People come up with excuses for not getting enough exercise all the time, but new research shows that 40 percent of women avoid exercise because they don’t want to mess their hair up.
The study, led by Dr. Amy McMichael from Wake Forest University, revealed that 40 percent of women did not exercise strictly because they didn’t want to ruin their hairdos.
“As an African American woman, I have that problem, and my friends have that problem. So I wondered if my patients had that problem,” Dr. McMichael said.
To find out if women were putting hair above their health, the team surveyed 103 black women who came to the dermatology clinic at Wake Forest University in October 2007.
The study found that that more than half of the women were exercising for less than 75 minutes per week.
The U.S Government recommends 150 minutes.
One in four admitted to doing no exercise at all.
Women who put their hair over their health were three times less likely to meet the recommended amount of exercise.
The findings were published in the Archives of Dermatology on Monday.
McMichael said hair care can be tedious and costly for African American women, with this being a contributing factor to the way many African American women avoid exercise.
The survey only looked at black women so it is not yet known if the issue is shared by all women.
McMichael suggests a hairstyle that permits more physical activity.
“If you don’t have a healthy body then you aren’t going to have any hair to fix,” she said.
Jordan Shepherd | Elite.
