Is your high maintenance hair making you pile on the pounds?

The secret to your weight problems may not be what you eat, your genes or metabolism, as some leading scientific research would suggest. No, the reason could be in the shape of heated metal-plated tongs (aka hair straighteners) or in the shape of hot air blowing devices (aka hair dryers). This is what U.S. Surgeon General, Regina Benjamin. Those who spend hours on their hair are apparently less likely to exercise than those who spend seconds.

Evidence

If a U.S. Surgeon General is ready to cast aside the widely held beliefs of the causes of obesity or weight gain (or actual FACTS) and instead throw in a new, radical approach to the obesity epidemic plaguing both the U.S. and the U.K. where we attack it one hair styling product at a time, then surely she must be backed up with some research or study. Well apparently not. The claim seems entirely based on her own experiences;

“Often you get women saying, “I can’t exercise today because I don’t want to sweat my hair back or get my hair wet”, she was quoted as saying.

 So, no hard figures on the number of women who won’t exercise in fear of ruining a well crafted barnet, no findings on the impact that this had on women’s desire to exercise in comparison to other factors, just the claims of one doctor who has had a few women through hers doors who are reluctant to exercise and have probably blurted out more than one excuse. I think we all know that person who you’re all waiting for when you’re going out, their hair is sculpted to perfection, but they’ve had stylists commissioned and they’ve been doing it for the last 8 hours. But does this happen every day? Would these people actually not exercise in case they messed up their hair?

Contradiction

A lot of people who spend a lot of time on their hair are image conscious. So is it accurate to say that someone would obsess with their hair but then completely disregard the gut? I would say the answer to this is yes and no.  I know people who don’t exercise, are overweight but still put a lot of effort into their hair. On the other hand, I know people who are very image conscious that exercise vigorously to get a perfect body as well as spending many nights annoying friends who wait on whilst they do their hair. My point is, I don’t think Regina Benjamin has a valid point. What she says is happening I could only imagine seeing on an episode of The Only Way is Essex. People who do not exercise will often find reasons not to. I have not seen the full interview with her, only what was printed on an online article. It may be that this was one of many things that Regina said but the article just put an interesting slant on what she said. If this is the case I apologise to her if she had made valid comments and can only slam the writer of the article for putting a nonsense spin on it.

There is an obesity problem in the U.K. and U.S. FACT. There are lots of underlying reasons behind this. FACT. Hair straighteners, hair dryers and a large group of women who are not willing to mess up their hair during exercise are part of the reason. NONSENSE

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