Newsflash! Study Says Black Women Aren't Exercising Because Of Their Hair

New study offers scientific data on what most have known for generations.

A new study published this week in the Archives of Dermatology is saying that 2 out of 5 African American women avoid exercising because they don't want to mess up their hair. 

In other news, water is still wet.

The study was led by Dr. Amy McMichael, a dermatologist at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C.

"As an African American woman, I have that problem, and my friends have that problem. So I wondered if my patients had that problem," she said in an interview.

New York Magazine writes:

McMichael and her colleagues surveyed 103 African American women who visited the dermatology clinic at Wake Forest University in October 2007. They found that 50 percent of their subjects reported exercising less than 75 minutes a week, and more than 25 percent said they didn't exercise at all. These numbers are well below the national average reported by a 2007 study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which found that about half of all American women exercise close to 150 minutes per week. When McMichael asked her subjects if hair played a role in their workout habits, about a third said they exercised less than they'd like to because of their hair. and half said they'd thought about changing their hair to make exercise more convenient.

Reuters adds that it isn't just appearance that plays a factor, but the cost of having to re-do hair after exercising that keeps Black women out of the gym.

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