Is it Weightlifting, or is it “Hair”lifting?

Do you have long, thick hair?

Do you have a friend, colleague, or relative with long, thick hair?

Have you or someone you know complained about the weight of their hair and its impact on physical activity?

Well, I answer yes to all of these questions.

Here is my story (and concerns). Let me begin by saying I have been growing my locs, a.k.a., dreadlocks, since summer 2008. In October 2014, they extended almost half way down my back. My hair is VERY thick and I guess my hair weighed a solid 10 pounds wet and maybe 1-2 pounds dry. Mind you, I’m totally guessing on the weight of my hair. One day when I cut my locs off I will weigh it dry and wet to get the official numbers. (curious minds want to know)

So, back in November, my hair officially reached the point of “getting on my nerves” and I trimmed 6-8 inches off. I continue to regularly use a variety of bandanas and head bands to try to keep it stationary when I do various exercises. The key word is try.

Let me share some of my hair-tying tricks and discuss some concerns I have about the weight of my hair. 

Source: freeimages.com

Hair Trick #1: Bandana hair tie. Those little black hair elastics are a joke with my hair. There’s no point even trying to put one around these locs. Plus, they put unnecessary stress on my hair and can weaken my hair over time. Instead, I use a bandana as a hair tie. Check out the image below. I simply wrap that around my hair to form a pony tail. This used to work, but not anymore because my hair grew. On to trick #2…

Hair Trick #2: Wear a bandana like a bandana AND use Hair Trick #1. So, I keep my hair tied up with bandana #1 AND I wrap another bandana (#2) on my head to compress my hair down so I can decrease the amount of bobbity bop movement of my big loc pony tail. Plus, the bandana absorbs my sweat and serves a dual purpose as a head band. You would think this would be enough, but my hair grew more. So, on to trick #3…

Hair Trick #3: Panty hose. Yes, panty hose, control top, to be specific. In addition to Hair Tricks #1 & 2, I resorted to using panty hose as an additional hair stabilizing force. I tie a double or triple knot with the panty hose legs, cut the panty hose legs off, and wear the part where hip/glutes portion over my Hair Trick #1 and then use Hair Trick #2 to secure the panty hose bottom around my head. 

Have you ever had that feeling like you’re doing too much? Or life shouldn’t be this hard?

Although I cut 6-8 inches off my hair back in November, I continue to have concerns about the toll the weight of my hair is having on my body and quality of life.

Concern #1. Muscle imbalances: Every day I feel stress in my neck from constantly balancing the weight of my locs. I can especially feel the subtle back and forth and side to side movement of my hair when I do any type of jumping or hopping exercise. I feel like a bobble head with VERY strong neck muscles. Recently, I’ve pinpointed the two muscles that may be most stressed as the sternocleidomastoid and levator scapulae. Each muscle is responsible for decelerating neck extension and flexion, respectively. What impact could this have on my body in the long run? spine

Concern #2. Quality of sleep: It takes me quite a while to fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the night because of the constant challenge of finding my hair’s sweet spot—the position I can lay my head and not feel like my neck and spine are misaligned.  Daily static stretching is my best bet to help ease the stress on my neck muscles, but eventually the day will come for me to chop the locs off (and weigh them).

Concern #3. Limitation of Activities: I’ve learned how I have given my hair the power to make decisions about what I can and cannot do. For example, I will not participate in any outdoor event that involves mud or swimming, nor will I go white water rafting, snorkeling, or any other salty or fresh water immersion activity.

The moral of the story….the time is coming folks. A significant hair chop is coming down the pipeline when the spirit moves me.

Is having long and heavy hair really worth it? What are you willing to sacrifice for your precious locs? Do you see it as a sacrifice? Or is it personal preference?

As Arsenio Hall used to say back in the day, “things that make you go hmmmmm……”