The Root of Physical Inactivity Among African-American Women: Identifying Exercise Friendly Hairstyles.

The purpose of this study was to provide information regarding hair maintenance that would increase physical activity among African-American women. A descriptive study design was used, along with Survey Monkey to obtain online responses from African-American female participants over the age of 18 that were associated with four predominately African-American social organizations. Participants were asked to rate the "ease of use" of 8 hairstyles commonly worn by Black or African-American women living in the United States as it related to three physical activity (PA) intensity categories: light to moderate, vigorous, and water-based physical activity. The results revealed that short natural styles had low maintenance scores for all three PA categories (1.19, 1.27, and 1.34, respectively). Increased knowledge and understanding of the complex and varied hair care practices common among African-American women will improve development of exercise-based health interventions for this population.