Good Hair

I enjoyed the movie Good Hair, because I felt it raised all of the issues regarding the African-American community and the thought process behind "good hair". This movie wasn't a preachy movie and introduced many concepts in a very subtle way ( the psyche of good hair, media images of black hair and acceptance/rejection of black hair in its natural state (the scene with high school girls, who tell the one girl with natural hair, she wouldn't be hired for a job and that she didn't look "together" was jarring.

I felt the film did a good job of covering who controls the economics behind black hair (hardly any blacks, mainly whites and Asians) and the staggering amount of revenue ($9 billion annually) in the industry, generated by people who own less than a percent of the industry. The film looked at everyday people who get weaves, and pay serious money (the lay-away plan was sad, funny, and ingenious at the same time) and the reason they feel weaves are necessary. Calling relaxers "creamy crack"was funny and alarming at the same time. The health risks, the thought of lye and the discussion of scalp burns was right on target.

The message regarding the impact of celebrity in our culture is so deep, that every day women will spend beyond their means to look like a Beyonce or Rhianna, though they don't have either of these women's financial means. The idea that straight "white" looking hair is equated with beauty and self worth was a undercurrent theme in this movie.

The male point of view is represented by the rich and famous (Andre Harrell, Paul Mooney) and the barbershop. No matter what a black man's economic status is, they all were catching the same type of hell regarding not being able to touch a woman's weaved head. Rev. Al Sharpton was the exception to this dilemma, but didn't mention the limitations of having relaxed hair. Yet he did point out hair shouldn't sabotage a black woman's economic situation, but often does. Money spent on a weave could be spend on education or a 401K plan instead. Black men also feel the economic pinch the weave provides, because they often have to provide money for weave upkeep and to keep their relationship.

The limitations of having a weave (no swimming, no touching the hair, can also be examined in the movie "Something New" which is also an examination of the weave culture in addition to interracial relationships between black women and white men. The question was posed do some black men deal with white women exclusively, because they can go swimming, and have their hair touched, opened up another can of worms. This movie can't explore all of the psyche behind the phrase "good hair" but does a good job of opening up the conversation.

One thing the movie does is make the audience look at the children who looked too young to be putting chemicals in their tender scalps,and who seemed to be indoctrinated with the message that their hair needed to be straight in order for them to be considered pretty. That was just sad, because the people sending them those messages were their own mothers,grandmothers, and society at large. As a black woman with relaxed hair, I really have to think about the ideology, society, and the culture that has influenced the choice I've made regarding the hair choice I am making. These women are making a choice, but if they knew of the insidious nature that feeds the beast, would they or I consider a different reality, which is our natural hair?

I was expecting a crass and superficial documentary. I didn't get that. But I also didn't get a documentary that had much substance.

Inspired by a question his daughter posed to him one day, one of the themes of Rock's film is to highlight the absurdities and contradictions associated with the multi-billion dollar beauty industry that concerns itself with making African American women's hairs look more 'natural' and 'relaxed.' This component of the film was conveyed by the excesses portrayed in Rock's salon interviews and the hair-dresser competition (that had less to do with hair and more to do with…everything else). Rock approaches the subject matter seemingly with a degree of 'innocence' not unlike the disposition of his daughter's inquiry. He interjects comical observations into his interviews to highlight the ways in which a visible and highly racialized 'beauty norm' circulates the American cultural landscape to cultivate the desire for African American women to look 'a certain way.' But while this component of the documentary is interesting (and often entertaining), it is severely inadequate and fails to provide his daughter with a thoughtful and satisfactory answer to her question.

First, the "9 billion dollar hair trade industry" is far more exploitative than as portrayed in the film. In fact, the film actually makes invisible a whole network of people involved in the 'hair trade', in particular those involved in processing the hairs to be used as weaves and wigs. The is an illicit component of the 'hair trade' steep in child labour and sweatshop labour that flies in the face of Al Sharpton's "do whatever you feel like as long as you are not hurting anyone..." liberal rhetoric. That it came out of the mouth of a self-proclaimed 'civil rights activist' is all the more ironic.

Second, the documentary fails to ask why 'long relaxed hair' is a beauty norm even in African American culture (as well as other African 'diaspora' communities). Why do so many African American women feel the need to 'de-naturalize' their hair at such extravagant financial expense and associated health risks? This omission in the film has been subject to a significant number of criticisms, and rightly so, considering it is at the heart of the question posed by Rock's daughter (that we are told, was the inspiration for the film). It is not as if Rock had to do the research from the ground up since there is already a lengthy and extensive list of materials addressing this topic in film and in print--contrary to a number of reviewers who have suggested that this topic has not been discussed before.

What is particularly surprising is how ignorant most of the reviewers here seem to be about this topic (compared to most of the 'professional' film critics I read, who seem to be more educated about it). I can understand if they are actually from countries that do not have a sizable population of African descent. But if you are an American (and especially if you are an African-American) and you never gave a thought about this topic until you saw this film? You'd rank 9 on the scale of ignorance, right behind Miss Teen South Carolina and her "some people in our nation don't have maps" spectacle.

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.

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.

Chris Rock provides a good snapshot of the hair culture of African-American women. Various aspects of the movie are entertaining, amusing, or saddening, depending on how one views them.

I have heard people criticize the movie's lack of depth in the analysis of topics like economic exploitation with regard to hair products, and sociological issues around the use of these products. However, such detailed analysis would not be very meaningful without the general background that is provided in this movie.

This movie was a good, light documentary on a topic that interested me and had not been discussed before.