Alaska Women Speak Twists outs and co-washing have firmly cemented themselves as a part of Black hair lexicon.

The terms originally emerged as a part of the second-wave natural hair movement, which the web site Curl Centric notes began within the early 2000s. Hair bloggers like Whitney White (a.k.a. Naptural85) and web sites like curlynikki.com quickly became the go-to for those embarking on (and struggling with) their natural hair journey.

Lately, many Black women have fully embraced the feel of their God-given kinks and curls — and the multi-step regimens that come together with caring for natural hair. Though, for a lot of us, the topic stays some extent of contention.

How is it possible that in a world flooded with quality YouTube tutorials on haircare and countless great products on the shelves, that an alarming variety of Black women still don’t feel comfortable enough to wear their natural hair within the workplace for fear of judgment, or worse knowledgeable reprimand?

Struck by an Instagram post shared on The Shade Room, about President Obama’s inspirational musical playlist,  Jessica Clemons, a medical doctor and founding father of the academic blog askdrjess.com, couldn’t help but contemplate the ways Black people still struggle with truly owning their blackness. “I went deeper into this introspective space pondering of other ways Black people deny their blackness due to their professions. My very own experiences and thoughts were swirling in my mind,” Clemons tells ESSENCE.

The doctor then posted a selfie to her Insta-stories with the caption, “My face if you talking ’bout you possibly can’t wear your hair natural cause it’s unprofessional.” She then asked her followers to share stories about wearing their hair natural within the workplace —the nice, the bad, and how they handled it. “My DMs quickly blew up,” she says. Black women across age groups and professions sent her touching, and deeply personal, stories about their natural hair struggles within the workplace.

“I used to be most surprised by the industries women worked in that were experiencing criticism for natural hair reminiscent of retail and fashion. A lot of these responses were outright discrimination,” Clemons shares. One woman even shared that her job explicitly stated, with images, the hairstyles considered acceptable—Eurocentric ones—and people who weren’t—TWAs, afros, braids and so forth.

While it’s easy to dismiss these stories as extreme one-offs, a better inspection of American’s recent history makes it nearly inconceivable to achieve this. It was only last 12 months that america Army revised its grooming and appearance regulations, including its ban on dreadlocks. Until last 12 months’s update to Army Regulation 670-1 the 1000’s of Black women who served within the Army weren’t allowed to wear their natural hair on the job. So despite dedicating their lives to serving others, Black women are forced to stick to white beauty standards.

As Clemons reminds us, “Black persons are still not fully accepted within the workplace from a Black normative perspective — that’s why we code switch. This non-acceptance is systemic and historical. Discrimination continues to exist.” Despite being tagged greater than 4 million times on Instagram, what good is it to be #teamnatural in case you can’t bring that natural self to the place you spend most of your time?

One of the crucial effective ways to dismantle systems of oppression is by calling them out, loudly and relentlessly.  For Black women and our hair, which means sharing these stories of discrimination as an alternative of being shamed into silence. Having an actual and honest dialogue, amongst one another and beyond, is imperative. It’s our responsibility as Black women not only to extend our awareness of such discrimination but to also take heed to our fellow sisters who could also be struggling. As Clemons says, that is the one way that boundaries are pushed for each us and the following generation.

At ESSENCE we try to create and encourage the tough conversations that create real change. Inspired by Clemon’s empathetic and thought-provoking query, we asked several of our readers to share their experiences wearing natural hair within the workplace. Their answers are deeply personal and incredibly touching. Keep scrolling to read their very real responses. 

“After I was working in financial services, I remember feeling prefer it was only work-appropriate to wear my naturally curly hair pulled back in a bun. It wasn’t something that was [expressly] stated, but there weren’t some other people in power positions that looked like me and wore their hair out, curly, kinky and free. I remember also feeling validated by the entire compliments I might receive once I would come into work with my hair blow dried straight.” — Sara, wellness/food entrepreneur. 

“I feel very comfortable wearing my natural hair in any environment. I’ve been lucky enough to work amongst people whose job it’s to have fun and advocate for diversity. I haven’t at all times worn my hair in its natural state, and I give plenty of credit to my HBCU and an countless amount of natural hair YouTube tutorials for allowing to embrace the great thing about my hair, and teaching me learn how to style it.” — Valerie, non-profit civil rights activist.

“For the primary time shortly, I finally feel comfortable wearing my natural hair within the workplace. Nonetheless, there are still some embedded conditions stopping me from truly wearing my natural hair within the office that I actually have issues breaking away from, like sporting my curl. Upon graduating I entered the world of corporate public relations, marketing and social media and didn’t see women who looked like me. Not having representation within the workplace led me to need to alter my natural appearance to adapt and slot in. I once wore my hair curly to the office and it was a subject of dialogue for the entire day. I felt like I needed to continually explain my hair and its texture.” — Dominique, social media manager. 

“Working in the tv and film industry, I’m free to precise myself. With such a creative workspace, I’ve never once felt uncomfortable about wearing my natural hair. If anything, it’s inspired me to precise myself and own it — naps and all. There are superpowers in these curls.” — Crystal, costume designer/television and film.

“After I went natural in grad school I made a decision from then on out that I might interview for jobs [wearing] my natural hair, not pressed, not pulled back. I wanted my employer to know what they were getting. Fast forward 14 years later and I’m at a tremendous institution that promotes and preserves the worldwide Black experience. Not less than once per week I’m in front of an audience introducing our public programs and so they get to see one expression of my culture through hair.” — Novella, public programs manager. 

“I’m really lucky that I’ve at all times felt comfortable wearing my natural hair at work. If anything, I’ve only ever gotten compliments upon compliments and questions on my product routine—which I’m at all times greater than completely happy to share.” — Cheyenne, brand marketer. 

“I feel comfortable wearing my natural hair within the workplace with restrictions. But I don’t just like the unwanted conversations my curly hair invites—either from well-intended non-Black individuals who gawk and ask too many questions on maintenance, and even from brainwashed Black men who make ignorant comments about my hair or assumptions about what it means about my personality. I’m sometimes self-conscious concerning the stigma people have about kinks and curls being “unprofessional.” For those reasons I normally interview with straightened hair and once I do wear my hair curly I tend to rock a conservative style reminiscent of a topknot.” — Esta, receptionist. 

“I definitely feel comfortable wearing my natural hair within the workplace but I entered the workforce with natural hair once I was 22.  I went to the University of Southern California for undergrad, which was probably like 6% Black on the time. I did a semester exchange program at Howard University my senior 12 months in 2004 and decided to go natural. I remember my mom specifically asking me if I used to be going to maintain my hair natural once I interviewed and I remember us almost deciding together… Yes.  I don’t know that I actually really understood the choice I used to be making but I’m completely happy I did because from that time on, it’s never really been an issue.” — Crystal, marketing director. 

 We’d love to listen to from you! Share your experience wearing natural hair within the workplace with us.