Black Hair Salon Helps Furloughed Workers With Free Services
When The Government Shutdown Snatched Paychecks, Angela Walker’s TWST Salon Snatched Back Offering Women Free Hair Styles
During the recent government shutdown, frustration had become routine. Paychecks stopped; bills did not, and for many families across the D.C. region, self-care became a luxury out of reach.
During the recent government shutdown, frustration had become routine. Paychecks stopped; bills did not, and for many families across the D.C. region, self-care became a luxury out of reach.
Angela Walker noticed the shift first in conversation. Clients at her award-winning N Natural Hair Studio in Silver Spring started canceling appointments. Some hadn’t been paid in weeks. Others were stretching out styles longer than usual.
“When I first heard about the furlough, I said I’d really like for us to offer free services,” Walker recalled in an interview. “But we were hiring so quickly to keep up with demand that if we did it then, it would’ve been a frenzy.” So she waited—and listened.
A Call to Serve
The idea never left her. In late October, she found herself watching the numbers slow one weekend.
“We had one Sunday that wasn’t that busy,” she said. “It wasn’t that slow, but it was enough traffic where I was like, we could offer free services on this day—have extra team members come in—and we could make it happen.”
“I kind of called [my publicist] in a panic,” she said. “We thought it was going to be like 50 people. She told us, ‘You’ve got to shut down the signup because everyone’s expecting to come in.’”
She told herself, If God gives us another Sunday like this, we’ll do it.
The next week, she got her answer.
“I made the decision on a Sunday,” Walker said. “Then on Monday, I let the team know. Our social media lady did a skit with the team that day, and she posted it on Tuesday. By Wednesday or Thursday, it started flooding in with the requests.”
Within 48 hours, 95 people had signed up for free hair services at the TWST Bar Pop-Up, her express-service offshoot of N Natural Hair Studio.
Pulling Off the Impossible
The salon, known for being walk-in only, had to adapt fast.“At first, people were just going to walk in,” Walker said. “The signup was really just for us to gauge how many people to expect.” She reorganized everything. Clients were given arrival windows, stylists were divided into shifts starting as early as 8 a.m., and the team prepared to stay until 9 or 10 that night. By the end of the day, they had serviced 73 people.
“It took a team of 20—17 stylists and shampoo assistants, our social media lady, and two booking concierges who work offsite,” Walker said. “Had this happened even two months ago, we could never have done this. We just didn’t have the staff to pull it off.” What she remembers most was the energy. “The clients were so grateful,” she said. “Some of them were literally in tears before they even got their hair done, just telling us, ‘Thank you so much for doing this.’”
One woman said she had just canceled her usual appointment because she couldn’t pay. “Then she saw this thing pop up on Instagram, and it was just so timely,” Walker recalled. Others offered to give back in small ways—baked goods, home-cooked meals, even handmade thank-you cards. “They were like, ‘Whatever we can give y’all, we want to give you,’” she said.
Across three salons on the same block, the day carried a feeling Walker can’t quite put into words. “If you stepped into any of those salons, it just felt good,” she said. “The conversations that were being had, the laughs, the hugs—it was just a really feel-good moment, not just for the people who came to get serviced, but for us too.”
A Business Built on Nostalgia and Community
Walker believes that what makes TWST Bar special isn’t only its efficiency, but the atmosphere. “The branding is very nostalgic,” she said. “When people come, it feels very old-school. I don’t know what your salon experience was when you were growing up, but when I was younger, I would go with my aunt early Saturday morning. I remember being there for hours, but I also remember the conversations, the people laughing, everyone feeling good when they walked out.”
She said the same dynamic shows up in her salon now. “Because we’re walk-in only, people might have to wait ten minutes. But while they’re waiting, they’re talking to the person beside them or asking the little girl who’s drawing, ‘What are you drawing?’ It’s filled with noise from conversation. You come in by yourself and leave feeling like you were sitting in your best friend’s living room.”
From Dreamer to Industry Disruptor
Walker founded N Natural Hair Studio at 23, saving $30,000 in a single year to open her first space. “My parents and boyfriend thought I was crazy,” she wrote on the company’s website. “I was working unrelenting hours and walking around in shoes with holes in the bottom.” That gamble became one of the defining decisions of her life. “This company is the second-best thing I’ve ever done,” she wrote. “My first son being the first.” Now, more than a decade later, the business has grown from a solo venture to what she describes as “a machine that serves hundreds of people a month—and by the time you read this, maybe thousands.”
She’s also evolved as a leader. A devoted Bikram yoga practitioner—she once practiced 365 consecutive days between 2019 and 2020—Walker says she’s more grounded and patient than when she started. “Maybe that’s the yogi in me,” she added in the bio. Her approach to ownership is unusual in an industry notorious for burnout and instability. Team members at N Natural Hair Studio receive paid vacation, sick leave, and soon, she says, health insurance and retirement benefits. “We use hair as a tool to empower women who come into our space,” she wrote, “but most importantly to empower our own lives and power our livelihood.”
That same feeling of empowerment can be witnessed in the continuation of the TWST Bar Pop-Up Series, which resumed with a Baltimore stop on Veterans Day. The event marked the second in a three-part series that will conclude later this month with a final pop-up in Virginia. “For the pop-ups, we’ve partnered with other natural hair salons,” she explained. “They’re appointment-only; we’re walk-in only. It’s very compatible. The people who come to us probably have never heard of those salons, and vice versa.”
Unlike the November 2 event for furloughed workers, the Baltimore and Virginia stops are part of TWST Bar’s regular service model and feature paid appointments. Walker said the shift isn’t about profit—it’s about sustainability and visibility. “We can’t do every event for free,” she told MadameNoire. “Paying a team of 20 for a full day is a lot. But the spirit behind what we did will always be part of what we do.”
The partnerships themselves grew naturally from her belief that success multiplies through connection. “When I entered this industry, I was never afraid to walk into another salon,” she said. “People would look at me weird, like, ‘Girl, why are you stepping into my salon when you own one?’ But I’ve always felt that in this industry, you should know the other salon owners.” She laughed as she added, “Everybody in the DMV is eating. There’s enough to go around. Pepsi and Coke still sit at the same dinners. Why wouldn’t we?”
Redefining What Success Looks Like
The pop-up model is expanding. Walker said the team has already selected locations in Los Angeles and Arizona for 2026, and plans to continue monthly DMV pop-ups as long as staffing allows. “Even though we’re only 20 minutes from some of these areas, it makes a difference for people,” she said. “A mom might say, ‘I’m not driving to Silver Spring [, Maryland] when you’re popping up in Bowie [, Maryland].’ The convenience matters.”
Her long-term vision is to create something scalable but still rooted in joy. “I want every pop-up to feel like a family cookout,” she said. “Very family-friendly, all ages welcome, music vibing, people chatting—it’s just good times.”
When asked what success looks like, Walker paused before answering. “Success for me looks like our company—not being the only, but being an example—of Black people, specifically Black women, being able to work in an environment that’s fun and joyous,” she said. “Where work doesn’t look like work, it doesn’t feel like work, and our clients can see that.” That definition, she said, keeps her grounded as both a business owner and a community member.
“We were able to do this because we had the team, the timing, and the will,” Walker said. “It felt good to give, but it felt even better to know we were ready when the moment came.” The TWST Bar series continues beyond Silver Spring—with a recent stop in Baltimore on Veterans Day and one more to come in Virginia—Walker remains focused on the mission that started it all: using hair as a bridge to community, dignity, and joy.
