Sweaty Hair

I’ve been going around and around about what to do with my sweaty runner’s head. You see, I’m all new to this ‘girl’ business. I’ve been a tomboy from the moment my mom put Sears’ Toughskin brand jeans on me at the age of three, after both of my brothers had failed to shred the knees off. I kept my hair short, skipped make-up and didn’t concern myself much about clothing until quite recently. Then, suddenly, I decided to become a bonafide girl in my late thirties. I realized any vestige of my youth was vaporizing with every passing day and I needed to cash in what little was left of my girlyish self and act a little girly, finally! I had always wanted to be more of a girl but was too shy, low self-esteemed and underfunded to try it out. Now, especially with my own little girly girl, was definitely my moment!

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So, I’m new to all this hair-do-make-up-dressing-in-skirts girlishness stuff and I’ve been confused about how to treat my new, long hair. Like, it is really normal for women to both work out and have long hair, right? So why don’t we kind of agree on a method for taking care of it? I looked all over online and everyone said something different. Some people said that dirty hair holds shape and styles easier, so who cares if you have a sweaty scalp? Some people said as long as your hair looks fine, who cares? Some people just spoke from experience saying that they’ve been running for years and never had a problem with not washing their hair. I guess if it works for them, who am I to argue? But that never did sit right with me. My head feels grimy and itchy if I don’t wash it often enough, but the ends got all dried out and I had to cut the length I worked so hard to grow out with repeated washing…

I finally turned to a few friends who are authentically girly women who work out, and some of them even cut/style/color hair for a living. Here’s what they told me:
WASH YOUR HAIR, TAMARA!
Every time you work out and get sweaty, wash your hair! Salt from sweat pits hair, making it dull and weak! Sweat and gunk clogs follicles and can make your hair fall out! Sweaty heads often break out with scalp pimples!
My greatest concern, however, is that I have really dry ends that split easily.
Here are the solutions that were offered to me:
Shampoo just the scalp and hold the ends up. Rinse it out and get on with your life.
Wash your hair in sulfate-free shampoo and condition with good conditioner like normal. Follow up with hair sauce (AKA penetrating argan oil).*
Condition the ends then hold it up while you shampoo the scalp. Rinse the scalp in a kind of weird way that allows the conditioner to stay on the ends, then mash the conditioned ends onto the hair next to the scalp, spreading a little conditioner around because, let’s face it, this is what I do and my conditioner is at Lj level of expensive and I need to spread it out over my head to make it last a little longer! Rinse as usual after belting out three or four of your favorite eighties tunes, then add hair sauce after it’s damp-dry to complete the ritual.
^^^Clearly- this is what I do when I’m being thoughtful and worried about my ends.
I suppose I could follow the lead of yet another friend who says she just adds extensions into her hair when she wants it fuller because there’s no way she’s going around with a sweaty head! She washes it every time, keeps up on her trims and works her butt out! To heck with the hair! Except she looks amazing.
I’ve learned about dry shampoo and that it can be used in a pinch, like baby powder, to make you less oily looking and add fullness, but I don’t like the way it feels – thick and heavy.
All shampoo should always be sulfate free or it will kill your hair.

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{I forgot a hair band on a recent workout but the wind took care of me. I called this my ‘Beyonce’ run. }
So, anyhow, that’s what I have. Perhaps you have been in the same quandary as I, new to the whole exercise and appearance game and have been turning circles trying to figure out what to do as well.
Now, go wash your hair!
I did. Today. After I worked out, coz, you know, I’m hitting my stride again, running miles all over the place, eating right. Washing my hair after a sweaty workout, even. I’m back in this and hoping to sail beyond 199 soon!
🙂
*I’m all about the Argan oil products from ogx , but will buy any of their products when there is a sale and my shelf is a little bare- currently rocking the awapuhi line. No pros recommended this to me except Brittany, Herself.

One Comment

  1. Welcome to girl world!! It’s bright shiny and sparkly over here!! 🙂 I wash my hair every other day because I have extremely dry skin and hair but if I have a particularly sweaty workout, I will wash it on an off day anyway. I would say if you feel like you need to wash it, then by all means do it. I too use argan oil after every wash and I’ll even put some on the ends when it’s alldried if it looks like they are in need of some additional moisture. I’ve used several expensive brands but find that the Suave brand (oh, for shame!!!) works just as well. Gotta save those pennies for some awesome skirts and cute shoes!! (Oh, and when I exercise I pull it up into a ponytail to keep it from tangling and wear a yoga headband to keep my bangs out of my face – although your Beyonce look is quite fetching!)

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