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Chris Rock’s “Good Hair” is funny, very funny, but all the jokes come at the expense of black women.
There’s no question that in Good Hair, Chris Rock brings the funny. (Trolling the streets of Los Angeles, peddling “black hair” that no one wants.) There’s no question that he brings the outrage. (Showing a preschooler submitting to the “creamy crack”—a chemical relaxer.) There’s no question that he brings the dirt, getting celebrities to tell it. (Nia Long on her fake hair: “Weave sex is a little awkward.”)
But while Rock’s foray into the tangled web of black women and their hair, is indeed very, very funny, very, very outrageous, and at times very, very revealing, there are two things that he does not bring to the conversation: Context and compassion.
Which is too bad, considering that Rock’s stated purpose for doing his documentary was his shock at his young daughter’s plaintive question, “Daddy, how come I don’t have good hair?” Good Hair as in, “blow hair,” “silky,” “nice,” “wavy,” “relaxed and nice hair,” the type of locks not typically found on the heads of folks descended from south of the Sub-Sahara. The hair thing is a question that’s long bedeviled black folks living in a post-colonial world, the subject of doctoral dissertations, books and yes, documentaries. (And if you think that only African-American women struggle with the good hair meme, then you’ve never set foot inside a Dominican beauty parlor.)
In his quest to get to the—ahem—roots of the good-hair obsession, Rock travels the world, from the Harlem beauty parlors to the Olympics of hair shows to Hindu Temples in India where devotees shave their heads in a ritual of purification. And along the way, he unearths some startling revelations: Human hair is India’s No. 1 export; thieves cut off the hair of unsuspecting women and sell it on the black market.
Black hair is a $9 billion business, but only a handful of the companies that cater to that market are black-owned. Salt-n-Pepa’s asymmetrical ‘dos from the “Push It’’ era happened when Pepa came out on the losing end of chemical straightener. And back in the day, Ice-T willingly underwent the “torture” of the creamy crack because he thought he needed good hair to dominate his women. Apparently, it’s hard out there for a pimp.
Except for a few passing remarks from actress Salli Richardson and Long, on how the pursuit of good hair is about being “the lighter the brighter the better,” Rock doesn’t delve into the historical context of good hair. He doesn’t bother to tell us that the straight hair fixation has everything to do centuries of slavery, forced miscegenation and the resulting intra-racial caste system within the black community. Not every black woman has a weave or a relaxer; and not every weave or perm is evidence of self-hate. (Actress Tracie Thoms of Cold Case is the only one holding it down for the natural sisters in Good Hair.)
There is an undercurrent of misogyny at work here: Black women come off as desperately vain, using layaway to pay for weaves and hitting up their men to finance their wallet-busting habit. It’s interesting to note that while Rock’s adorable daughters make silent cameos, his wife does not appear in Good Hair.
I would have liked to have heard from her about Rock’s Good Hair obsession; that would have added some context, maybe even some compassion.
Teresa Wiltz is The Root’s senior culture writer. Follow her on Twitter.
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Thank you for sharing your daughter's story. I've joined an online support group and I've found that my interactions with those people who have had alopecia since they were kids to be the most enlightening. They're resilient to alopecia--they speak of this life altering condition so unemotionally, that it makes those of us with late onset feel foolish.
I'm happily married to a great man who has accepted me and finds me desirable. He married a woman with beautiful hair, but he has handled my hair loss very well. So why I do feel annoyed at that twisted amused grin from a male African American stranger? I feel foolish that it truly pisses me off--why in the hell should I care what he thinks? I've slowly come to realize that I've got to do a better job at focusing on what I feel about myself. K, your beautiful daughter has had 32 years to master what I'm struggling to come to terms with--self acceptance. Thank you again for your supportive response.
Excellent Comment. It just seems that its falling on deaf ears nowadays. Some people will have to learn the hard way.
My daughter has had alopecia for most of her 32 years. Hardly no boys and few men can deal with it. Thank God she has found someone who loves her the way she is. She does wear something (wig, scarf, hat) about 1/2 the year cause she gets very cold if she does not keep her head covered. The stares from people (especially men) have and sometimes still do make her depressed. Her father and I have tried to instill self awareness of her inner beauty so she can live without focusing on her loss of hair. She has said especially when she was younger that she just wished she had hair ("good or bad" at least it is hair).
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Fifty-four years ago, in our segregated seventh grade classroom, the teacher, Mrs. Sewall, stopped in the middle of one lesson to give us another lesson. She'd overheard someone in the class use the term "good hair" and she wasn't going to stand for it. Mrs.Sewall let us know in no uncertain terms that all of us black children had good hair and she never again wanted to hear the labels "good hair" and "bad hair" used in her vicinity. Mrs. Sewall was trying to undo damage from a white supremacist culture in 1955. As did, the "black is beautiful" era years later. Yet, here we are in 2009, with Chris Rock's daughter-and many other daughters-wishing for "good hair". Mrs. Sewall must be screaming from her grave.
That I woke up and saw the light. I for one never really "needed" a relaxer...no one does really but my hair texture suffers greatly from the over processing. It has been 5 yrs w/o any chemical. It feels very good to be natural! I stopped with the fake nails as well! I really don't understand the women with fake hair, fake nails, fake eyelashes...enough already!
Yes, thanks for the great site. When my condition goes into remission and my hair returns, I will never consider perming it again. I agonized over my initial hair loss believing that it was caused by relaxers. It took a lot of convincing from my dermatologist to assure me that this was a symptom of the body attacking healthy tissue. And I still didn't believe her until I loss hair on other parts of my body. For sisters, natural is the healthier way; we are so beautiful.
I will use sites like Going Natural and Napputrality http://www.nappturality.com/ to keep my new hair in the best condition.
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The movie taught me nothing new but I truly appreciate the conversation it sparks and I think it does make Black women think about their hair habits which is a very good thing.
2 girls came out the movie and wanted to go natural immediately. Despite the warnings on the relaxer kits it seems that too many of us still don't realize how hazardous these chemicals that we use, month after month for decades in a row, are. I honestly don't mind if they never go natural I only want them to realize it.
The 9 billion that we spend on our hair doesn't make our hair healthier. On the contrary. We suffer disproportionally from hair breakage and hair loss. 73% to be specific.
So if you think we look bad, sorry to say we do bad. Of course there is a lot of ground that he didn't cover but it's a start.
I don't care if other races have hair issues or not. There is no other race on the planet that still have to go to court to wear natural hair and I hope we get to that conversation.
In the mean time I am trying to do my part. Check out America's Next Natural Model if you are interested: http://going-natural.com.