Exercise & Fitness With Coily Hair: Tips & Tricks

COILY HAIR AND EXERCISE: WEIGHT MANGEMENT & HAIR

I vaguely recall the issue of relaxed hair and water. It was a big NO NO! Sucked, because I have a pool. I waited until the weekend to swim. I waited until the weekend to sweat. That only gives me 2 days (which narrowed down to 1 day--not even consistently). That doesn't play well on the body. That spells out a sedentary life.

Now I know better. Even if I was relaxed, I would incorporate wash n go's in there somewhere. That would work best if I only tex-laxed (not relaxed bone straight). I would recommend that to everyone considering to relax their hair. 

How this relates to my unprocessed hair is as follows: For my workout schedule (5x week) of intense cardio that brings with it much sweat, the following is noted:

I love to wear two strand twists (big or small). They allow me to wet my hair as needed. I just don't add any shampoo to it. I co-wash as needed. Problem solved. I can stretch my hair in the evening, and wear it down or bunned or whatever in the morning. 

Braids are a Great Long Lasting Texture for Exercise

When I'm not in 2 strand twists, I can wear my hair loose, and not be afraid to wet it. EVER. Keeping my hair well conditioned allows me the freedom to wet my hair as I please, and not be concerned about dry/tangled/ashy looking hair. Quick textures for loose hair that has been sweat up:

• Braidout
• Twistout
• Bunned up
• Plus More to be discovered!

If you're wearing a wash n go, just pin up your hair (LOOSELY) with a big scrunchy, so as not to disturb (stretch) the coil pattern. Wear a headband to catch the sweat. If you don't plan to rinse the hair, this style can be preserved. 

Moisturized  Braidout Resilience after a WORKOUT


Whatever your hair styling choice, do know that the health and strength of your body trumps all of the hairstyles in the world. I have deemed two strand twists to be my official workout hair texture. It's easily co-washed or rinsed, and then styled. Braids are great too! A quick on-the-go styling is what is needed for freedom to get healthy.

Shorter length hair may pose some creativity. Most importantly, again, well conditioned hair can overcome most styling woe's due to it's elasticity, shine, curl definition, style compliance, and I can go on. Moisture, moisture, moisture. I'm not speaking of leave-in's per se. Proper, effective deep conditioning is a "must". I deep condition weekly for all week effective styling assistance.

Just a quick rave about a topic well deserved.


As Aways,


Stay Beautiful Dahlin'                      ------------tia

Transitioning Hair and Exercise--How To Maintain Your Hair & Your Body!

Transitioning Hair and Exercise Hassle Free

 Transitioning Hair just requires a little creativity. You're working with two totally different textures of hair (as if working with one texture wasn't tricky enough). I decided to work with the curly texture of my hair. Because exercising and sweat would defeat any straight hair styling that I could have done.

Perm Rod Rollers Turn Straight to Curly

 That lead me to thinking.....perm rod rollers (aka cold wave rollers) do a real good job of creating tight frizz free curls that hold for a long time. But you say, "I don't have time to be putting all kinds of rollers on my head 5 times a week"! Well, this ain't that kind of party. I deal with quick, trouble free styling. So here's what I did:

Blended Curls Work Together For Texture

 1) Fifteen minutes prior to my workout, I braided my hair up into 9 to 12 braids (depending on the thickness of your hair and how long thicker braids will take to dry). At this time, pre-poo with oils or conditioner.Yeah, you get the benefit of a pre-poo too!!!

Do Ponytails, Buns, Anything You Want

2) Next, go and work out.

3) KEEPING THE BRAIDS IN....go take a shower. At this time, you can opt to wash with diluted shampoo in a bottle (this will really get to the roots). Diluted, and one that is moisturized, that will yield the best results for a clean palate of hair to style on.Or you can opt to co-wash or just rinse.

4) Condition your braided hair and rinse.

 5) Out of the shower, use a microfiber towel or t-shirt to remove extra water. Spend about 5 minutes squeezing each braid to absorb the water from the braids.

6) Moisturize each braid (do not make it too wet).

 7) Put 1 perm rod roller on the end of each braid (rolling up all of the relaxed hairs onto the natural hair slightly. You can use rolling papers if need be (but I didn't do that most of the time). DO NOT COMB YOUR RELAXED ENDS (even though they came undone). THIS IS A LOW MANIPULATION STYLING TO AVOID BREAKAGE.

8) GOOD NIGHT.

9) In the Morning, remove the perm rod rollers, and carefully undo the braids. Styling and positioning as you undo each braid. Your relaxed ends should be really curly, and your natural roots should be braid out wavy.

10) Now you have a texture with which to Style as desired.

Work With Transitioning Hair to Achieve a Texture Easily Styled

I transitioned for 15 months, and during that time I worked out 5 times a week. I sweat a lot, so I had no option but to wash my hair basically after every workout. Some way, some how I was still able to keep a hairstyle each time. The video below is a step by step tutorial.

SEPTEMBER 2012 UPDATE!!

Hey Beautiful! I Recently Lost My Last STUBBORN 8 Lbs!! 

When the weight started to drop off, I was encouraged to continue my weight loss/toning routine--and document my progress. Want to hear how I lost 8 pounds in 4 weeks? Check out how I simply changed 3 habits and lost 8 pounds safely.