it.
Inspired by women in his life – about a decade ago, Dr. Michael Railey, associate dean/associate professor of multicultural affairs at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, noticed some of the ladies did not want to engage in activities that would cause them to “sweat out” their hairdos.
Sweating out the hair is a practical concern of many black women, given the considerable amount of time and money that is invested in terrific tresses – and women want to make it last until the next hair appointment. However, it relegates those same women to only sedentary activities, like eating, drinking or sitting around watching a movie or a play. Sedentary behaviors can result in weight gain.
Railey decided to see if other women avoided biking, aerobics and other forms of exercise to keep their hairstyles intact. The findings were published in the journal of the National Medical Association, “Parameters of Obesity in African-American Women.”
For his research, anonymous data was gathered from 40 women who were overweight or obese, who were between the ages of 29 to 69 (a BMI of 25 – 29.9 is considered overweight; 30 or greater is considered obese). Many of the ladies were being treated for high blood pressure, diabetes or other illnesses, but none of them had been hospitalized for an illness that might have affected their weight in the six months prior to participating in the study.
They were asked about their background and family structure, socioeconomic status, physiologic status and lifestyle; caloric intake; exercise profile; and stress management.
The analysis revealed striking behaviors that affected their activity level. Nearly 49 percent of the women indicated that hair care directly affected their exercise patterns, and more than half of them (57.5 percent) went to the hairdresser at least twice a month.
“It’s the perms; it’s the ‘freeze days’; it’s the inability to exercise because of that,” Railey explained.
Freeze days are days when you can’t exercise because you don’t want to mess up your hair.
At the time of the interview, 67.5 percent of the women (27 out of 40) had no exercise regimen at all; did not exercise during inclement weather and canceled outdoor exercise due to weather. Seventy five percent exercised less than once per week, and apparently those who did exercise were not having a good time – 65 percent of the women indicated that exercise is rarely to never fun.
A whopping 92.5 percent of the women (37 out of 40) acknowledged the need for exercise but didn’t have the energy to do so. Although 31 out of 40 women (77.5 percent) admitted they did not exercise enough, only one woman felt exercise was essential to her well being. And none of the women surveyed exercised as a way to deal with stress.
Railey said a number of the women were lacking a support system to encourage physical activity and the love of exercise. Thirty-seven women, or 85 percent of participants stated that no one emphasized the value of exercise during their childhood; and more than half (57.5 percent) were not seriously involved in sports during high school years; and 75 percent of the women (30 out of 40) had neither strong influences to exercise as a child and were currently inactive as adults
Now, we are handing our unhealthy behaviors down to our children.
“We have actually now inbred this into our culture, where we condition our children,” Railey said. “You’ve got the moms who can’t take the kid out to hit tennis balls or jog, because she’s got to keep hers,” Railey said. “If women played with their daughters when they were young, and the daughters had memories of [it], would we want to recreate that?”
One way to counteract this behavior is by participating in sports and activities alongside with our children as they grow, learn and develop.
Railey said his children were trained to do sports, and it remains a part of their family social interaction.
“When we would get together, one of the first things we would say is, ‘Let’s go running together,’ because that reminded us of those times,” he said.
As a motivator for regular exercise, the safety-in-numbers buddy system also works well for some people.
“Studies do confirm that African American women do better when they get in groups because women, period -not just African American, are social animals,” Railey said.
When you look at all of the statistics, Railey said, men are not as bad off as women are with the hair obsession, “other than the brief period of time in the world when we were trying to be like The Temptations,” referring to the conks, processes and waves men wore “way back in the day.”
There was a period when African Americans began to “de-brainwash ourselves,” Railey said, when men and women proudly wore afros as a God-given natural hairstyle and statement of who they were are as a people.
“It shows you that we accepted it, because we started loving women with big afros, and pretty afros, and afro sheen that smelled good and shaped good,” Railey reminisced.
“We had this thing turned around – James Brown, ‘I’m black and I’m proud’ and the Jheri Curls brought us right back up to the chemicals” he said. “It brought us back to trying to be like somebody else again.”
Fear, self-esteem issues and even job considerations may prevent ladies from going natural.
“In my study, I would ask women how many of you would go to an afro,” and they would say, ‘Oh no,'” Railey said. Sixty percent of the women (24 out of 40) in the study said they would even consider going natural with their hair.
While braids, twists and locks offer a considerable amount of hair freedom, straight, relaxed hairstyles remain as popular as ever.
Find a style that looks good on you that requires the minimum amount of maintenance you can honestly commit to in order to keep from looking like “a hot mess” after exercise.
“For my clients, I would recommend a rod set or roller set, depending upon hair length and texture,” said Maria Antoinette of Christopher Stevens salon in St. Louis.
“When you sweat and your roots get a little bit kinky, it’s still going to blend.”
She and other stylists recommend braiding for relaxed hair, which is the route Candice Norwood of St. Louis chose.
“There were so many days in college when I didn’t exercise because of my hair,” Norwood. She has decided to go natural, and will sport braid extensions as her natural hair grows out.
“The whole reason I never really exercised unless I was getting my hair done the next day is because of how it would look,” she said.
“With braids, it’s not going to be a problem.”
What hairstyles and products work best for you during physical activities? Email us at yourhealthmatters@stlamerican.com or post your answer on our Facebook page.
Aquatics, anyone?
Swimming is great exercise and has health benefits, too.
However, one of the scariest places a black woman with a protected hairdo can find herself in – is in a swimming pool.
To minimize the opportunity for chlorine build-up, hairdressers recommend wetting your hair completely so that hair strands will be less able to take in chlorinated pool water.
Hair stylists also advise African American women to protect their hair by rubbing in a deep conditioner before a swim.
“It acts as a protectant from the sun as well as the chlorine and salt, depending upon where you are swimming,” said Maria Antoinette, a stylist at Christopher Stevens salon in Downtown St. Louis.
And don’t forget to wear a waterproof swim cap.
Sona, a stylist at Cutting Edge Studio in Florissant, Mo. said, “Shampooing and conditioning hair immediately following a swim with a clarifying shampoo and a conditioner that removes chlorine and other impurities is a must.”
While these steps will not save your hairdo; you will get some exercise that, in the long run, beats looking cute alongside the pool.
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