Essence Magazine:
Hans Neleman / Getty Images By India Espy-Jones ·Updated October 24, 2025 Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…
“I didn’t understand why my version of puberty felt so different from everyone else’s,” says Umber by J. Lenay founder Jasmine Nelson, who recounts these feelings as the first sign of hormonal imbalance.
As a teen, her period cramps were unusually painful, body odor more intense, and then “I started noticing hair growing
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