A third of African-American women cite hair care and maintenance issues as the reason they do not exercise or exercise less, states study published in Archives of Dermatology.
![Hair Care Issues Deter African-American Women from Exercising: Study Hair Care Issues Deter African-American Women from Exercising: Study](https://images.medindia.net/health-images/1200_1000/african-american-woman.jpg)
"I treat a lot of African-American women in our clinic and had noticed how many of them are overweight, and I wanted to know why," she said. "I'm treating them for dermatology related issues, but as a doctor this was even more concerning because excess weight puts these women at risk for hypertension, diabetes and other serious problems."
For the study, 103 African-American women ranging in age from 21 to 60 - with a mean age of 42.3 - participated by filling out a 40-question survey that asked about physical activity, hair care and maintenance, hair and scalp concerns. Questions were specific: how much and what types of exercise they do, and the time, expense and complications of caring for their hair. All of the respondents believed it was important for them to exercise but 40 percent reported avoiding exercise at times due to hair-related issues. Half of them said they had modified their hairstyle to accommodate exercise
Because many African American women with coarser hair use either heat straighteners or chemical products to straighten their hair - a time consuming process - they can't just easily wash their hair after exercise because of its fragility, McMichael said.
"Overwashing fragile hair can make it break off easily," McMichael said.
McMichael and colleagues began this research several years ago and presented early findings in a 2007 poster presentation at the annual International Symposium of the L'Oréal Institute for Ethnic Hair & Skin Research.
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Source-Newswise