Customer Reviews

Good Hair

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Comedian Chris Rock takes a look at the lengths some people in the African-American community, especially women, go to for "good hair". Near the beginning and end of the movie Rock visits the Bronner Hair Show in Atlanta, Georgia, a huge trade convention for the manufacturers of black hair products. Here he highlights four stylists competing for the title of champion platform performer, an elaborate stage show featuring music, dance, costumes and, of course, hairstyling. In between Rock discusses all the time and money spent using relaxer and getting weaves as well as the possible psychological and cultural reasons behind this obsession with hair.

Rock's take on the subject seems to be that it is more important what's in your head than on your head. But it also recognizes the pressures placed on black women to fit in with society's beauty standards and understands why these women forsake their natural hair for perms and extensions. The film delves into serious subjects but maintains a funny and playful tone throughout. I certainly found myself laughing more than I did at the usual Hollywood comedy. And I even left the theater feeling a little smarter about a topic I knew almost nothing about. One of the better documentaries of the year.

"Good Hair" is an insightful and hilarious documentary by Chris Rock on the issue of African-American women's hair. Chris Rock provides an in-depth view on relaxers and weaves.

I'm biracial with extremely thick out-of-control curly hair. There have been times when my hair has broken combs, curling irons and hair brushes. When I was younger, I used relaxers to straighten my hair. Most of the time, they'd last for only a week or two before my hair reverted to its natural state. And there were times when my scalp was burned by the lye. So I could definitely relate to the coke can with the lye demo in the film.

I wanted to give Maya Angelou kudos for not getting a relaxer until she was 70. When Chris Rock remarked that Ms. Angelou had waited her whole life for a relaxer, I loved her retort that she wasn't dead yet.

I almost fell out my chair laughing when Chris Rock tried to sell African-American hair to beauty shops. At the same time, it was sad commentary. Why is African-American hair worth nothing? Why can't we embrace all types of hair?

I also was saddened that African-American high school girls thought that natural African-American hair was "unprofessional" and "bad." Again, why is straight hair good? Maybe if Michelle Obama and other powerful African-American women started to wear their hair natural, we would finally embrace natural African-American hair. Just a thought.

The most insightful, all-round treatment of the subject in existence, including the never before discussed international dimension that points to possibly pervasive exploitation and violent abuse of Asian women to feed the trade in their hair. Nobody before now had ever brought that dimension to the public. In this documentary, Rock betters the very best of Michael Moore without the pedantry and with a lot of humor. An A+ work for a first time director.

This is a must see for all African American Women. This documentary is a detailed documentary on "good hair" and what black women have been doing for years in order to achieve this so called good hair. From relaxers to 1,000 weaves....average women with average incomes are doing things as drastic as not paying rent to maintain "good hair". If you have a daughter I hope that this documentary will encourage you to let them appreaciate their hair in its natural state no matter what the texture. It broke my heart to see people on this video with 3 year olds already perming their hair.

I've been attending Sundance since 1990. Living in Salt Lake and having this festival right in my backyard ( Park City ) is a blessing beyond any and all. If you love film, Sundance is Heaven.
Being a cinephile ( and sometimes actor ), I do my best to attend at least 18-20 screenings each year ( often up to 25 plus panels and all the incredible music at the ASCAP music cafe, etc, etc...) That being said, each year I pick a film or two that I feel my wife will enjoy and we can attend together. She's not quite the hardcore I am and a couple of films a year is about her `quota'. In '09 ( 2010 being this past festival ) that film was "Good Hair". We saw it at a screening in Salt Lake - I rarely come down from Park City for SLC screenings for fear the director won't consider the screening "important" enough to merit a Q & A, One of the main reasons Sundance is so wonderful, is this rare chance to interact with the filmmakers - The venue was The Rose Wagner Theater, a wonderful 'legit' theatrical performance house w/ full stage, and beautiful "ambience".
I know that I've already rambled on and on and haven't even mentioned the film, but the reason will become apparent shortly ( we all hope...).
The film was all I'd hoped it would be. The documentary section of the Festival has always been the strongest ( in both my own and founder Robert Redfords opinion ), and Good Hair was true to form. The catalyst for the story, Rock's daughters question about why she doesn't have "...good hair..." sets Rock on a journey across America, that includes a number of mostly interesting and humorous interviews ( I'm sure Rock called in a lot of favors to get some of the names and personalities who open up and tell us their "hair" stories ), as well as background and some historical context. I don't think Rock was out to make a dead serious, socio-anthropologic, academic study of Black people in America ( though, in some part he succeeds to this end anyway, though more inadvertently than purposefully ), I think his aim was more a semi-serious, semi funny 'chin scratching' rumination on something that had been going on around him most , if not all of his life, a big "Hmmmmmmm?" that his beautiful daughters questions had set off in head.
To this end we are treated to some hilarious stories about the nature of current black culture as it relates to the self image of black women in America, what they have to do to try and maintain that image, be it self imposed or imposed by the media and generations of brainwashing. Additionally we find out what black MEN think about when it comes to " the black hair culture ". Making "good hair" ( for black women ) is EXPENSIVE and there is a lot of talk surrounding how black men are `forced' to support their women and their unfailing need to obtain and maintain " Good Hair". Especially entertaining is the " Barbershop Men ". A hilarious peek in and conversation w/ da boys at the local barbershop, just too funny.
I was surprised when we were told to stick around for a Q & A with not only the director but with Chris Rock himself. I have to say after my many years attending Sundance Q & A's, Mr. Rock elevated this one to the top 5 of all time. He spent at least 45 minutes ( there was no screening following "Hair. so we had as much time as Chris was willing to give ). Rock was very informative, gracious, both self effacing and totally confident, as well as pretty amazed that he was just about "...the onliest black man in the building... " which was almost the case ( a few then vocal 'bro's & sisters yelled and raised their hands, but... Salt Lake City is a pretty damn 'whitewashed" town, to be sure. None the Less Rock regaled the appreciative audience at length, and fielded any question whether it regarded the film or not ( most did, to the audiences credit ). At turns sidesplittingly funny, appreciative and informative, Rock made a pretty damn good film screening into an unforgettable evening of film and fun. I only wish that their had been cameras to record the event and this was included in the DVD / Blu Ray extra's. This would have made the entire package even 'mo better. I wish everyone could have been there to see Chris Rock 'shine' in this special moment for a film made more special to me by Chris Rocks visit to Salt Lake CIty.
Peace!
M.S.

Having no sisters and being a white guy who grew up in an all-white town, when it comes to African American women and how much their hair means to them, my experience brings up the rear.

The first notion of how American black women may value appearance more than other females in the U.S.A. came to me when I saw the Spike Lee 1980s movie SCHOOL DAZE, where African American college girls with permanents belittle fellow sisters who leave their hair natural, derisively referring to the curly locks as "nappy." Two decades later, actor Chris Rock's documentary GOOD HAIR straightens out the rest of it for me.

His pre-school daughter's interest in what she calls "good hair" - as opposed to what naturally grows on her head - starts Chris Rock's journey into dangerous hair-straightening chemicals and expensive hair weaves. GOOD HAIR features Rock's interviews with black women and men, famous and unknown, explaining their need to avoid the naturally curly look. News to this white guy is the celebrity status of black hair designers and a hair convention where stylists compete for prizes using elaborately staged demonstrations, including choreography that matters as much as the haircut.

How far do African American women go for straight hair? To India, where Chris Rock watches as Indian people cut off their hair for religious purposes and Americans import it, because those straight locks become weaves religiously worn by black women.

See GOOD HAIR. Being African American, of course Chris Rock grew up knowing how much it means for black women to uncurl their tresses and add to it with straight hair they didn't grow themselves. But having daughters bumps his interest from passive to active, and the result is this engrossing and often funny (well, it's Chris Rock hosting) documentary. I have a daughter, too, and worry her emphasis on appearance could cross from healthy to obsessive. Chris Rock holds back from saying the words, but if the women we see in GOOD HAIR aren't in the latter category, it's only by a hair.

Did we really need another documentary showing us how black people are still stigmatized by slavery? NO. However, this is a Chris Rock documentary. It has just enough charm and wit to make it enjoyable. Good Hair is basically a documentary about how blacks have been brainwashed into believing that the straight European hair is good hair and that our natural hair is bad. We created an entire industy on trying to look more like Whitey. LOL You see all these beautiful celebrities talking about there hair weaves. These woman pay thousands of dollars so they can walk around with this so called "Good Hair." Every black person can relate to this movie. I can't even count all the times i was told as a child that i had "Nappy Hair." Like it was some kind of a disease. This movie really makes fun of how silly we are as a society. However, I don't think it will have any lasting impact. In the future women will still be putting all that fake hair and relaxers in there heads in the pursuit of happiness.

Chris Rock has the makings of a decent film maker. I enjoyed this movie, but agree with some of the other reviewers that it didn't go far enough. The commentary by Al Sharpton was interesting, and I suspect Maya Angelou had more to say. Too much time was wasted on the Atlanta competition, which had very little to do with regular people's hair. He DID show some women with natural hair, but focused on those who aren't satisfied with theirs. His trip to India was very eye-opening, and yet I doubt anyone will change their ways despite all those being exploited to further this industry.

Although so many people have written about this very interesting and often amusing documentary, I just had to write a review of my own to let you know my thoughts about it. First off, I am embarrassed to admit that I was unaware that black women put themselves through so much inconvenience, expense and even physical pain to have "good hair," which, in essence, means losing the "Afro" look to have hair like a white woman's so they can get jobs and be more accepted. I was amazed to discover that in the African-American community many women and even some men pay thousands and thousands of dollars to purchase--sometimes on lay-away plans--hair extensions attached onto their shortened natural hair often using clips or get perms and other hair styles that use sodium hydroxide which can easily burn the skin on their heads and cause them great physical pain indeed. To demonstrate just how dangerous sodium hydroxide truly is, Chris Rock, the host of this documentary, examines the effects of sodium hydroxide on aluminum cans--after just a few hours of being dipped into a vial of sodium hydroxide the can is almost entirely disintegrated--and sodium hydroxide is what many black women and some black men put into their hair to make it wavy, straighter, "whiter," or anything unlike the "Afro" look.

The film begins with Chris Rock telling us how surprised he was when his very young daughter walked into their home and asked him why she didn't have "good hair." Although he clearly sends the right message (he narrates as well as interviews) that what's in a person's head is more important than their hair, the film examines this issue well beyond this one statement.

There are two particularly interesting segments in this documentary that are well worth mentioning. Chris Rock visited the Bronner Brothers Hair Show in Atlanta, Georgia to see the multi-billion dollar industry that has been created because so many African-American women want to have hair like Farah Fawcett. Many of the companies who present their hair products at the show were started by black people but have been bought up by Asians. There is also footage from a hair competition in which hairdressers have to put on an elaborate display involving creativity and originality to demonstrate that they really and truly know how to make a black woman's hair look anything but natural. There's a lot to laugh at here and indeed all through the film; but the unfortunate message that black women don't feel good about their natural appearance comes through loud and clear. There is great pressure on them to have hair that is straight or wavy--and they don't want their men touching their hair, not even during intimate moments!

Chris Rock also travelled to India for another segment of this film. I learned how women in India consider hair to be "a vanity;" and so they have their heads shaved during a religious ritual called "tonsure." The hair is then processed and sent to countries like America--where it is sold at high prices to women and sometimes men in either beauty parlors or barber shops. There is good interview footage with Chris Rock interviewing an Indian man who owns a company there that processes human hair for export. Indeed, India's biggest export is human hair!

Other interesting interviews Chris Rock has are with famous people including the great poet Maya Angelou; actress Kerry Washington; Reverend Al Sharpton; the rappers Salt-N-Pepa; Nia Long and more. Maya Angelou states that hair "is a woman's glory;" and apparently black women want the "glory" of the white woman's hair. Chris Rock also interviews everyday people for their thoughts on the subject; he talks with women in beauty parlors and men in barber shops and what they have to say about weaves, extensions and perms for black women or men are very interesting!

Overall, this documentary takes a most serious topic and uses some humor to make it enjoyable without heavy social commentary. The relative lack of social commentary may disappoint some people, but if you really look and listen to all those interviews there's more social commentary than what initially meets the eye. I hope the day will come when black women don't feel such pressure to have hair like a white woman's hair--they should be proud of their natural beauty and heritage. I recommend this documentary for anyone interested in African-American culture; and it's a real eye-opener for white people like me who were previously unaware of the scope of this issue.

If you are in the marketing or sales business, you need to purchase this and watch it several times. It's not a movie like you would think, but more of a documentary about the black hair business. If you watch as a marketer and absorb what is going on, you will learn just what your customer is willing to do, spend and go through to get what they want, not what you might want to sell. If you can find a used copy get it.