Chris Rock Does a Documentary on "Good Hair"

Chris Rock is funny but but some things in the black community aren’t to be joked about.  Like reparations.  Or Mohammed Ali.  And black women’s hair.

I might have to stress especially black women’s hair.

It’s really deep and funny,” said Rock.  “I did a Michael Moore expose on hair.”

Rock could end up getting a collective beat down by African women everywhere if black women find it more mocking than amusing.  A quick synopsis of the film says it’s about the problems African Americans have with maintaining great hair.

“Good hair” is an expression that African Americans use to describe hair that is not kinky and coarse.  Since Slavery times African Americans, especially women, were made to feel ashamed of their hair. During slavery black women were made to wear kerchiefs over their heads to hide their woolly manes.  Today, many African descended women use chemical relaxers to change the texture of their hair and/or add extensions or weaves to give their hair length.

Culture critic and author Nelson George is an executive producer for the film.  Rock hopes to debut the film at the Sundance Film Festival in January ’09.

For the film Rock spoke with some of the world’s top stylists and went to the top hair shows.  He even went to India where most of the human hair weaves originate.

 ”(It’s about) the business of black hair – weaves and relaxers and all this stuff,” said Rock.

About these ads