Friday, September 2

Bad hair day

In her efforts to battle the obesity epidemic by encouraging Americans to exercise more, Dr. Regina Benjamin, Surgeon General of the United States was quoted as saying:
“Oftentimes you get women saying, ‘I can’t exercise today because I don’t want to sweat my hair back or get my hair wet,’ ...When you’re starting to exercise, you look for reasons not to, and sometimes the hair is one of those reasons.”

So, first question: Is she right? She's talking about exercise newbies, but have you, dedicated exercisers, ever skipped or postponed a workout for the sake of your hairstyle?

And second question: If this is an "excuse" women are using, does this matter enough to warrant comment by the Surgeon General?

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress

3 comments:

  1. It hasn't been an issue for me, but I have stringy white girl hair that HAS to be washed every day. If I was someone who couldn't wash her hair more often, it might be. Lord knows I've used worse excuses!

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  2. This wasn't a complete excuse for me but a huge consideration and something that took me a long time to work out. It really is an issue for a lot of black women and I believe she was largely referring to that community. Since obesity is a huge problem in the black community (even moreso that other communities) it does warrant comment IMO.

    When I first started running, I had issues because my hair was too short for a ponytail and I couldn't just wash and go. The health of my hair suffered greatly until I figured out something that works. Even that solution is not perfect because I have to wear my hair in a bun 95% of the time. It looks presentable though so I can't complain.

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  3. @Keyalus... I'm sure it's not in the same ballpark, but I have unruly curly hair, and I sweat when I'm walking (on a cool day... with a breeze...) So I threw in the proverbial towel a long time ago and started wearing my hair in a knot... Shower, comb it back wet, tie it in place... forget it until the next workout. Not the most elegant hairstyle, but it works. Now I work from home, so only my cat sees the bad hair days. ;)

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Penny for your thoughts?