On a New Path with Hair (part 2)

It has been a long period of time since writing part one, and I have some excited news to share. I will get right to the point and tell you that I have gone 'no heat' natural. For my friends that may not know what that means, I will define what going natural(sans heat) means for me. My hair is left in it's natural afro state and I style it from there.  I am apart of a beautiful growing trend of black women who have decided to wear their natural coils/curls and refrain from straightened hair as a regular style. As of today, you can find these natural black hair communities in every social media outlet in America and in many countries around the globe. One of the major results of going natural has been the freedom to exercise and get our hair wet. It's exciting to join the online organizations and see so many black women partaking in active lifestyles because of natural manes. I hope to look around at my next triathlon and see more women of color, which is why this blog exists. For my readers of color who are natural(no heat), would you consider a sprint-triathlon now that you can 'get in the water'?

On a new path with hair

I'm back after having another child and missing my swims dearly! It seems that hair is my main subject of discussion these days. You see, I want to go swimming again and go completely natural with my hair. Early on during my last pregnancy, you know, the very sick and fatigued first trimester, I stopped exercising. My brother was getting married and I wanted my hair styled, but did not want my new growth relaxed so that my hair would not look too thin for the photos. My beautician and I decided to 'press-out' my hair. What is press out styling? Hairstylist do this in different methods, so I will tell you what method my hairstylist used for my coils. My hair was washed, conditioned, and deep conditioned. After the conditioning, my hair was dryed under a dryer for roughly 10 minutes and blown completely dry with a hand dryer. My hairstylist then pressed my hair with flat irons heated in a marcel oven. Afterwards, she stroked the strands several times with a ceramic iron to style it. I loved it and was heavily complemented! My hair and roots were so surprisingly silky that I decided to go chemical free with this method of styling. This was a game changer for me since I have always been able to style my hair at home and was never 100% dependent on a beautician styling my hair. Pressing hair was something that I had never done, therefore, I was in the shop every 1-2 weeks for pressouts. This was fine for pregnancy, because I wasn't working out, but the big question loomed in the not so distant future, how was I going to stay chem-free and return to an active lifestyle after the baby was born? Stay tuned for part 2.

Hair Products for Chemical free Black Hair

"Miss Jessie's
http://www.target.com/s/189-9759504-3108411?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=tgt-index&keywords=miss%20jessies&ref=sr_bx%5F1%5F1&searchNodeID=1038576%7C1287991011&searchPage=1

Kinky Curly
http://kinky-curly.com/shop.php

Jane Carters
http://www.janecartersolution.com/style.html

Mizani natural haircare
http://www.mizani-usa.com/?m=715&rid=300


For each product, I know someone that uses it and was impressed with the curls of their chem free hair. If you know of any more, let me know. I have 4c(as explained on Youtube) hair, so I am trying to get ready for when I go 100% natural-without heat silking for working out."

Swim Days- and my hair, how do I do it?

The reason that I and many African American(AFAM) women don't get in water is because of the time that it takes to style it afterwards. It seems like people with naturally curly, wavy and straight hair can dry and style this hair in 15-30 minutes. For naturally coily hair, which is gorgeous and unique BTW, it takes at least 2 hours to dry and style. When I mention to my AFAM sisters that I do triathlons, the first thing they say is that they can't deal with the swimming and hair issues that come with it. Well, this is what I do. Last year, I wore microbraids against the braid-stylist's advice. She told me not to completely submerge my hair in water. I asked her to give me the braids that would be the strongest with braids and bi-weekly washing. The micros worked for me for exactly eight weeks. This year, I decided to see if I could survive without braids. My hair is very coily, brittle, fine and relaxed. Luckily, the inverted bob is in right now. I have my hair cut in this bob, which worked really well for me as a mom on the go. I can slightly curl it and tuck the longer front behind my ears for a look that allows me to look like I am a mom with a care about my appearance during the week. On the weekends, I fully silk it out and wear the bob. I love the haircut, possibly addicted because for the first time in my life, I am popping into Great Clips and getting trims. So on swim days I wash my hair ASAP after leaving the pool. I wrap my hair and sit under the dryer for 30 minutes. I leave my hair in the wrap for the rest of the day. My dress is athletic and I wear a cap to match the athletic gear on these days and carry on with my-'making my house a home' activities. I choose not to dry my hair 100% and ceramic flat iron it to lessen the amount of heat that I put on my hair nowadays. Remember I said that my hair was brittle. The less the heat, the healthier my hair. On the next day, after my run and sweaty hair dries, I do my weekday do(bump it all over) comb it flat and tuck the longer front ends of the bob behind my ears. My hair is in the best shape it has been in for years. I think that it is more the bob which is a God-send for fine hair. It actually looks thick in this hairdo. Sisters, any questions? Let's find a way to help you start swimming and try a tri. I know our hair, really.

3 weeks left

This year's training has been interesting. I have fallen in love with running because I used this training plan for a milder introduction to running. It is a couch to 5k running plan designed for the sedentary to have a less intimidating start to running. I tolerated running until this plan and the use of a heart rate monitor to stay in the aerobic zone. I run so slow to stay within the indicated heart rate that I feel like people are laughing when they see me. I am no longer afraid to run and was able to run 3.1 miles last week at a comfortable pace.

Why am I doing this?

This is my second Triathlon(sprint). I do the triathlons as a beginner, a wife/mom, and as an african american woman. When I share with others that I have done this and will do another, I get reactions like I am superhuman and/or questions about participating as a mom of 2 toddlers, as a black female(the hair and swimming issues that keep us out of the water), and as a not-so physically fit triathlete. Since viewing the movie Julie and Julia, I was very inspired about the reality of people actually reading my blog. I am in my third week of training and I am not a writer, I am an artist who dislikes writing. Let's see how this goes as I share the eight week training with you(in 5-6 weeks). Feel free to comment or ask questions. Answering questions is something that I love to do.

Some of the topics that I HAVE to include: real costs of a triathlon, african american hair, training plans, my experience with lap swimming and did I mention african american hair? As Oprah stated-you don't mess with a black woman's hair and water has made swimming off limits for many years. So, yes I mentioned african american hair twice. I anticipate questions on this one.