For many Black people, getting their hair done can be a costly ordeal.

But Jessica Thurmond, a student in North Lawndale, is trying to alleviate that. She’s styling her classmates’ hair for free in her school’s bathroom stalls just in time for class.

Now that small act of kindness is turning her into a viral social media star — and a budding entrepreneur.

The 17-year-old North Lawndale College Prep junior spends time between classes styling wigs, braids, curls and locs. She posts her work on TikTok, drawing as many as 4 million views.

Thurmond said she enjoys helping students who can’t afford a professional stylist.

“It feels good because it shows them that they can trust me and come to me with their hair,” said Thurmond. “Not a lot of people can afford a style that they really want.”

Thurmond said she has been styling hair since she was 8 years old. Her talents started gaining traction last year when one of her TikTok videos went viral, taking her pop-up salon from the girls’ restroom into the spotlight.

“It started when a girl asked me to do her hair. It was just random, and I told her I could do it,” said Thurmond. “Because she had a wig, but it wasn’t done good. So I told her I could take it home, fix it up, wash it, and then bring it back to her, and then install it in school. She loved it. She went to class, and everybody was like ‘Ooh, her hair looks cute and perfect.’  And she was like, ‘Yeah, Jessica did it.’”

Now, Thurmond books about 10 appointments per month. She said she was initially scared to tell her principal, Kyera Bradley, about her bathroom pop-up salon, but ended up working out ways to expand her services while balancing her class schedule.

Bradley said she embraces Thurmond’s new business venture because of how it has impacted the school community.

“Jessica’s act of kindness allows for another young lady to smile,” said Bradley. “Because now she doesn’t have to worry about the bully or the like, ‘Can I wear a hood? Can I wear a hat?’ She’s alleviated some of those issues in my building. I would be crazy not to thank her versus punishing her.”

Thurmond is saving up to go to cosmetology school and hopes to open her own salon in the future. She’s taking advantage of entrepreneurship classes at her school to build business management skills and help her manage hair appointments.

Thurmond said she hopes her school launches a cosmetology program before she graduates so that she and other students can explore hair styling careers. Bradley said that since Thurmond’s hair salon gained popularity, she’s had other students come to her expressing interest in the beauty business.

“There have been a lot more girls sharing with me, ‘I also do hair,’” said Bradley. “I’ve had alumni call me and share, like, ‘I do braids. Let me know if you ever wanted to do a pop-up shop.’”

Felicia Dowdell-Thurmond, Thurmond’s mother, said her daughter’s salon provides a safe space for girls to get their hair done for free in an area where affordable stylists are hard to come by.

“The area we live in — the North Lawndale community — we don’t have a lot of reasonable salons around,” said Dowdell-Thurmond. “A lot of this is coming from either people doing hair out their homes or something to that extent. It has to be somewhere where we can feel comfortable, and we can have trustworthy people that we’re going to.”

Dowdell-Thurmond said she is proud not only of her daughter’s budding career as a hairstylist, but also that she’s continuing a family legacy rooted in hair.

“My mom, she started her own little hair business,” said Dowdell-Thurmond. “She went to hair school. She was doing hair in the family. When Jessica was like 3 years old, she used to bring her into the room and have her do her hair. So Jessica loved doing her hair. She would let her practice on doing different styles to her hair. Her dad also cuts hair. In his family, his dad was also a barber. So styling hair and cutting hair runs deep.”

Thurmond said she plans on continuing her efforts, giving her classmates a confidence boost and a quick makeover from an unlikely place.

“Everything that I do in the school bathroom, I find it creative,” said Thurmond. “It means a lot because I’ve been doing it for a long time and I feel like I want to continue doing what I’m doing.”

Thurmond’s family is raising money here to support her plans to become a stylist and open her own hair salon.

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