"I felt uncomfortable with being natural for the first time when I entered a 9-to-5 office. The style of my hair does not take away from my accomplishments, nor does your opinion define my beauty." - Brea Finney I requested my removal from the welcome videos and spoke with the head of the department. Nonetheless, I let both advisors know that I would not tolerate this commentary as I had friends and mentees in the same program. She continued to pause the video to inquire about my curls, asking if this was my 'end of the year' look and saying my hair could look this way because I was 'only going to graduate school.' What she did not know was that I was attending the online program for one of the top programs in the nation as well as interning at a notable news station in two weeks. Before showing me the video, my advisor made a comment saying she did not recognize me because I had my hair in a puff and no longer the braids I wore in the video. "A few weeks before my undergrad graduation, I went to visit my college department advisors to finalize details and review my portion in a video highlighting my communication program. The style of my hair does not take away from my accomplishments, nor does your opinion define my beauty. Then, the woman turned to her and said 'Oh, you have interesting hair as well. I also had an older woman in an airport come up to me and say, 'I had to come look at your hair from the front because from the back it doesn't look good, but from the front, it looks interesting.' At the time I was with another friend of mine who also happened to have curly hair. Now whenever someone says something about my hair, I automatically back away because I can already feel them wanting to grab it without permission. There was zero regard for my personal space or the fact that you can't go around petting strangers on the head like a puppy. They were saying remarks like, 'Oh it's actually soft,' and 'Wow, it doesn't feel like I thought it would.' I felt so uncomfortable. It started off as just plain curiosity and a few compliments here and there, but then all of a sudden five different hands were reaching toward my hair and petting it. I remember a few years ago, I was at a Christmas party, and I was talking to a group of people who were mostly Caucasian when the conversation shifted towards my hair's texture and volume. A lot of the feedback I get is mostly positive, so it always outweighs the negative, but I will get random strangers reaching to touch my hair without permission, assuming that it's fake or a wig, or asking if it's all my hair. "I feel like I've had so many encounters with discrimination or pure ignorance from strangers toward my natural hair that it's hard to keep track.