Chris Rock’s documentary, Good Hair, opened Friday to mixed, but frequently positive, reviews. Read the full post.
Oct 12
2009
12:20 PM ET
Good 'Hair?' Hardly. How Chris Rock gets it wrong
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Having a weave or chemical relaxer in your hair may not make you white, but it does imply that your idea of beauty excludes what god gave you. I went natural so that my daughters can see that I am proud of my natural hair; I want them to be proud of their curls too. I grew up idolizing black models and actresses with straight hair until I figured out they were wearing wigs. Going natural is rough; sisters act like you’ve turned militant or are broke, and don’t get me started on trying to interview in naps. I’ve had white women run up to tell me how wonderful my hair looked when I broke down and got a relaxer. Seeing their enthusiasm for my lank straight hair made me realize that I never want to have another relaxer for as long as I live. For me going straight means collaborating with a rigid, antiquated ideal of Western beauty. I’m not going to burn my scalp or suffer heat stroke in a wig, not when there are fabulous new products like Komaza Care, WEN and Mixed Chicks coming out every week.
“it does imply that your idea of beauty excludes what god gave you.”
Hear hear! It’s true that dissatisfaction with appearance is not exclusive to black women, but there definitely seems like a racial element in this cultural fear of/loathing for curly, “nappy,” textured, ringleted hair.
P.S. I’m NOT mixed, but Mixed Chicks product work fabulously on kinks and crimps. Check out NaturallyCurly . com and join the revolution.
Coco, you said it better than I ever could have … most likely because you’re a black woman and I’m a white man … but you echoed exactly what I think on the topic.
Not all black women have the same hair, of course, but I do love it when they embrace what they were born with … whatever texture it has. I’ve loved the natural curls of the black women I’ve dated. I’ve always despised relaxed hair.
The same can be said for wearing make up then; it’s all a part of aesthetics. None of us was born with waxed eyebrows, eye shadow on the ducts in a array of colors, foundation on the face, blush on the cheeks, color on the lips. Still, women of all races wear make on the daily to enhance their beauty as they see fit and there is nothing wrong with that. I relax my hair because it is easier to maintain with the active lifetstyle that I lead and there is nothing wrong with that. The way I wear my hair has nothing to do with my blackness or the way I experience my culture.
The easiest way to maintain black hair with a busy and active lifestyle is to braid it, cornrow it, dread it, afro it, puff it, wrap it–their are a myriad ways to rock natural curls without relying on relaxers. Relaxers contain caustic chemicals that can eat through metal. The Brazilian Keratin relaxer has formaldahyde that can cause cancer and worse, is used in embalming. Embalming! As in what they used to preserve the dead! Dear god, as long as we keep buying these awful chemicals the beauty industry will have no incentive to create safer, better products for black hair care. People are buying these awful carcinogenic products at a high cost and the chemical producers are laughing all the way to the bank. Let’s support curly product providers like Carol’s Daughter, Miss Jessie’s and Ouidad instead of giving our hard earned money to the chemical companies.
This article is an innacurate idea of what the movie is about. He definitely left an open ended question in the end. And all women get their hair ideas from images in the media, so I think he was very justified to ask the trend setters…if we seen all those celebrities rocking natural, the likelihood is we’d do it too. He never said it was something wrong with it, but (and lets not front) people will spend their rent money on a weave….and thats a problem. I think its hard to listen to truth. Its easier just to not pay attention the psychological damage of consumer exploitation…I mean at least if we made money from the products…We make an ENTIRE nation of other races rich on product sold exclusively to us… Once we stop making excuses as to all the reasons why we need to put someone elses hair on our head or refuse to wear our hair in its natural state…and just say the simple reason why we do it….we may be able to change the negative feelings we have about our hair. You can’t really solve a problem, if you never state the issue outloud….and that was kind of the point…Of course he definitely played up his view of it, but thats what every media out let does. This opens the floor for discussion….Your hair is manageable…stop trying to manage it as if its European and learn ur hair….I know its difficult because the images tell us all the time that beauty is silk long tresses. Kinky is bush, primative, dirty, funny…never sexy…so I get it. We just need to stop pretending like this is not a serious issue. It is. And Other races have their own issues, but why focus on theirs, I’m not worried about why asian people cut their eyelids to have more space; although I think its sad…it doesn’t really effect me and my future children…but this issue present does. Good Job Chris!
People don’t get their ideas only from the media … in my experience (from the two long-term relationships I’ve had with black women) how they feel about their hair largely influenced by the ideas passed down by their families, particularly by their female relatives.
I think some people might have blinders on to the racist ideologies behind a lot of American cultural trends, but racism is as American as apple pie and making people ashamed of who they are is a time-honored tradition here that didn’t stop at the end of the Civil War, the Civil Rights movement or the month of September, 2009.
The ability to care for black hair gets passed down from generation to generation. I don’t have the skills my mom had, and my grandmother was a hair master but even in her time women were reaching for the wigs and the Conkaline.
Couple of things…first, everyone is a potential anthropological subject. Second, I’ve seen some black women who work in fast food places who clearly spend a LOT of money on their hair and nails, etc. I’m not saying that’s the norm, but they do exist.
I am a black woman who has never straighten, permed, or relaxed my hair. My mother, father, and grandparents never taught me to hate my natural hair by calling it “nappy”. Because natural black-african hair is not “nappy” it’s just tightly curled, which is what I was taught and was nothing to be ashamed of. It has always been easy to comb when properly cared for. I can wear it in other styles other than an afro. And it is a very nice length not too short, and long enough to blow in the wind. Yes natural black hair does blow in the wind. I hate the fact this movie doesn’t address how white women wear wigs, hair pieces, and hair extenison-always have and always will. When my daughters who are bi-racial attended a small Christian school all of their white teachers and classmates wore hair pieces.
Never once does Chris Rock state that Black women want to be white…Nope…That opinion is that of the writer as I didn’t get the feeling that he was trying state that in any way… One man said, “every woman wants the Farrah Fosset hair. Its engrained their minds…and its unrealistic idea, even more for black women”…That’s the only white reference that I heard the entire movie.
Good hair is a “moot point?” In the ten years that I have had my well groomed, natural hair, I have had to endure people saying everything to me from the fact that natural hair is unprofessional to countless people saying “they don’t have the courage” to wear their natural hair. Why in 2009 is natural hair still something to be afraid of, and that takes courage to wear. No one would say “Oh I’m so scared to wear my regular eyes or my natural ears”. If it were such a moot point, it would no longer be something to be feared.
“Women of nearly every culture want long, thick, luxiourious hair?” News flash- European culture has influenced just about every culture on the planet. Do you think that the people of Subsaharan Africa before the introduction of White people were sitting around saying “Oh Man I wish I had hair down my back”. I think not.
Aja, I’m cracking up over your last line! LOL!
I love your review. The movie should have been done by a woman. Chris Rock might be a funny guy but this is a women’s thing – white, black, oriental, it doesn’t matter, few of us have the hair we want and we’re all guilty of trying to get hair that makes us feel good about ourselves. And there is a whole industry out there to not only help us achieve it, but makes us feel bad for doing it and not doing it.
Girrrrrrl, I thought this movie was a comedy?? Don’t take it so seriously. Black women have as many viewpoints about their hair as there are Black women. Your personal opinions cannot be extrapolated to the entire group, just as the women in this movie don’t tell the entire story. We each have our own truth, and neither you nor this movie tell MY truth. And I’m not sweating it.
Thanks for your article. After watching a few interviews with Chris Rock I was wondering how I could have been so out of touch on this issue. It sounds like there isn’t any difference between the races and their hair. I’ve had some sort of chemical treatment on my hair several times a year since I was 12 (permed, straightened, highlighted, colored, etc). In my opinion, the movie would have been better served addressing what all women do in their attempt to fit in/stand out/look beautiful/fill in the blank.
I think that both the writer and Rock are at odds over what it is that we try to posture ourselves as when we change our hair. It’s not about “looking white”… it’s about looking wealthy, successful and well-kept. For a long time in our country, that meant white. Now, perhaps success isn’t necessarily black or white or tan, but it is a dominant culture, and it is one that we feel the need to posture as in order to be accepted.
Thanks for your commentary. I’m interested in seeing the movie. I was put off by the preview where Chris carries around a bunch of “black hair” and store owners say “no one wants that hair. it’s no good” Gee thanks. I think the “good hair” mentality is dated. My mother’s generation and her mom’s seemed more concerned with who had good hair and equated it with fitting in with the ruling class. I think today most of us black women view weaves and wigs as an accessory. My hair is medium length. Sometimes I want it long, so I may opt for a weave or a good wig. I also have a short wig for those times I want to go short without the committment. It’s still me. I appreciate the flexibilty. I hope my daughter won’t grow up thinking she’s not good enough because her natural hair is kinky and coarse.
I’m old & white. All my life I have covetted ‘black’ hair. I have fantasized about having a kinky, sculpted, buffant(sp?) instead of my straight, skinny, limp, thin mop! BUT, I don’t like what women do to their hair these days…cornrows, extentions, artificially straightened, etc… you should be enjoying your beautiful, envied, hair. I’ll trade ya’
I’m white and have had 2 black female roommates. I honestly never knew how much maintenance my friends did until I roomed with them. But I thought of it as negative or thought they were trying to look more white — I figured that by the time I color my hair and straighten it every day, it’s about the same amount of maintenance. Does it really matter what I do to my hair or what they do to their hair? We all have different “beauty regimes”. Can’t we just accept people for who they are?
Correction: “But I NEVER thought of it as negative”
I believe, just like any other woman, African -american women have the right to exercise freedom of expression. So if I decide to grow my hair out, cut it short, weave it, relax it, dye it- these are All God’s ideas given to us to use with intent to accent, not correct, our own natural beauty. In addition, we all “borrow” an attribute from each other that we find appealing, whether white women tan to look healthier (read:pale or yellowing skin vs tanned or blushing skin indicates health. During days of the plague women in England pinched their cheeks and Jewish women during the holocaust smeared blood on their cheeks to show healthier visage) however, a white woman is not trying to be ‘black’ by tanning any more than a black woman is trying to be white by relaxing her hair.
What’s next, a movie about “Good Eyes” when Chris Rock’s child’s next question is, “Why don’t I have blue eyes?” This movie is a buffoonery of his black sisters in my opinion, rather than celebration of our expression of beauty.
You are kidding about “Good Hair” being a moot point right? 99% of heart breaking stories I hear are about family members or other black people belittling the sisters who want to go natural or those who dare wear their hair out but yet don’t have Rachel True’s bouncy curls. I’m sorry to say but Good Hair mentality is alive and kicking. You cant dismiss this documentary because it was made by brothers, that would be like dismissing the movie The Colour Purple because it was directed by a white jewish man. Maybe you should check out the sisters on YouTube who are trying to go natural, struggling in the process because of all of the negativity they get and tell me if it’s moot.
And just because not all women spend 1000$ on their hair doesn’t mean there aren’t alot of them out there who aren’t dropping a good chunk of their hard earned money at the hair salon in pursuit of long silky hair. Seriously, who, besides us, go to the salon weekly for a press and curl?
And just because other races want that white girl flow (as was said in Tyra natural hair show) doesn’t mean we can’t question why the majority of black women feel that it’s unacceptable for them to wear natural hair.
Look, I wear my hair natural (can you tell
?) I don’t care what other women do to their hair, to me it’s live and let live. But when I see women on those makeover shows who have chemical damage because of all that processing and yet the idea of going natural is never brought up, you have to question why that is.