So the question is…how in the world can I exercise successfully as a black woman without ruining my hair?  Can I truly lose weight or tone up without messing things up?

I believe the answer to this is a definite YES.

Moisture:  Black Hair’s Most Wanted

While I do not profess to be an expert on hair, I at least know some about the struggle from my wife.  Public enemy #1 for a black woman’s hair is moisture.  It can reduce a big, puffy afro to it’s mini-me counterpart, and can frizz up the best of well fashioned hairdos.

If you are a black woman trying to take care of yourself, this can put you in somewhat of a quandry…because exercise makes you sweat.  Therefore, you are seemingly forced to choose between two undesirable choices:

1. You keep your hair looking nice, but you’re out of shape
2. You are fit, but sad because you cannot keep your hair nice (without having to pay for it all of the time) because you continually sweat it out

The Plan for Nice Hair and a Fit Body

You can relax now though, because I have great news for you:  There IS a way to maintain your hair and to stay in good shape.  Before I explain, here is the main idea of what you can do:

• Walk for exercise
• Lift light to moderate weights
• Rest adequately between sets and exercises

This way, you will get the best workout possible without sweating much (or at all).

• Walk.  Walking has often been described as the best exercise there is.  Almost anyone can do it, regardless of fitness level.  And to note, unless you are power walking, you can actually do it without sweating much.  One may ask, “how can you burn calories effectively without sweating when you walk?”  Well, look at it this way.  You burn calories in your sleep, and anything more vigorous than sleep will burn more calories than what is burned during sleep.  Here is the key though…because you are moving slower, the “secret” is to increase the duration and the frequency of your walks (how long you walk).  Intensity is not the only variable that you can adjust with exercise.  You can also consider walking before the sun rises or after it sets, to help you protect your locks from sweat.
• Lift light to moderate weights.  The heavier you lift, the more taxing it is on your body and the more likely you will start popping out sweat beads.  Therefore, choose a weight to lift that you can just “feel,” and do not go much heavier than that.  For example, you might lift a weight 10 times that you are really capable of lifting 20 times.  Now, the downside is that heavier weights are more beneficial in regards to helping you preserve and build muscle and increase your strength, but some lifting is better than none at all.
• Rest between sets and exercises.  When strength training, be sure to extend your rest between sets to keep sweat at bay.  I would say 2-3 minutes between sets and exercises, or enough for your breathing to totally return to normal.  The shorter your rest is, the more sustained your higher heart rate is, and with that, the higher the likelihood of you breaking out into a sweat.  Again, shorter rest between sets can be great for your health, but if you are trying to preserve your hairdo, longer rest will not be a bad thing.

To conclude, I encourage you to not be afraid to sweat it out sometimes.  Sweating can make exercise a good bit more beneficial by the detoxification effect, as well as the fact that your heart is working harder and can become stronger as a result.  That said, you no longer have hair maintenance as an excuse to not exercise.  🙂