I was cruising the Nappturality boards when I came across a link to Bella Sugar where there was a entry containing this video:

After getting over my shock that this topic was added to a seeming Caucasian centered beauty E-mag, I watched the video and it interesting… in a backwards sort of way.  Originally broadcast in May, according to a “study“, as reported by Chicago newscaster Robin Robinson who “ethnic’ed up” her hair for this particular segment, one-third of African-American woman seem to shy away from working out, because to them keeping salon fresh hair trumps hitting the gym.  The women interviewed, all of which sported natural hair do’s, agreed with the findings of this study, citing a reluctance to work out during the week when their hair was “relaxed” or they wore straight styles because of all the time it took to get their tresses together to return to work.

Because I work from home and I don’t work out any more now than I did when I relaxed my hair, I see this theory as kind of bogus.  While I realize hair is important in the African-American community, specifically when it come to women, I find it silly to think that beauty means more than health.  One-third is a low percent, but still… have be bought the lie that tough?

Of coarse I am biased in my opinion, considering I haven’t seen the inside of a gym in well over twenty years and I don’t have boardroom hair issues.  If anything, and Naturally_Flyy and I were just discussing this on Twitter the other day, transitioning to healthier hair  has inspired me to start living a healthy lifestyle, but  that was not impeded by my hair before.  My mind just wasn’t on such matters.

So I pose the question to all of you.  If you are an African-American woman and relax your hair, do you stray away from working out and living a healthier lifestyle in order to keep your style?  If you are an African-American woman and wear your hair natural, (not including braided or loc’ed) does the fact that you can either wash and go or twist and bounce encourage you two work out more?  In short, no matter how you wear your hair, does it dictate just how you live your life, socially, professionally and health wise?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Healthy Hair Wishes,