The documentary film Good Hair was sparked when Chris Rock’s young daughter tearfully asked him “Daddy, how come I don’t have good hair?”. The resulting film is not something one could show a child; nor is it the most nuanced discussion of the politics of Black hair out there; but Good Hair is still an engaging and – to a white girl - sometimes surprising documentary.
"Good Hair" and the Politics of Black Haircare
Rock does his homework: travelling to India to find the hair used in weaves, consulting with a scientist on the hazards of relaxant, and interviewing an impressive array of Black celebrities with hair ranging from natural to $18,000-a-year weaves. He also follows a group of contestants for a flashy hairdressing contest which includes stunts such as cutting hair upside-down and underwater. The subplot is engaging due to the bizarre characters participating in the subculture – the Bill Nighy film Blow Dry comes to mind – but adds little to the discussion of Black hair.
More interesting is the commentary, carried on in salons and barber’s shops, on just how deeply the issue of hair affects Black women and men. Women admit that their weaves curtail their activities, preventing them from swimming and requiring six-hour stints in the chair to apply. Men lament not being allowed to touch their girlfriends’ hair during intimacy for fear of messing up the weave. Curiously, the film takes it for granted that Black men will be at least partly financially responsible for their partners’ hairdos: both female and male interviewees, married and unmarried, assume this.
Natural Hair in "Good Hair"
As a natural haircare enthusiast, it would have been nice to see the film discuss natural Black hair in more depth. While a minority of the interviewees wore natural hair – notably Tracie Thoms, who described her hairstyle as “radical” - no emphasis was put on products and haircare techniques designed to embrace, not alter, the texture of Black hair. The documentary also failed to mention the health risks of placenta-based haircare products targeted at Black women. The health risks of chemical relaxer were mentioned, however.
Ultimately Good Hair neither condemns nor endorses relaxers and weaves, a fact which some reviewers found disappointing. The views of the interviewees ranged from believing women should wear weaves if they wanted to – with an uncritical acceptance of white beauty standards – to decrying them as symbols of oppression and marginalisation. Rock himself did not offer his own opinion, save for showing some distaste at the idea of relaxing little girls’ hair. The film is perhaps best viewed as an introduction to various ideas about Black hair care, on which various online magazines and blogs such as Racialicious have expanded rather more rigorously and academically.
Sarah Tennant - Sarah Tennant is a onetime English major who lives in New Zealand with her husband and two small children. Her interests range from ...
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