Black Women, Hair Care & Exercise: Tips & Tricks

What is a good strategy that we can practice so again, like the deodorant it's going to help to preventatively absorb the moisture as it comes out today. I have with me dr mary branch, who is a cardiology fellow in north carolina. She was raised in ohio and educated in new england, and she has an interest in heart disease in cancer patients specifically focus on health equity in the field and to prioritize her own health. She has spent a lot of time understanding how to manage her own beautifully complex roots and nadiya. Salahudeen has been in the hair industry for about 10 years. In that time, she's worked with several professional hair care brands in the area of education, product testing and brand development, and currently nadia is a stylist and salon co-owner of the main loft in cliffside park, new jersey. So welcome guys thanks for coming on. Thank you for having us all right, let's jump right in so we all know, exercise is healthy and we're supposed to be doing it three days a week, but you know sometimes hair is a limitation. So what are some of the biggest challenges that you see? Black women facing with working out and their hair, i think that's an excellent question and thank you for asking it um, i think, for african-american women. You know i can only speak from my experience, but i you know. I'Ve talked with lots of friends and colleagues and kind of got a sense of what some of the barriers are for us, and you know one thing is, we may be very busy at our jobs and even when we're not at work, we have other responsibilities either. Kids, you know if you're on you know the pta or you're part of committees or you're helping with your parents. You know you feel sort of obligated to be constantly working and helping other folks, whether you're getting paid for it or not, and you often may feel a little bit of guilt. If you take some time for yourself - and i think you know scheduling, an exercise - may be one of those things that we may not add into our schedule, because there's so many things that we're trying to to do and accomplish um and then on top of that, You know beauty and representation. Um is something that we're very in tune to um, and so it can be difficult to kind of have our hair uh straight together, and you know it's accepted and in the workplace. Um - and you know also stay healthy because it takes when you're exercising you're sweating a lot and that can kind of change the the dynamic of your hair, and so that takes extra planning and time that we uh often don't have so just to tack. On to um something important that mary brought up, i find that the biggest issue when it when i'm speaking with clients in regards to their hair care - and you know i want to go to the gym. But you have to go to work afterwards or they have an event or whatever the case may be. It'S usually the issue of um. What'S presentable in the workplace, um yeah, so you know it wouldn't be such an issue. If, if women could just go to the gym, sweat out their hair, wet it and wear it, curly or natural in its natural state and a lot of women are doing that now it's becoming a little bit more popular and acceptable. But i think the bigger issue is the fact that a lot of women don't feel like it's acceptable and don't feel comfortable because they don't want to be subjected to the questioning and the you know. The curiosity and the like, you know unnecessary attention on their hair. When they're going to work to focus on other things, so you know, i think that the reason that it is such an issue is because natural hair still is not accepted as a professional look in the workplace. Absolutely i was even thinking about myself and i remember when i was really working out the most. I would do it at the end of my day, because i actually i swept a ton like literally after in one hour just lifting weights, not even doing cardio. You can bring my hair out, it's so wet um and so doing that, like you said in the morning and then trying to go to work. Basically, i'm obligating myself to a ponytail at that point, because there's no way at six a.m: you're gon na be able to do anything with it. So i guess that's the thing i want to get from you guys like what are some tips that you give women on how to work around that, because for me i just decided to work out at the end of the day and then just figure it out At that point um, but that doesn't work for everybody. Some people have children or they have evening obligations or they work at night right and so their schedule is off. So what what can you do if you can't put exercise at the end of your day? So i one of the things that i first and foremost tell every client is to push the barrier a little bit, first of all and just feel comfortable in your natural hair, because realistically, if you want to cut down on your time, you know something like a Twist out - or you know, a natural style with your hair in its natural state versus straightening, it is the healthier route for your hair and um there's nothing wrong with it. It'S just that we've been put into this box to think that there is something wrong with it. So, first and foremost i always tell women. You know i'm going to give you some other tips, but understand that this is your hair. It wants to live this way. So the best thing to do is to let it live the way that it wants to live um with. That being said, it's not always that easy to just be like okay. Well, i'm gon na go for it today, um, so there's definitely a bunch of tips that i give them on how to maintain. Like a straighter look while in the gym, i can give you like just a quick kind of overview of what to do um. So when you think about the hair getting wet because that's what happens at the gym getting wet and then you need it to be immediately dry and smooth. I always try to give people like the science behind things um, so that it makes a little bit more sense, and you can almost think through it on your own, without having to ask me if you're, like alone and in a panic um. So, for me, the science behind it is like think about. When you put your hair on a roller, you want to stretch the hair and smooth it around the roller while it's wet and then let it dry and cool down before you take it off of the roller and that's how you're going to mold it into its Shape so when you work out in the gym, it's basically the same principle you're going to you want to set your hair. However, you want it molded, while you're working out and it's getting wet and then once it's completely dried and cooled down, then you can take out that set whatever it may be. So the set may be something as simple as a very tight ponytail, with maybe like a creaseless band so that you don't get the indentation um but you're, essentially using your head as like a roller to hold it firmly against your head and then once you let It down your ends are still intact because we're going to tuck those under like a roller, and this is all smooth against your head, also like a roller. So i'm not sure if that makes sense, but basically the principle of wet hair. Let it dry and cool down before you take it out of its shape, um and then, if you need, you can also use a silk scarf to to help to maintain and avoid any frizz i'll speak on kind of what i've been doing. I don't know if it's the most healthiest, i might be in trouble, but you know being in a cardiology fellowship often we have to be there at 7 00 a.m and it's very very intense. It'S mostly men, mostly caucasian males and i'm the first actually african-american female. In my program, so you know the first thing that i had to do. You know it's hard enough to try to when you get into an environment, there's a little bit of you that tries to assimilate just so that you're not standing out because you're already standing out by being who you are, and that adds more of a distraction and You'Re really just trying to learn the craft as opposed to deal with. You know, confusion of being different, so um. The first thing i did was, i just said you know i'm just going to need a protective style for like months, because i just don't have the time to you know, exercise work out be in this field and then think about you know, make a strategy for My hair, because i knew that i wanted to make a real strategy. I knew i kind of wanted to grow up, grow out my relaxer and really just embrace my natural hair and a lot of that came out of having a daughter, um and seeing her, and i didn't want to relax her hair and i said well, you know, If i'm not going to do it to her, i should start to really appreciate my own hair at this point. So what i've done since i started is done. Sew ends for every three months. With this they do say. You should give your hair some time to kind of breathe a little bit um, but the kind of interruption will add a little bit. You know confusion, but as i move further and further along and get more and more seniority um, i worry about it less and less, because i know that my work speaks for itself and i'm at a point where i don't need to have to explain things and If it's different, hey, you know it's different today, let's keep it moving. You know who i am. You know why i'm here. So let's go back to the the concept that nadia you were saying about. Straightening, the the hair around the roller using your head as a roller, does that work for both natural and relaxed hair, or are there different tips for natural hair, fully natural versus fully relaxed? So that's something that would work for natural hair. That is straightened. So that's really, if you want to maintain straightness, if you are, if you are somebody, that's embraced the natural curly hair not straightened out at all, then what i would recommend it's a little bit easier, then right because um, the only challenge is wetting your hair and Cleaning it so there's different options: um if you're working out, let's say you're at the end of your your three workouts per week, and at this point it's sweaty and gross, and you have to wash it so then i would say: go for it wash it um Use your your normal products that you're using day to day um the only thing that's a little tricky is a lot of women, don't feel comfortable in just what we call a wash and go, which is just wetting your hair and wearing it naturally curly a lot Of women feel like they still need to manipulate the curl into like a twist out or something like that, and that's just not a quick process. So usually, if, if i have someone like that, that prefers like a twist out or something that's going to be more time consuming, i would say, hold off until the weekend um. But if you're going to work throughout the week, you can use things to refresh your hair like a dry shampoo or a dry conditioner um. One of the product lines that we use in the salon is the amica brand. They actually have it's very rare to find, for some reason, a dry conditioner um. The for some reason, in my opinion is. I do think that natural hair girls probably seem to find a little bit more value in the dry conditioner and a lot of times. The hair care brands don't realize or acknowledge that, so they end up cutting it out. So basically, what the two are is a dry shampoo is going to be used at your root to absorb. It'S almost like a deodorant to absorb absorb the moisture and give you a cleaner feel. It'S not actually cleaning your hair. It'S almost like what a powder does to sweat it absorbs and then the dry conditioner is for your ends. That may be a little dryer and brittle from maybe the salt content of the sweat or the dryness of the winter air. When you're working out it's just going to re-moisturize and rehydrate your ends. So a lot of people that are not natural, don't necessarily need the hydration, because their hair is naturally oil. So i think a lot of times. Companies don't see the value in a dry conditioner and they cut it out, but it is a really really great and valuable product. So it definitely if you're, wearing your hair curly in its natural state. You need to maintain it throughout the week before you get to the weekend. I would say those are two must-haves in your gym bag, um, and that goes on after you finish working out, or do you put the dry shampoo on kind of pro like preventatively? So you can actually do both um again like the deodorant it's gon na help to preventatively absorb the moisture as it comes out, but afterwards the good thing is also the amica products have a great fragrance, so you're gon na get that, and they also make a Um, a um hair perfume. So if you just wanted it for that, also it's great um, but i i usually do it afterwards to absorb whatever's, come out like the sweat and oils that have come out and that are unwanted and causing heaviness or even like you. Don'T want odor, obviously, if you're going to work and then the spray on the ends to remoisturize and hydrate. If you're someone that's extremely dry, you can even go for an actual oil rather than the condition spray um and then just in reference to a relaxer. A relaxer is a little less challenging just because the hair is already straight chemically, so you won't have to work at um fighting the reversion, because that's the real issue with natural hair is when we try to fight the reversion. So when it's a relaxer, the kind of roller concept that i mentioned before is perfect and you should be able to just take your hair down. Maybe use the dry shampoo if it's gotten a little bit too heavy, and you can also use the dry conditioner. If maybe like some of the sweat transferred into the ends, so i think for either purpose it's a little different, but i think both those products are good for both uh relaxed and natural. Those are those are really good tips that i had. I actually had never thought about um and nadia. Real quick does amica make a dry conditioner or where can we find a dry dry, conditioner yeah? So amica is the brand that i use for dry shampoo and dry conditioner. Both okay got it all right and dr branch. What are some of the tips that you tell your patients? Obviously you're, dealing with the heart and heart health all the time and advising your patients on how to you know remain healthy so that they can live. You know fruitful lives and not be sad. You know saddled by heart conditions and things like that. So what type of tips are you giving your patients that are coming to you and that's a great question? You know, i think everything is about strategy and about you know the utility of being able to uh practice the guidelines that are recommended. I think medications, do you know well um. Certainly they have their um mortality benefits, but you know the best way to to prevent disease to treat diseases to prevent it, and so i really hone in on the strategies for folks on eating well and exercise so um for us african-american women specifically um. I talk about you know what is a good strategy that we can um practice. So i think one thing and nadia touched on this is kind of planning, your day-to-day style um and your weekend style. So um. If you are planning on your exercise, you say: okay, i'm gon na. Do i'm gon na exercise three times a week. I'M gon na get sweaty three times a week and then maybe do lighter exercises in between then on those three days. You may do your updo style, your style, that's very simple that will just kind of um you'll be able to set and let it go like a um right and then on your non-exercise days. You can plan it where okay, now, i'm gon na you know roll or dry it these days um, i know not putting a lot of heat on. It is important to really limiting those days where you're putting on lots of heat and then your weekends, when you're ready to go out and have a good time. I went to an all-women's college, so usually the weekend is when we, you know that's when we really dressed up and did our thing, but during the week is when we were just very focused, and we weren't too too into what we were looking like. It was really about um the the what we had to accomplish. So i think that's you know a good way to coach. Um patients and friends is really just come up with your strategy. Have your days where you're gon na sweat it out and exercise and just plan, it kind of have a journal, a diary and use that as your guide. So you don't have to think too much the less you have to think each day, the better! So you can just focus on what you need to do. So if you have a plan, you work out with your stylist, and this is what inspired me is talking to different stylists um, shout out to gia in durham and sparkles and charlotte, who helped me kind of come up with these sort of different tips as well. So it's all about strategy, just kind of coming up with what works for you and then um sort of going from there awesome and so another question. So you know i imagine that black women that are watching this are starting to think about this. Is this something they should talk to their doctors about um, and do you think that black women are talking to their doctors? About this to say, look i know you keep telling me to work out. Maybe i need to lose five pounds, or maybe i need to do it for my heart, health um. Are they being honest with their doctors? So i think, even as a hair stylist, i do tell my clients, often when they come to me with certain things that they have to remember, that hair is a byproduct of your body. So you do need to talk to your doctor. If you notice something different about your hair um or even if you want hair care tips, i'm you know, i think, as a stylist, we have to be aware of the fact that we can't people come in with issues with their hair sometimes, but we can't solve Every issue, because hair is a part of your body and sometimes you do need to be referred to a doctor um. I never discourage women from working out because they want to preserve their hair. I might um, like dr branch mentioned. Um suggest uh planning accordingly um, but i i mentioned to you earlier teice that i have a fiance that owns a gym so, like i don't tell women not to go to the gym. I understand the value of fitness um, so you definitely should uh make sure that you're working out but plan accordingly, and you really have to have a relationship with your hair stylist and if that means setting, you know, maybe three appointments in advance, so that you know That my month is planned out, then that's what you have to do. Yes, absolutely um, but i think you know i think we are um. At least patients that i um interact with um. I haven't heard anyone ask or sort of talk about hair and the importance of it in terms of being a barrier for exercise um. I think um, it's just one of those things that we all kind of know, but don't talk about um, and i you know, if you have a lot of you know, especially in cardiology, not a lot of physicians, look like them, and so they may feel timid And they just want to say: okay, okay, yes i'll, do all these things just to kind of get out of the visit um as opposed to the visit really being something where you're really trying to accomplish something. It'S just okay! What you know i'm here, because someone told me to be here and let's kind of get through it, so i think it's it helps to kind of build that relationship as physicians and for us to sort of counsel. Our colleagues about maybe ask a little bit more dig a little bit deeper about why folks are struggling with weight loss. I agree, and so one thing i didn't well dr branchi mentioned sew ends really briefly um, but we haven't really talked a lot about that. As an option or a tip as well as braids things like that, all right pros cons is that a solution to folks that are working out. What do you guys think? I think that it can be a solution um, so a lot of women tend to go towards braids when they know that they're gon na maybe they're, on, like a weight loss journey right now in life and so they'll go towards braids because they know they're gon Na be sweating heavily, i think that's a great option, um as long as you're comfortable again, it goes back to women's level of comfort in the workplace and what they feel like they can and cannot get away with wearing um. So a lot of women resort to weaves um, which is my specialty. Actually, so i love it, but i still always say that i i give women weaves to make them feel good about themselves and to enhance their look. But i want people, women, black women, specifically not to forget who they are, and you should still feel comfortable in your own hair. A weave is a good solution as long as you keep in check that this is just something to enhance myself. This is not who i am um so yeah. It helps to protect the hair. A sew-in helps to protect the hair. The main thing is, you need to make sure that it's being shampooed correctly, because if the base doesn't get dried completely, then it can have adverse effects um, because you don't want to leave wet hair sitting under a weave um. So there's i mean so many different options: there's weaves, there's braids, there's clip-ins wigs are a great solution, um, but then i think that the other issue that kind of comes up is these are really costly options a lot of times. So it's a little frustrating because you know you look at your colleagues that can kind of just come to work without spending a dime on their hair if they wanted to, and black women are investing five five six depends where you are hundreds of dollars a month On their hair um, and it can be a little frustrating, i understand it even as a stylist who's benefiting off of it. I understand that it's frustrating i feel like whenever we talk about health. Whenever we talk about weight loss journeys, whenever we talk about eating healthy, there's, always cost right. There'S food deserts. There'S it costs more money to get fresh foods than it does to go run through the drive-through at a fast food place where everything's two for two for a dollar, and it's like now, hair too right, it's like well! If i want to be able to work out and be healthy, you have to factor that in as well, because maybe you can stretch your hairstyle for a week or two weeks, if you're not working out, but now that you're working out three days a week. Now you have to, like you, said, plan ahead and have more frequent appointments, so i i hadn't really thought about it like that from a cost standpoint too, but it seems to kind of fall in line with all these other things that we have to think about. When we're thinking about staying healthy, dr branch, did you have something? No, i you know, i think all those points are are um extremely well taken. One is for the weight loss journey, so you know there are times where i just said. I really need to lose. You know after the baby, 30 pounds, 40 pounds and so um definitely a protective style. During that period i still did the sew-in, but you know i think, braids during that time. You'Re really just focusing on your weight loss and then maybe going back to your different styles or natural hair when you're done with that sort of journey and you're just doing your kind of maintenance, um keeping your weight down, i think, is important, but you know, as I think about it not to be funny, but you know who are we trying to impress? I guess i mean i think uh what's most beautiful about us, is our confidence and our ability to uh multitask and be you know, um, just um, talented and um. You know just very well received, and so i think um. If we focus more on that confidence and about our abilities and our brands, i think it will all come together. Um and our hair will will kind of fall in line with us, but i think we should put our confidence at the forefront, um, and so you know we may spend a little bit less time on it, but i think we'll become more attractive because of that Confidence so um, you know, i just think who am i working so hard to impress um, no one once i think about that. I think about who's. More important is me um, and so, if i'm just having a bad hair day today, i just am. But you know one thing: i'm going to be doing is taking good care of patients and you know being part of my research committees and doing what i need to do and that confidence is what makes me more attractive. I think i've got more attention. You know for my husband now they're more confident i could do all the styles, some different sides of my hair and i may not get you know as much attention, but when i'm really just honed into myself, that's where it comes from. So i think that's where the the value we should be putting into is into our own confidence as opposed to, but certainly going to see our stylists as well, but just maybe thinking about sort of that cost and that confidence as well. Adding that to the value of our appearance, i think that's a great way to close us out. Actually i love that and um. So thank you both of you guys for joining me today. Thank you to those at home that are watching um. All of the links, uh resources related to today's topic will be right underneath this video, you guys, can check those out and please subscribe to get more black america's health episodes and you guys have a wonderful day. Thank you. Thank you.