My Hair was Keeping me FAT! Real Talk!!

My Hair was Making Me FAT! Real Talk!

I know this is a crazy title for a blog post, but it is T-TOTALLY true! My hair was keeping me fat!

Before I started my weight loss journey, I hade the cutest short haircut. My naturally dark hair was bleached to a golden blonde color with platinum blonde highlights. You couldn’t tell me NOTHING! The maintenance on this hairstyle was no joke! I was literally in the salon EVERY WEEK! My routine went something like this:

To get the initial look

Week 1- Chemical relaxer and cut- $150

Week 2- Get hair bleached and colored golden blonde- $120

Week 3- Get platinum highlights- $75

Week 4 or 5- Chemical relaxer and cut- $150

Total- $495- Not including tips!

To maintain the look

Week 1- Chemical relaxer and cut- $150

Week 2- Color roots- $95

Week 3- Wash and Cut- $65

Week 4- Color roots & Wash and Cut- $140

Total- $455- Not including tips!

Like I said… you couldn’t tell me NOTHING!

Anyway… a friend of mine started to workout and invited me to workout with her a couple of times. EVERY time she asked, I’d look at her like she was crazy and say “chile..I just got my hair done (did…lol)” “I am not about to sweat my hair out!” “Maybe next time!” But looking at my hair maintenance schedule, there was no space for next time! I was in the salon every single week!!!

Now, you and I both know that I was not getting my hair done just to get it done. Oh no ma’am… I had to gallivant all over Atlanta so that I could be seen. Afterall, they don’t call Atlanta Black Hollywood for nothing!

Fast forward… So one day I was out shopping for some new clothes. I went to one of my favorite stores, Express, to look for something to wear. I picked out some really cute items but much to my surprise, all of the size 14’s were too small. How could this be? Disappointed, I left Express and didn’t know where else to go. Then I saw an Ashley Stewart store. I’d never been in a “big girl” store before. I was surprised to find so many cute clothes. I didn’t find many 14’s and since I couldn’t wear the 14’s at Express, I grabbed the 16’s at Ashley Stewart. Much to my relief, the 16’s were too big! Now I had a major dilemma… 14’s were too small, 16’s were too big. So that meant that I either needed to gain weight or lose weight, naturally the latter was more appealing!

I took a few days to come up with a game plan of how I was going to lose weight. Because of my Type A personality, I took out a calendar to see where I could fit exercise in. I noticed that even with me getting my hair done every week, I could workout during the week. But then I thought about all the money I spent getting my hair done and I refused to ruin my hair by working out in between salon visits. Then It occurred to me... if I wanted to lose weight, I was going to have to change something I was doing so that I could. For me, my hair was my, self -imposed barrier, that was keeping me from working out! This is what was one of the things that was keeping me fat! My freaking hair! I wasn’t exercising because I didn’t want to mess up my hair and I was eating out and drinking because I needed to be seen because of my hair! Crazy right! The hair had to go!

What did I do?

A week or so later, I visited a local barbershop and I told the barber to shave it (my hair) off! He looked at me strangely. I repeated, “shave it off and start in the middle so I can’t change my mind!” Finally, he honored my request. When he finished, my hair was completely chemical free! No color, no relaxer, not a thing! I had a very low brush fade. Welp… no more excuses & off to the gym I went. When I cut my hair, it gave me the opportunity to focus strictly on my health. For the first time in life, I had a no maintenance hairstyle which allowed me to do so many other things. Not only could I exercise without worring about my hair, I also had more time to spend with friends and family and a lot more money in my pocket. It provided me with a sense of freedom that I didn’t know that I lacked.

I lost the weight when I lost my excuses!