I thought I'd take this time to write about my hair. What does my hair have to do with a blog about my workout journey? Oh, plenty... trust me. One of the things that keeps many black women from exercising as much as they should exercise is the whole hair issue. When we pay $70, $80, even $100 to get our hair done, the last thing most of us want to do is ruin it immediately with a workout. I go to the hair salon and get my natural hair pressed every other Thursday. I generally pay about $70-$90 depending on what she's doing that day. Sounds like a lot of money, but for me, it's worth it to keep my hair healthy.
Once I started REALLY working out... okay, hold on... let me tell you what I mean by REALLY working out...
For years, I just thought I wasn't a "sweater" as in "a person who sweats"... my mom doesn't really sweat... Kimberly didn't really sweat... neither did I. I'd get on the treadmill at the gym and start walking for an hour, and all I'd get was a bit of dew on my forehead. So the whole hair thing wasn't a big deal for me, because I didn't sweat in my head.
Okay, back to the story... once I started REALLY working out I realized that I do INDEED sweat... and I sweat a lot. Obviously, something changed in me, or I just wasn't working out hard enough (which was probably the case.) Now, I sweat everywhere when I exercise... including my head. Therein lies the problem. On Thursday Hair Day when I go get my hair pressed, it is straight from the roots to the ends. As soon as I workout, my roots get wet from sweat and curl up. This is why many black women are reluctant to workout out for at least a few days after they get their hair done. When I started working out as a part of my lifestyle, I had to accept that my straight roots would last a day... two at the most, because I wouldn't be one of those women who let my hair keep me from having the healthy, in-shape body I so greatly want & deserve to inhabit.
Hair is done Thursday evening... it's generally curly in the roots some time on Friday... or at least by Saturday morning when I go to bootcamp. I pull it into a ponytail & tie it down with a scarf while I workout. I try to let it dry in the ponytail to minimize the wave, but generally, all of Desiree's hard work is gone by that Sunday. I'm cool with that. The picture up top is what it looks like when Desiree, my hair doctor (that's what I like to call her), does my hair.
After about a week, I wash it myself & either wear it with conditioner in it like so...
Deanna & I... "Wet & Go"
...or I wash it, put it in a bunch of little braids/plaits, and sit under the dryer. Once it dries, I undo it & go. This is what it looks like...
I have this big plan to kick up the workouts a notch this summer... so I'm going to try something new with my hair soon... stay tuned for another post... until then, I'll keep on sweating my hair out & dealing with it...
