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Is natural hair that deep? It sounds like a casual question until you put real people in a room and give them the space to answer with their own lives.

In this episode of Hair What I’m Saying, we revisit our first Is Natural Hair That Deep? community event in Austin, Texas, and share real stories from our Story Wall. Attendees wrote about learning to care for their natural hair, protective styles, relaxers, heat damage, dating, self-expression, workplace experiences, and finally choosing themselves.

But is natural hair that deep when the way you wear it can change how people treat you?

We explore the mental load Black Americans can experience in professional spaces, including stories of straight hair being described as “professional,” natural hair changing how coworkers respond, and stylists discouraging someone from going natural because they supposedly had “bad hair.”

And is natural hair that deep when so many of us can recognize pieces of ourselves in someone else’s story?

We also revisit the Mirror Reflection, where attendees described themselves with words like regal, vibrant, confident, loved, and free, and the Black Hair Myth Challenge, which turned some of the things we’ve been taught about Black hair into an opportunity to laugh, learn, and question together.

After hearing the stories from the room, we're asking again: Is natural hair that deep?

Listen, reflect, and decide for yourself.

Is natural hair that deep? What’s your hair story?

Subscribe to Hair What I’m Saying, share this episode with someone who should join the conversation, and leave a review to help more listeners find the show.

Is Natural Hair That Deep Playlist

Are Hair Products Solving Problems for Black Hair or Creating Them?

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When the Dance Team Excluded Curly Hair: Sydney Bresnahan's Story explores what happens when appearance standards unintentionally leave textured hair out of the picture. In this episode of the Hair What I'm Saying Podcast, host Kinetra Stewart sits down with former high school dancer Sydney Bresnahan to discuss the reality of navigating dance team hair expectations with naturally curly hair.

Sydney shares how being in uniform often meant straightening her natural curls or wearing straight wigs to meet team standards, the financial and emotional costs of maintaining that look, and the moment she witnessed a teammate being told to straighten a synthetic curly wig before a performance. Together, they examine the difference between uniformity and inclusion, asking an important question: Can a team truly be inclusive if everyone has to look the same?

This conversation isn't about criticizing one school or one coach. It's about exploring how beauty standards, performance expectations, and institutional norms can disproportionately affect dancers with textured hair.

Whether you're a dancer, coach, educator, parent, or someone who's ever felt pressured to change your natural hair to fit in, this episode invites you to rethink what inclusion really looks like.

Connect with Sydney by following her on Instagram!

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Don't forget to follow Kinetra on Instagram @_hairwhatimsaying_ and check out her website Hair What I'm Saying for more.

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What happens when your hair won't stay in regulation, your beret rubs out your edges, and the water on deployment is turning your hair orange?

In this episode of Hair What I'm Saying, veteran Jacinda Mitchell shares what it was really like navigating Black hair in uniform while serving more than 23 years in the military. From getting her entire squad smoked because her ponytail wouldn't stay up during basic training to cutting her hair just to survive military life, Jacinda offers an honest look at the realities behind military standards that weren't designed with textured hair in mind.

Together, we explore the physical and emotional impact of strict grooming regulations, creative workarounds like sewing satin into berets, the challenges of caring for natural hair during deployments, and the quiet sacrifices many Black women made in the name of professionalism.

But this conversation reaches beyond military service. Jacinda reflects on entering corporate America, where replacing straight wigs with her natural afro changed the way colleagues perceived her, proving that conversations about Black hair, identity, and professionalism don't end when the uniform comes off.

If you've ever wondered who the standards were written for, this episode offers a thoughtful and deeply personal perspective on service, resilience, and authenticity.

Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who needs to hear this conversation.

Want to hear more of Jacinda's story? Click Here and visit the VA's Make the Connection. It's a free resource where veterans share personal experiences to encourage, support, and help others navigating similar challenges.

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Don't forget to follow Kinetra on Instagram @_hairwhatimsaying_ and check out her website Hair What I'm Saying for more.

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The hair aisle has a script, and it’s been playing in our heads for years: control, tame, smooth, fight frizz, define curls. When I hear those words, I don’t just think about Black hair products, I think about beliefs and the quiet way beauty marketing trains us to see textured hair as a problem that needs a solution. So I’m asking a bigger question than “who made the rules” about beauty standards. Are Black hair products solving problems or selling them, and what did it cost Black women to believe those messages?

I walk through how advertising language shapes self-image, from the idea of hair needing to “behave” to the way straight hair was positioned as professional and presentable. I also revisit the nostalgia and harm wrapped up in kid-focused relaxer marketing, plus the uncomfortable truth behind some of the images that helped sell those products. Then I fast-forward to the natural hair movement and the way the industry pivoted, swapping straightness promises for a new kind of pressure: perfect curl definition, perfect edges, and perfect routines.

We also get practical about what hair products and labels don’t tell you. “Anti-frizz” can hide the difference between texture and damage, and many hair growth products ignore the real issue: hair retention, breakage, dryness, tension, or even medical concerns. Black hair products can support healthy hair care, but no bottle can override biology, and sometimes the biggest change is the habit shift a product inspires.

If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re buying a cream or buying an expectation, hit play. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review so more people can keep questioning the narratives we’ve been handed about Black hair products, natural hair, beauty standards, and identity.

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Do you have a story to share that’s worth our listeners hearing, please fill out the Listener Letters Form and tell us your story! We would love to hear from you!

Don't forget to follow Kinetra on Instagram @_hairwhatimsaying_ and check out her website Hair What I'm Saying for more.

Please leave a review and rate the show. Let us know how we are doing!

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Ivy braids are trending, but the internet's reactions reveal a much bigger conversation about Black hair, beauty standards, and the language we use to describe textured hairstyles.

In this episode of Hair What I'm Saying, I explore why a textured, boho-inspired braid style sparked debates about what is considered neat, polished, professional, and acceptable. We unpack the difference between personal preference and internalized beauty standards, and why so many of us have been taught to associate certain hair textures and styles with respectability.

I also share powerful listener comments, including a story from someone who once asked her bank if braids were acceptable at work. Together, we examine what that says about conformity, permission, and the quiet ways workplace culture shapes how Black women navigate their hair.

From the Tignon Laws to modern-day Black hair discrimination and the CROWN Act, this episode connects the past to the present and asks an important question: Who made the rules for professional hair, and why don't we question them more often?

By the end of this conversation, Ivy braids become less about a hairstyle and more about identity, self-expression, and the standards we've inherited without realizing it.

If this episode resonates with you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. What beauty standard are you ready to challenge next?

View the Video and comments on TIKTOK that sparked conversation for this episode!

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Do you have a story to share that’s worth our listeners hearing, please fill out the Listener Letters Form and tell us your story! We would love to hear from you!

Don't forget to follow Kinetra on Instagram @_hairwhatimsaying_ and check out her website Hair What I'm Saying for more.

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Click Here to Watch This Episode on YouTube!

In this episode, historian and Hair Story co-author Lori L. Tharps joins Hair What I'm Saying to discuss Black hair history, cultural identity, beauty standards, and how generations of misinformation have shaped our relationship with our hair.

Black hair gets called “too big” and “too wild” like that’s an objective fact, but it’s really a script and somebody profits from it. We sit down with historian and journalist Lori L. Tharps, co-author of *Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America*, to pull that script apart and replace it with actual context. If you’ve ever second-guessed your texture, your style choices, or what “professional” is supposed to look like, this one is for you.

We start with Lori’s personal path and how a graduate school thesis on Black hair was dismissed as not “serious” scholarship, until the research proved otherwise. From workplace microaggressions to the quiet reality that many of us learned more about white hair than our own, we talk about how misinformation becomes internalized and why the language we use about our hair matters.

Then we go deeper into Black hair history: pre-colonial African societies where hair worked like an identity system, carrying signals of community, status, and spirituality. We also get honest about cultural appropriation versus cultural appreciation, the natural hair movement’s global ripple effects, and how the Black hair industry grew from pre-Civil War barbering and styling into a multi-billion-dollar economy that’s often judged with a double standard.

You’ll leave with a cleaner frame: Black hair isn’t “hard,” it’s unique, delicate, and powerful, and it only becomes a problem inside systems that refuse to understand it. Subscribe to the podcast, share this with a friend, and leave a review if it shifts how you see your hair.

Connect with Lori L. Tharps:

Lori's Website

Click here to purchase the book, Hair Story written by Lori L. Tharps & Ayana D. Byrd

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Do you have a story to share that’s worth our listeners hearing, please fill out the Listener Letters Form and tell us your story! We would love to hear from you!

Don't forget to follow Kinetra on Instagram @_hairwhatimsaying_ and check out her website Hair What I'm Saying for more.

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Black hair has been turned into a marketplace for generations and once you notice it, you can’t unsee it. Season 6 of Hair What I’m Saying starts with a clear promise: we’re not just talking about hair, we’re talking about what hair reveals about history, identity, and the stories that shape how we see ourselves in the mirror.

We get into how Black hair has been studied, marketed, politicized, and monetized, and how entire industries have grown around telling us what’s “acceptable,” what’s “professional,” and what needs to be “fixed.” Along the way, we talk about the moment many of us stop asking questions and start accepting routines and rules as fact. I’m inviting you to pull those messages apart and look at what’s underneath them: beauty standards, inherited narratives, and billion-dollar incentives that don’t always align with our well-being.

And let me be clear: Black hair care is not a scam. Our traditions aren’t a scam. Protective styling isn’t a scam. Taking care of your hair isn’t a scam. What we are challenging is the marketing and messaging that can make you feel like your hair must be controlled or transformed to be worthy. Because maybe the biggest thing we’ve been sold wasn’t a product, maybe it was a belief.

If you’re ready to challenge what you’ve been taught and question what you’ve been sold, Season 6 starts now. Subscribe, follow, leave a review, and share the show with somebody who’s ready for a real conversation.

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Do you have a story to share that’s worth our listeners hearing, please fill out the Listener Letters Form and tell us your story! We would love to hear from you!

Don't forget to follow Kinetra on Instagram @_hairwhatimsaying_ and check out her website Hair What I'm Saying for more.

Please leave a review and rate the show. Let us know how we are doing!

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Vogue called Tracy Ellis Ross’s afro a “cloud bob,” and I couldn’t let that slide. Not because the photo wasn’t stunning, but because that one little rename reveals a whole system: the way Black hair gets rejected as “too much” until it’s repackaged with softer language for a wider audience. The hair didn’t change. The narrative did. And when the narrative changes, so does who gets access, who gets praised, and who gets policed. As a hairstylist, I’ve watched Black women carry the weight of other people’s opinions about our natural texture. I’ve seen the unlearning, the second guessing, and the feeling that something needs to be “fixed” just to be seen as professional. So when mainstream beauty media suddenly elevates the same coils and kinks under a trendy new term, it raises the question I can’t ignore: was it ever about the hair, or was it always about who had the power to name it? I’m also pulling back to look at Black hair history, because this isn’t just about a magazine caption. Our hair has always been tied to identity, community, and culture, and language is one of the first places that erasure slips in. This bonus finale closes season five while giving you a clear preview of season six: deeper conversations on texturism, racism, hair politics, and how perception shapes what the world calls “beautiful.” Subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next, share this with someone who needs to hear it, and leave a review telling me one word you wish people would stop using to describe Black hair.

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Do you have a story to share that’s worth our listeners hearing, please fill out the Listener Letters Form and tell us your story! We would love to hear from you!

Don't forget to follow Kinetra on Instagram @_hairwhatimsaying_ and check out her website Hair What I'm Saying for more.

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Watch this episode on YouTube!

Hair Loss, Homelessness, and Hope; Arianna Howell shares a powerful journey from childhood instability and homelessness to becoming a licensed natural hairstylist and founder of The Hair Care Project. What happens when you have always been known for your hair, and suddenly you are experiencing hair loss from stress and iron deficiency anemia? We talk about the emotional side of that shift; identity, confidence, and what it really feels like when your “crown” starts to change.

Arianna also breaks down the real science behind hair loss and hair health; the difference between shedding and breakage, why lab work matters, and her personal experience with iron supplements versus iron infusions. This is not surface level, we are getting into root causes.

We challenge the culture of chasing hair growth at all costs and get honest about scalp care as skin care. Water, cleansing, and maintenance are not optional. Protective styles are discussed in a real way too; how wigs, weaves, and braids can become damaging when they replace consistent care instead of supporting it.

Then we shift into purpose. Arianna shares how a therapy session sparked The Hair Care Project, a nonprofit providing hair care services and products to those who cannot afford them. Her story about serving women in a transitional home will stay with you; this is about dignity, healing, and community in real time.

This conversation connects hair loss, homelessness, and hope in a way that goes far beyond beauty; it is about resilience, restoration, and redefining what it means to care for ourselves.

To stay connected with Arianna Howell, follow her socials below:

Website

Facebook

LinkedIn

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Do you have a story to share that’s worth our listeners hearing, please fill out the Listener Letters Form and tell us your story! We would love to hear from you!

Don't forget to follow Kinetra on Instagram @_hairwhatimsaying_ and check out her website Hair What I'm Saying for more.

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In this episode of Hair What I’m Saying, we unpack Black men, texturism, and identity through one deeply personal story.

DK shares his journey from high-top fades to S-Curls, chasing a look that felt polished, acceptable, and confident. What started as influence from a cousin turned into years of chemical processing, wave caps, brushing routines, and the legendary “red box.” But when thinning began at 25, the conversation shifted. Was it genetics, chemicals, or something bigger?

We explore how texturism shaped his understanding of “good hair,” how words like “nappy” quietly impacted confidence, and how hair became currency for attention and attraction. From 360 waves in the 90s to marketing that turned insecurity into profit, this episode examines how culture influences the grooming choices Black men make.

College at a predominantly white institution added another layer to his identity. Navigating Blackness, visibility, and presentation raised questions about assimilation and authenticity. Did certain hairstyles feel more acceptable? More professional? More attractive?

We also challenge common myths around hair loss, hats, wave caps, and illusion-based grooming trends, and ask the bigger question behind it all:

When it comes to Black men and chemical processing, was it the chemicals, or was it culture?

This conversation is about more than balding. It’s about identity, masculinity, self-perception, and unlearning what we were taught about “good hair.”

If this episode resonates, follow, share it with someone who’s wrestled with hair and confidence, and leave a review telling us one belief about Black hair you’re ready to retire.

Stay connected with DK by following his socials below:

TikTok

Instagram

Facebook

Youtube

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Do you have a story to share that’s worth our listeners hearing, please fill out the Listener Letters Form and tell us your story! We would love to hear from you!

Don't forget to follow Kinetra on Instagram @_hairwhatimsaying_ and check out her website Hair What I'm Saying for more.

Please leave a review and rate the show. Let us know how we are doing!

Support the Hair What I’m Saying Podcast
💛 From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being part of this community.
buymeacoffee.com/hairwhatimsaying