Comments on: ‘Cause Your Good Hair Is More Important Than Your Health?

By: Lisette

Lisette — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:44:07 +0000

“I see a lot of nice natural styles all the time. But everyone’s hair texture is not the same , so natural hair may not be for everyone, just as chemically straightend hair is not for everyone.”

So which hair textures are appropriate for natural hairstyles? I wear my hair in a buzz cut now, but when it was long and natural, I had several textures. Some of it was curly, some wavy, some cottony/dense/tight (or what other people referred to as “African hair”). Which of these textures is/is not appropriate for natural hairstyles?

By: Lisette

Lisette — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:37:03 +0000

Hallelujah and Amen!

By: Lisette

Lisette — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:34:55 +0000

So sorry, but I can’t co-sign on this one. You don’t have to look a hot mess while you’re working on the transition to natural and working out. I know you said you’ve tried several options, but just keep experimenting to find what’s going to work for you both for working out and keeping up appearances.

For me, it was realizing that my natural hair was waaay too long and thick for me to manage on my own without taking up inordinate amounts of time (in addition to the amount of money I spent on products). My answer? I cut it all off as in military buzz-cut. I’m not saying that’s what you should do because an almost bald head ain’t for everybody. Just do you!

By: Lisette

Lisette — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:25:40 +0000

What do you mean by respectable look for work? Is there a formal or informal code regarding hairstyles at your place of employment? I’m not trying to be funny, but “respectable look” is such a loaded phrase.

I wear my hair in a buzz cut (think military ), hardly what you’d expect of a 41-year old high school English teacher and an adjunct instructor at a Southern Baptist university (some of the most conservative people ever). I still look very feminine when I choose to look that way. My hair is always well-groomed, so to me it always looks appropriate for work.

By: Dee

Dee — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 01:14:21 +0000

I am a Black Girl who has been very heavy my whole childhood and into my adult life. When I first decided to start working out, I had to come up with a mantra “I will not let my hair dictate my health.” I think it’s a motto that more of us should adopt. (BTW, love this blog!)

By: D

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 23:50:30 +0000

Yeah, I don’t think that anyone is saying that all black women only think that they can “look fly” with chemically straight hair. I see a lot of nice natural styles all the time. But everyone’s hair texture is not the same , so natural hair may not be for everyone, just as chemically straightend hair is not for everyone. The point has to be that we stop judging each other either way and not let our hair keep us from being physically active and healthy.

By: tash

tash — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 00:48:30 +0000

I think ity is kind of sad that black women think the only way that they can be fly is with straight hair. I have been natural for 6 years and I know that my do is super duper fly. I get compliments everyday about my hair so I know that natural hair does not have to look unkept. Now if you want to walk around looking loke Buckwheat or Celie from The Color Purple (no judgement) then that is your choice but it is a bit of an insult to fly naturals everywhere to assume that unless your hair is straightened (with chemical worse than anything found at McDonald-no judgement -just saying)then you must walk around with a busted head.

By: Eni

Eni — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:27:57 +0000

I finally…FINALLY…stopped getting press and curls about 3 weeks ago. Now I’m learning how to live with and love my natural curls. The only thing keeping me from working out these days is my schedule, and even that hasn’t deterred me completely. I feel great, and as an added bonus I LOVE my hair this way.

By: Renaye

Renaye — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:24:56 +0000

Wow! Reading this blog and the comments have been great. I wear my hair relaxed and have always cared alot about how my hair looks. Im @ the hair solon regularly and if i dont make it, I have to still wash my hair that week. I spend so much time and money on my hair that im just tired of it. Im in my mid 30s and enough is enough. I actually think I had a little meltdown over my hair this past summer..lol. I love working out and need to loose a few pounds, but I have slacked off because of the hair issue. Its RIDICULOUS! I was actually discussing this with my hairstylist this morning and came home to do research on what other black women are saying. I am going to start the walking more and not being so consumed with my hair. Besides the benefit of losing weight, I actually love the emotional benefits I get from working out. I starting TODAY!!! We can do it…..

By: Rahab

Rahab — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 23:24:06 +0000

@ one head at a time, grl you ain’t lying. I am natural with a twa and can’t stand all the stuff they tell us to use or buy for our hair. Ugh, deep conditioning for hours, good riddance. I am not about to do that. But I must say when I first big chopped exercising was fun. I didn’t have to worry about messing up my hair. Now I have fallen off the wagon and will be starting again, I am making my grocery list now. But with all the things I have to think about I am not stressing about my hair for once.

By: One Head At A Time

One Head At A Time — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 04:03:49 +0000

How true with the time spent on getting relaxed hair to “look right”. But “naturals” are suffering from the same fate. Now I’m sorry, call me lazy if you want to but unless I’m sick and can’t go outside or doing housework for hours on end, I don’t want to be stuck indoors with some deep conditioner on my head for 3-4hrs. No other race of women do that on the regular. They have all found ways to modify their daily beauty routines so they aren’t spending 2-4hrs twisitng their hair at night to make some style by morning. I hate spending time on my hair. I see white, latino and asian friends/women and little girls wash their hair almost every morning, condition it and blow dry it a little and fly out the door and wait for it to air dry into the style their monthly visit to the salon has cut it in. And that my friends is how I’m trying to live. And it’s not that our hair can’t do that because it will matt or tangle or whatever, it’s that we met the world hating all things about us and so we are not comfortable loving ourselves in the way God made us. But if I think when you show love/respect for something natural, the world will follow along and love it too. Sure, get a color, get a hair cut but that’s once a month or touching up greys at home every two weeks not every night with those hours upon hours all on my natural hair, not for me. And I don’t want to create natural styles that simply mimic what society deems acceptable like me fashioning my natural to look like naturally straight hairstyles or to mimic the loose curls of say a latina – also deemed more acceptable than our natural kinky hair.

We all need to accept African hair the way it comes out of African heads, just the way every one else’s comes out of theirs. It’s not controversy. It’s normal.

By: Kim

Kim — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 06:46:16 +0000

Ok. I struggle with staying “on it” I’ll walk for a few days and then lose motivation. But at 218lbs, I NEED to do something!

By: Tiera

Tiera — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:42:55 +0000

If we are so hung up on how we look physically, then why wouldn’t we want to be physically fit? Now I have long pushed the “physical attractiveness” as a reason to exercise to the back of the bus, however, many of us primarily exercise to look good. The majority of us want to look good for a man. A man is likely going to look at a woman’s overall appearance to determine how attractive she is rather than just looking at her hair. A man is not gonna say (to himself) “I don’t date big women but her hair is laid! Lemme go talk to her!” He is gonna look at her overall frame. If her hair looks good but her body doesn’t, he’s gonna pass. Not saying that we should not care for our hair, but we could stop using “men” as an excuse to get our hair done. Like I said, hair is a part of the physical. So is a fit and sleek body. To get a fit and sleek body, you need proper diet and exercise. So if your reason for getting your hair done is to “look good,” then don’t forget the other factors that contribute to that. Now some men do like “voluptuous” women and that would be another story.

By: Erika Nicole Kendall

Erika Nicole Kendall — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:27:14 +0000

Walking and changing my eating habits at the same time. Mind you, I was still 300lbs at this time, and ANY activity would’ve made it easy to lose that weight if you’re eating correctly when you weigh that much.

By: Kim

Kim — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 03:43:06 +0000

Did you say 18lbs in one month through walking? How? I’m trying to get in to a walking routine but my eating still leaves much to be desired. Did you do both (eating differently and walking) or just walking in that month?

By: Eni

Eni — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 00:03:24 +0000

This has been a huge issue for me for quite a while. I’m in college, not overweight but I want to lose some, and I exercise sporadically (i.e. during school I go to the gym for 1.5-2 hours once every 2 weeks on the mornings before I go to the salon; this summer I’m definitely exercising more than that though). I asked a personal trainer at my old church for some advice once, and she just told me that I would probably have to choose between keeping my hair the way it is (fairly long, natural, press & curl) and getting in shape. But I guess I’m stubborn and I’m not ready to make that choice. I’m currently trying to strike a balance and make beneficial changes on both sides of the equation. If that means looking like a hot mess until my next hair appointment to get a few more workouts in, I think I’m ready to do that, as long as all my hair doesn’t break off in the process.

Also, I love this blog so much. My friend told me about it on Facebook not too long ago.

By: Terri

Terri — Sat, 14 May 2011 03:29:31 +0000

I must admit this used to be me up until about a month ago. Once I got my hair done I didn’t want to sweat it out. Now, I’ve been walking 30-60 minutes a day at least 5 days a week. I had to realize in order to get the shape I want I’m gonna have to sweat. I was looking at your post Erika of how you lost 18lbs in one month walking 30 min. a day. Did you cut out processed foods during this time also? I think the biggest thing for me is controlling what I eat. Thanks for all of your articles…esp. the one on high fructose corn syrup! I’m starting to pay more attention to the ingredients in the foods I eat.

By: Carla

Carla — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 20:21:44 +0000

I don’t understand why this was posed as an either/or proposition. My relaxed hair and manicured hands/feet to don’t prevent me from hauling my butt out to the track. I want to look good… there are some hot guys out there! The same women who use their hairdo as an excuse not to exercise wouldn’t dream of letting that keep them off the dance floor!

By: Andrea

Andrea — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 07:44:23 +0000

This story is soooo true! I am a second year college student and in my first semester of my second year I told myself that I would work out more often. WRONG! LOL One of struggles that black girls have already with being in a rural big college town is the lack of resources to do our hair. I couldn’t just go to the salon every other week like I did at home. So when I did my hair on Sunday to look good for the rest of the week I avoided working out because I’m not only here to earn a degree in my major but get an M.R.S degree LOL! It was not until this semester that I realized that I was so determined to get rid of this excess weight that I don’t care how messy my hair looks! So if it means that I have to wear a hat everywhere after that hour workout, that’s what it’s gone be!

By: Ebonie B

Ebonie B — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 02:09:29 +0000

Wow, those were so harsh words, but necessary ones. I have grappled with this issue for quite a while and I have come to the conclusion that I have to do what I have to do. In a perfect world, black women would be able to work out, like our non-black sisters and not have to worry about our hair looking a hot mess afterwards, or have it take us half a day to get our hair to look half-way decent. This however is not a perfect world and this is a real issue that we face. Even though I do not let this stop me on my continued quest to lose weight, it is still an added burden to our mission. I’ve done almost everything. Braids, kinky twists, a regular ponytail, a whip-action(draw string) pony tail. I am one who rarely spends money to get her hair done at the hair dressers, because a girl doesn’t have it like that, so it’s all on me to come out looking halfway decent. Somethings worked well and something didn’t, but I tell you this, it has ravaged my hair, so now, I just let it go where it may and try to tame this thick birds nest as best I can. We as women of color are going to have to look a hot mess for a while in order to reach our health goal, and I sure have sacrificed a whole lot of beauty to get where I need to go, but I am halfway there. I swear if you guys would have seen me three weeks ago when I decided to transition to natural, you would have told me to never leave the house, but hey, what can you do? Let’s just give up the fight with our hair win this battle for our health…..who’s with me?