Good Hair

People are crazy, but some are crazier than others. We spend billions of dollars on pets, on sports, on cigarettes, booze and drugs, on video games, on movies and TV, all to fill our need for companionship, excitement, entertainment, to look good and to feel good. For some people, it's clothes. For others, it's the gym. For black women, it seems to be all about the hair. A good friend of mine adopted two little black girls. Being white herself, she keenly felt the scrutiny of black women, who judge other black women on how they keep their daughter's hair. She would drive three hours to a neighboring city and spend two nights in a motel with her daughters so that each could have a day to get their hair done with a specialist. My friend later paid $1,000 to learn how to do her daughters' hair, and now she does it professionally on the side. The hair money was better spent than the money spent on her law degree. But getting back to the movie, it's fascinating, and, like many movies about obsessions, somewhat sickening. Rock shows the lengths black women go to in order to have silky hair and the costs paid in dollars, pain, even lack of intimacy with their lovers. It's nuts, but that's what makes humans such interesting creatures. You won't believe your eyes when you see the wrestlemania-type, hair stylist smackdown which ends the movie. The subject may not be as universally relatable as chowing down on fast food, but it's just as good a documentary, and in its way, just as disturbing.

...this was a missed opportunity. All the facts (most of which I was unaware of) are there, but the filmmakers step back from exploring many of questions raised: the importance of racial identity, economic oppression by other minorities/majorities, health risk of fashion, etc.

It would seem like Chris Rock would be the perfect individual to guide us through this movie, but he seems harnessed. And whether it's because the people in the frame with him are fragile and therefore undeserving of outrage or he's following someone else's script, it's surprising that the only rage expressed comes in the final few moments (by no one less than the "self-proclaimed inventor" of Jheri Curl), and it's such an over the top rant, that we laugh it off.

While there are a number of very appealing people throughout, we're told that people are damaging their health as well as their children's health, outlandish prices are paid by people who appear or say they can't afford it, foreign nationals are being exploited and shorn against their will to satisfy "looking like something you're not." I kept waiting for the anger to burst through, but there was only good natured joshing and giggles. (And a long section on touching the hair of black women that crosses over into sexism.)

I was more shocked by the lack of stance by the filmmakers than the practices of hair care in the African American community. But if you're not clued into the huge industry around these practices, give this movie a look, and then go tell someone who hasn't processed or "woven" their hair how beautiful they look. (Becauase they DO look beautiful without all this nonsense.)

Chris Rock has two young daughters Lola and Zahra. One day, Lola asks why she doesn't have good hair. Chris goes into a funny in-depth dive into the world of black people's hair. It's a hidden world for most non-blacks and this is informative. The interview with the white chemistry professor is funny when he asks why black people put sodium hydroxide in their hair. Rock could have had more white people interviews. He follows some of the competitors in the Bronner Bros Hair Battle. His wit is great and he's able to also deal with the material seriously. This is very much right up his alley. It's fun and ultimately has a point to make.

Fascinating exploration of the topic, I learned a lot.

Made me think about what I put on my hair when I relax it and reminded me what beauty standards I adhere to and the racial issues around expecting everyone to have the same kind of straight hair.

Touches on the further complication of being expected to be more like another race, in order to be "beautiful". I never even thought about the fact that these women are buying hair from women in India (who don't even know their hair is being sold sometimes) in order to wear it on their heads in order to look "less black". Some people even ironically called it a more "natural" look. I was really sad to see that only 1 woman defending actual "natural" unrelaxed/no weave hair. And even sadder to hear a group of African-American women say they would not take another woman seriously on a job interview if she had 'nappy hair' - that "nappy" hair with a suit is a contradiction!

I'd have liked more historical context (less focus on the contest). Especially as they lamented that the industry was not run by African Americans, I was a little surprised there was no mention of Madam Walker's (first self made female millionaire) relaxers but I guess he was focusing on current day issues, not the history of hair products for African hair.

My only real complaint is that I wish he'd kept the focus on women.

There was too much sexism & judgement from the men. It's very easy for them to judge when they're not req'd to maintain their own hair. They can just go bald or very short. If they were required (for the sake of good looks) to have long hair, I'm sure they would do the same thing. And the assumptions that the men are paying for women's hair maintenance was annoying. The hypocrisy of expecting women to maintain this hair but complain about the price and that it couldn't be wet or touched was a bit annoying. And Ice-T just reminded me why he's a douche, still thinking like a pimp. And the music executive with the goat hair looking goatee points & some serious sexist comments just came off as a huge loser.

While this is not the greatest movie ever or even the last word about (mainly) black women's hair, it's well worth seeing, and strikes a nice balance between being entertaining and informative. Chris Rock is basically learning as he goes, and he sort of functions as a surrogate for us viewers. It's definitely an Obama-era movie: whenever it starts to get critical, it backs off a little and is careful not to offend any group. His style of questioning can be a bit cheeky but he's always engaging. The film keeps focus on the creative/fashion side, rightly so, I think. If you're up for something different, interesting but certainly not heavy, I recommend it.