When I joined the gym, I expected my body to change and mould into something new, the longer and harder I worked out. What I hadn’t anticipated though, was the effect it would have on my hair.
Hitting the gym every night after work means that I’m washing my hair every day – something I used to do about two or three times a week. I was worried that all this washing would have a negative effect on my tresses, as I’d be getting it hot and sweaty, and then stripping it of all it’s natural nutrients – each and every night.
Because of this fear, I moved away from my regular hair products, and stopped blowdrying and straightening my locks to try and preserve some goodness. I now use shampoo from Lush, and either a gentle, leave-in conditioner or that sassy Cearly Naked one from Herbal Essences – this means my hair smells delicious, and there’s little to no chemicals doing anything nasty to it. Leaving it to dry naturally over night means its a bit flatter and wavier than normal, but at least I’m protecting it from overstyling or heat damage on top of general gym wear-and-tear.
But what I’ve noticed is that working out has actually improved the condition of my hair (or a combination of the gym and the precautionary measures above) and it’s been growing faster and thicker than normal. Whilst this is great for the hair on my head, my eyebrows and my eyelashes, its getting a little grating to tend to my underarms on the daily. Genetically I’ve been blessed with fairly un-hairy legs (something not quite as celebrated by the male members of my family) so that’s not been a problem, but all this fitness and protein malarkey has made my hair go mental.
Because hair is essentially just proteins, the fact that I’ve upped my protein intake (via shakes, fish, chicken, eggs..) has meant that my body has a huge supply to feed off, and has been pumping the excess into growing my tresses. Whilst exercise doesn’t actually increase hair growth, the health and wellbeing benefits of it can do great things to alleviate any conditions that cause hair loss or stalled growth, and cardio gets the blood pumping around your body enough to give your new hairs an extra little push to break through the surface.
Whilst it’s done nothing for my ginger tones, growing my hair is enough of a bonus for me to give the gym my undivided attention a few nights a week. No pain, no (hair) gain!