African American Women CrossFitters

[Dave Parmly]

A woman who works for me, who is an African-American, has just completed the Fundamentals training at our local CF box. She is a little freaked, sorta nervous...the way most of us were as we started in this sport. But today, she raised an issue with which I have no familiarity.

How does a black woman keep her hair under control during/after WODS? It seems there are products, etc that she feels may create issues with clean up afterward, etc.

Any advice I can give her?

[Katherine Derbyshire]

Send a PM to Kim Thornton. She used to be a regular poster but hasn't been around much lately.

Katherine

[Cain Papettas]

Corn rows or braids? Isnt that what basketballers do?

[Matt Haxmeier]

I don't know if this helps, but apparently coconut oil does very well for black hair. Not so much for styling but for health, texture, maintenance, moisture, etc.

I'm not sure why my wife mentions such things to me, but sometimes they come in handy later in the day I guess.

I also ran across this...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098...SIN=0984518428 (WFS)

[Christopher G. Woods]

When in doubt, always refer your clients to a professional. When people ask me about injuries and I'm not sure of the solution, I always tell them to talk to their doctor or I refer them to my physical therapist friend. In this case, I'd just tell her to talk to her hair dresser.

[Kim Thornton]

Originally Posted by Katherine Derbyshire

Send a PM to Kim Thornton. She used to be a regular poster but hasn't been around much lately.

Katherine

I'm here! I'm here! Been dealing with new baby stuff, but I'm back!

Funny enough I was having this same conversation with a girlfriend of mine earlier this week. I think I'm the only African American chick at my box (at least I haven't seen anyone else) I have pretty long hair, all mine-no extensions, so the maintenance may be a little easier. I am a ponytail girl, all the way. If at all possible, put it up off the face and neck. For shorter hairstyles, my friend mentioned to me something called "Save your Do Gymwrap". It's supposed to wick away the sweat and protect your hairstyle. I found it using google.

I think the biggest key is to be consistent with maintenance. The coconut oils (and some other hair oils) are effective at keeping the moisture at bay, however, adding it in daily (if too much) weighs the hair down and can end up a big mess. The flipside is if they don't use a protectant, the hair can end up as one big frizz once the sweat dries. As a lot of non-African Americans probably don't know, our hair texture can't always sustain the daily washing/processing (i.e. blow dryers, curling irons, flat irons, etc.) without experiencing a lot of damage and breakage. That's why we go and get our hair "done" on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. So for someone that CF's or works out regularly, these appointments may need to be increased or they will need to learn to do the maintenance themselves in the interim.

I do like the suggestion of braids/cornrows if you can pull it off. My head looks funny with cornrows


Hope this helps!

Kim

[Jason Wallis]

Originally Posted by Kim Thornton

. My head looks funny with cornrows



Kim

Mine too.

[Kim Thornton]

I don't know, Jason...I think you could pull it off...

[Jason Wallis]

Originally Posted by Kim Thornton

I don't know, Jason...I think you could pull it off...

It may help take attention away from the thin spots

[Kim Thornton]

Originally Posted by Jason Wallis

It may help take attention away from the thin spots

We can add in extensions...jus sayin'