Good Hair

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.

"Good Hair" manages to both entertain and educate. As someone who has little interest in the culture of hair care among African Americans, I was intrigued by this film because it was written, narrated and executive produced by Chris Rock, a very intelligent, perceptive, and entertaining comedian. In addition, it examines the cultural aspects of the care and treatment of hair among black women as well as its importance as a mark of beauty. Black women endure the potential of physical injury from the chemicals used to straighten their hair, hours upon hours of treatment in order to achieve the precise look they desire, and costs well into the thousands—yes thousands—of dollars to purchase a weave. I was particularly fascinated by the bi-annual competition among hairdressers that take place at the industry trade shows—a combination of skill, spectacle, and outlandish creativity, these competitions must be seen to be believed.

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.

...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.)

This breezy documentary explored the black female hair industry, which turns out to be crazily huge, because so many black women want hair very different from what grows out of their head. Of course, white women are often dissatisfied with their hair too, but not, it seems, to this extent.

It's an interesting look at the world of black womens' hair. I never really thought much about it, but apparently when you see a black girl with straight hair you are looking at an elaborate, expensive process and possibly some Indian girl's hair sewn on.

It's also interesting to see a "hair show" where hair stylists have these crazy elaborate, very entertaining demos of their skills. That looks like fun.

Rock is amusing and entertaining as he tells us how it is forbidden to touch a black girl's hair and goes to the barbershop to learn how men feel about it all.

And that's all good as far as it goes. But I felt the documentary fell short of really exploring the topic. It beings with Rock talking about how his young daughter asks why she doesn't have "good hair." This means, basically, non-black hair. While the documentary explores the lengths women go to in order to get this non-black hair, there is virtually no discussion of those black women who stick with the hair they've got. There's only one girl with an afro in the movie, and she's there so her friends can talk about how awful they think her hair is.

I like natural black-girl hair. I think it can look really cool. But the movie never talks about that. The movie doesn't discuss the 60s, when young black men and women were making a political decision to not process their hair. The movie shows the world of black hair care as being a bit insane, but it doesn't really show an alternative.

I suspect Rock was flummoxed by his daughter's question in part because he agrees with her. He can say he wants her to be happy the way she is, but his wife has her hair heavily processed, and that is probably what he likes. So he can't really just tell his daughter, your hair is awesome.

I can tell her that, though. Maybe it's because I'm white and grew up among white people with white hair and find afros interesting because they seem unusual to me, but for whatever reason, I really like that afro look (sometimes; hair always varies from person to person).

(Apparently there is a similar movie called "My Nappy Roots" that presumably would get into more of this. The director sued this movie saying Rock had ripped off her ideas. There are more examples of black women with natural hair in the minute-and-a-half trailer for that movie than in all of "Good Hair.")