Ruin a perfect blowout with a sweaty trip to the gym? Puh-lease. Hours in the salon chair (and hundreds of bucks out of the pocketbook) might seem like a valid excuse to skip a calorie-burning session, but U.S. Attorney General, Dr. Regina Benjamin, is having none of it.

She stopped by the Bonner Brothers professional hair show last weekend in Atlanta to talk about the issue of black women neglecting exercise in an effort to not ruin their hair. It's a conflict the doc understands, as an African-American woman, herself, and having passed on exercising and activities like swimming to keep her strands in place.

"You sweat a lot in your hair and it changes your hairstyle completely," Dr. Benjamin told CNN. "When we talk about exercise, we hear, 'I don’t want to sweat my hair back or I don’t want to mess up my hairstyle.  It cost me too much to get my hair done this week.'" Along with African Americans, whom she said generally need more time with their hair and can't just wash and go, the issue has been observed with older white women who get their hair done weekly.

Dr. Benjamin said her solution is to exercise at night at home, and that she's been impressed with the recent creativity of hairstylists, providing looks and products that help maintain a style for longer. Has fear of sweat ever kept you from the gym? Do you have any tricks for keeping your locks lovely?

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