The “Jacking”

It had been a long, stressful day.

I struggled to drag my legs along as I made my way to my room in the hostel.

My eyes felt like they were closing, fighting to stay open just to lead me to my bed so I could finally crash and sleep off.

Then, suddenly, I caught a sight.

A sight that made my eyes open wide.

A shocking yet funny sight.

It was the “jacking.”

There were two girls.

One was seated on a chair, and the other — the “hair stylist” — stood behind her, jacking her head.

I’m sorry I keep saying “jacking,” but that was the word that came to my head that evening.

Even now, as I write, I can’t think of a better word to describe what I saw.

So pardon me, let’s just stick with “jacking.”

PS: I checked the meaning of jacking after writing this post, and it has nothing to do with what I’m saying. So, I have to clarify things here. What I mean is “dragging, pulling, and massaging hair aggressively.”

What was actually happening was that a girl was helping her friend (or roommate or sister, IDK) to relax her hair. Yeah, relax, as in, apply a hair relaxer.

But guys, I am not kidding. She was jacking her head.

When I saw them, she had already applied the relaxer to the hair all around.

They were at the stage where you massage the relaxer in but like I said, she was jacking the poor girl’s head.

She held the hair section she was working on firmly (It was the front-right section, I remember clearly).

And with what seemed like all her strength and might, she squeezed, jolted, pulled, and dragged this hair section, “massaging” the relaxer in.

Then, I heard her tell the owner of the head, “irun e yii maa jina leni,” meaning, “your hair will definitely relax properly today.”

Haha, I see.

I heaved heavily, carried my tired self, shook my head slightly, and continued moving to my room.

At least that scene jolted my senses, and I suddenly didn’t feel as tired as before.

Why was I so concerned about what I saw?

First, I pitied the girl’s head.

As expected, she did end up with what we call a burnt scalp.

Second, it reminded me of the simple but uncommon truths I had learned about hair relaxing (or retouching).

You see, I enrolled as a hairdressing apprentice after I finished secondary school.

My boss is a hair relaxing pro (A queen, I must stan!).

She had been my mum’s customer since we moved to the street because of her proficiency at relaxing/retouching hair.

She’s the type of hairdresser that people confidently recommend to others when they say, “My hair never relaxes!”

And she would never disappoint.

In fact, there were a couple of scenes at the shop where a new customer would say, “irun mi oo ki n jina” (meaning “my hair never relaxes”), and my boss would jokingly ask, “What would you give me if I relax it the next time it’s due and it softens properly?”

Every time, it went well, and the customer would go, “Ah, so my hair can relax like this!” at the end.

As you can expect, she had many customers, especially for hair retouching and setting.

It was no witchcraft.

She had mastered the art, and more importantly, she knew what most people did not know about hair relaxing.

She readily shared these tips with her apprentices (lucky me!) and others.

Here are some of them; perhaps you’ll understand why the “jacking” pained me so much😭😂):

• The hair relaxer — the product itself — is what relaxes the hair, not your hands. (So, stop jacking!!!)
• Jacking, or aggressively massaging, the hair hurts the scalp, leaving it “burnt.”
• The back of a tight-toothed comb does an excellent job of gently massaging the relaxer into the hair.
• Massaging the hair aggressively DOES NOT increase the chances of the hair relaxing properly.
• You only need to apply a hair relaxer directly on the new hair growth (commonly called undergrowth).

These were little things that my mum also used to mention, but I never took them seriously until I worked with my boss.

So, for someone who knows that relaxing the hair works best when done gently, it was rather shocking to see someone jacking another person’s head all because they want to make sure their hair relaxes.

Sadly, this is a common sight.

Many times, I want to shout, “Stop ittttttttttt,” but I don’t because I’m such a gentle girl who does not want to come off as teaching anybody their job🙂.

So here I am, in this post, shouting, “Stop ittttttttttt,” just in case you’re like the girl I saw in my hostel that day who jacks people’s heads to relax their hair.

Learn the right way to relax hair and avoid these common pitfalls.

Please, stop jacking!

Hi, I’m Lovelt, a hair lover, blogger, and content writer. I’m new on Medium, and I’ll be sharing personal experiences or anything else that pops up about hair and writing. Do you have similar interests? I’d love to connect with you! Kindly hit the follow button, and I’ll follow right back.