Here goes another study telling the world things black women already know about themselves.
According to a new report in the Archives of Dermatology (picked up by Reuters Health), black women exercise significantly less because they don’t want to ruin their crowning glory.
Can we act shocked now?
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The study was conducted by Dr. Amy McMichael, a dermatologist at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
And according to the results, about two of every five African-American women said they avoid exercise because of concerns about their hair, and in turn are lending a hand to United States’ obesity epidemic.
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Dr. Amy McMichael was prompted to begin the study because she wondered if her friends and patients were encountering the same problems as her when it came to sweating out their hair.
“To find out if women were putting hair above their health, the researchers surveyed 103 African-American women who came to the dermatology clinic at Wake Forest University in October 2007.
They found that more than half of the women were exercising for less than 75 minutes per week, which is less than the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ recommendation of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise.
More than a quarter of the women in the new study said they didn’t exercise at all.
About a third of the women said they exercise less than they’d like because of their hair, and half said they have considered changing their hair for exercise.”
Did we think that the black hair care industry became one of the highest ranking overnight for no reason? Black women, white women, all women care about their hair and for some, a fresh wash and set may just take precedence over an hour on the elliptical. (Not for our girl Angela, who can be seen working it out in the gallery above.)
But is this a problem isolated to the black community? Check out the full study here.
SOURCE: Reuters Health
