PLEASE HELP!!!

It is soooo very sad when you have to choose between your hair and your body.

A quick overview of my hair journey: As a child I was natural and received a press every now and then. I then transitioned to the creamy crack (relaxers). After damage and heartbreak I decided 4 years ago to make the chop and cut my hair into a nice bob.  I got it pressed every 2 weeks.

I tried all natural shortly thereafter and realized that natural styles in the salon did not save me money or time, so again I am getting my hair pressed every 2 weeks.

Herein lies my problem. I am desperately trying to loose weight. I am off to a good start, but the idea of sweating out my hair stops me from exercising like I should.  I need inexpensive natural styles that will allow me to workout and still have a nice style when I am finished. I do not want braids year round.

Any advice is welcomed Ü 

BTW I have tried two strand twists, roller sets and straw sets (each are from 65-85 a pop and take at least 3 hours)

~REGAL

Hi, I'm natural too and I have alot of hair.  This is a stylie you can do on your own.  It's a funky braid out do..I just started this recently, and I do it twice a week but you can do it less.

First, wash hair

add moisturizer

Put in braids while hair is damp ( I do about 15 braids)

Next day take down braids...seperate each strand until it get a crinkly  fuzzy affect.   

Then I part my hair in the middle, add 2 clamps and push the rest back with a pantyhose or brastrap band.  Very funky and cute and I get lots of compliments on it. I work out alot and I do this often.

This week I am wearing twists, but I'll start the twistout thing again...I believe the twistout will last longer than what I wear it.

THANK YOU!!!!

That is a great idea! What moisturizer should I try. Should I use a leave in conditoner or gel?

The problem that I have with twists is that I have a good 4 to 5 inches of natural spongy hair with 2 to 3 inches of straight hair at the ends. If I two-strand twist my own hair (w/ out additional hair) the ends look horrible.

How would I do a twistout? Oh and have you tried a roller set without a bonnet dryer?

I haven't tried a roller set yet.  You could do a twist out, you could pin the ends up into a style or you can add rollers to the ends so they can get curly/coily and blend in more.

I think you can use whatever moisturizer you like as long as you do it on damp hair and take it down when it is completely dry it should work. Try to use products that you KNOW will not make your hair crispy.

Hi, I'm relaxed but I work-out everyweek and I use to hate my hair sweating out. I tried the braid-out and really enjoyed it. It holds up very nicely as well.

Is it even possible to have a workout regimen and still relax your hair? I've tried going natural for about a year. It was a nightmare : time-consuming, hard to manage, expensive (I live in Canada and a lot of hairstylists don't even want to deal with it because it's a lot of work and they lose customers in the meantime.). And to be perfectly honest, I just don't like the kinky look.  I work out 3 to 4 times a week and I sweat a lot. After my workout, my hair and scalp is drenched. It's so frustrating because I found the perfect, most flattering, short cut after a lot of trial and error. It's sort of flippy and disheveled, vibrant red colour.  All I have to do in the morning is play with it with my fingers, dab on some molding mud to spike it and go. It's fairly low-maintenance... until I hit the treadmill and then it all goes to hell ! I notice that this issue of exercise and hair is not addressed a lot in black hair forums. Even the hairstylists I have gone to don't know what to say to me. Why is that? Am I condemned to choose between my hair and my exercise regimen? Does anyone have any tricks, products, anything?