Work Out With Short Relaxed Hair
How to work out with short relaxed hair showed up, uninvited, on my doorstep and it has finally worn out it’s welcome and left the building. Thank God!
My YouTube channel (Kaye Wright) has grown steadily over the past few months. I decided to focus on hair tutorials because as I looked over my channel, I saw that most of the response I got came via the videos where I showed how I styled my short relaxed hair.
I’ve always been pretty good at styling my hair at home and it’s honestly fun to show the ladies that follow me all the tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years.
I get lots of questions from ladies asking about certain styles, products and techniques. Because I’ve been doing my hair at home for so long, I’ve MADE SO MANY MISTAKES, learned from them all and have finally come up with a SHORT HAIR ROUTINE that works – I am usually able to answer their questions off the top of my head. When I can’t answer the questions impromptu, I research until I find an answer.
Recently I got some questions about styles that would last during a gym workout. To be honest, it perplexed me for a few weeks. I didn’t have a real answer and all the research I did, was pretty much useless. Thanks for nothing internet.
I felt like I was going to let the women down who wanted help with a practical problem. The truth was, I simply didn’t know of a style that would work. Some DIY’er you are Kaye! Every idea I came up with ultimately failed. Either the style didn’t hold up or it was impossible to maintain for more than 1 day. That crap won’t help anybody! I was feeling useless too. But, I was determined to figure it out.
HERE’S HOW I CAME UP WITH THE SOLUTION.
Clearly, the enemy was moisture. In this specific case, sweat. Errbody knows that you don’t mix relaxed hair and water/moisture. It just doesn’t work. No matter what you do, if that hair gets wet, your hairstyle is ruined and it’s back to the drawing board. And by drawing board, I mean back to wash, condition, wrap, sit under the hot ass dryer, etc. I knew I had to figure out a way to combat the sweat.
Then I remembered that there is at least one day a week where I get to wash my face without worrying about the water touching my edges. That same night, I sleep without wrapping my hair and I literally don’t give a shit about my NIGHTLY ROUTINE.
It feels amazing and it’s incredibly freeing! This happens the night before I film. I wash my hair and I let it air dry overnight.
Albeit freeing, my hair is always a hot ass mess when I wake the following morning. The funny thing is that every time I wake, I see the reflection of myself in the mirror as I’m brushing my teeth and I miss the days when I was natural. I wore my hair natural for a little under 5 years and I loved it. I loved my curls, I loved my products and I went back to my relaxer after I got tired of the hours of maintenance required to keep it healthy and long.
So, a few weekends ago as I stood there with my toothbrush in my mouth, it hit me. The best way to combat the sweat was to work WITH it and not AGAINST it. The same way I create styles that take advantage of the texture in my hair when I’m in between fresh relaxers, is the way I would create a style that could withstand the rigors of a workout.
The answer to those ladies’ questions was actually simple and I’d had it all along. They needed a style that would last in the gym and the gym causes our short relaxed hair to curl up and dry frizzy. By working with frizzy or curly hair from the start, you can win this decade’s old battle.
Doing some maintenance in order to prolong the life of any hairstyle is something women have come to accept. It is what it is. It’s even more the case with women who do their own hair at home. We understand that hair has to be wrapped at night and lightly refreshed in the morning. No big deal. We got this!
As soon as I figured out that I’d work with my hair’s natural tendencies, rather than against them, I knew exactly what style I would create. I dug through my stash of hair products and tools and emerged with several packs of very small perm rods, some wrapping foam that made my hair a little stiffer than I liked (and that also I needed to use it up), a few clips to section off my hair and a spray bottle full of water.
PROBLEM SOLVED!
I took my tools and I got to work. What I ended up with is a style that looks very similar to a TWA and it is so easy to do. It lasted about 4 or 5 days.
The main takeaways for creating a short relaxed hair style that can withstand the moisture demon of working out are:
Play up the texture of your hair. Create curly styles or waved styles. Avoid styles that require heat.
Use a light gel for your edges, instead of a pomade or wrapping foam. Those breakdown with water whereas gels are water based (most times).
Braid, pin curl or two strand twist your hair at night OR while you’re working out. This will help maintain the texture of the style & actually take advantage of the moisture which can aid in making your curls and/or waves more defined.
Below is a tutorial on how I did it, which you can watch as many times as you need to recreate this style yourself! Thank me later.
I’m going to be posting a few more styles that work great in the summer heat and at they gym, so stay tuned! Leave all of your questions and comments below, and I’ll be sure to get back to you. Until next time…bye!
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