We've all had bad hair days. If I can get away with it, those are the the days that I hide my hair under a baseball cap. The thing is, everyone knows exactly why I have the cap on.
Why is good hair so important? And why can't we convince our kids (and ourselves) that the stuff on top of our head isn't nearly as important as what is inside.
According to the Sundance Film Festival 2009 website: When Chris Rock’s daughter, Lola, came up to him crying and asked, “Daddy, how come I don’t have good hair?” the bewildered comic committed himself to search the ends of the earth and the depths of black culture to find out who had put that question into his little girl's head!
So what does Chris Rock do next? He makes the award-winning new comedy/ documentary Good Hair that looks at the preoccupation with straightening hair.
Relaxants for hair, weaves and more for black hair are expensive. It's almost as if you can get addicted to the products that make straight hair. Who can afford it? Discussing why and how people turn their kinky hair into straight hair is almost a taboo subject. Which makes me wonder is straight hair really "good."
Our relationship with hair is a complicated one. Even when life is getting tough some women may choose their hair care over more basic needs. Says Rock in the Chicago Sun Times: "You know Beyonce is going to spend five grand getting ready for the Grammys. But to know Kiki spends five grand to work for AT&T -- where she's only making $35,000 or $40,000, or whatever she's making -- that blew my mind."
In his documentary Good Hair, Chris Rock visits beauty salons, barber shops, hair manufacturers and wig merchants in his quest to understand how so-called "good hair" affects self-esteem and even sexual relations. Rock's candid look at the nine billion dollar African American hair business opens this Friday.