Comments on: “Good Hair” Entertaining But Lacking in Depth

By: SunnyBeZen

SunnyBeZen — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:30:08 +0000

I don’t think a film like this should have been done by a Black man. I also don’t think that since the film wasn’t balanced and Rock excluded naturals (except for one) I don’t think it should have been released to theaters. I’m embarrassed for Black women after seeing this film because one of my friends told me that Whites were in the theater when she saw it.

Aside from the relaxers, this film leads non-Blacks to believe that ALL black women wear weaves unless their hair is short. I’ve felt compelled to defend Solange Knowles – a natural and Tempest Bledsoe, another natural on a blog because Whites making comments about their hair assumed it was a wig or a weave! I pointed out that is was not and that all Black women don’t have hair that is three inches long. Sad.

By: newcurly09

newcurly09 — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 02:41:51 +0000

This comment is at a late date, but I have to say that 1. Chris Rock is not only a comedian, he is a man that wears really short hair. He couldn’t have been expected to really know anything about this subject and may have thought that he did do an in-depth treatment. It is unlikely that many he works with have natural hair and they probably thought it was in-depth, too. And 2 I had my hair relaxed from the time I was little and didn’t do anything different till after I was thirty and it had nothing, I repeat, nothing to do with ‘looking white.’ If your Mama knew how to take care of natural hair fine, but don’t be a judgmental harpy about the rest of us. I hate the relaxer and think it is poison and evil, but as a medium skinned black women with African, Choctaw and European ancestors I will never look white. So let’s never point political and racial fingers at innocent (tho’ perhaps uninformed) coinhabitants of this planet. Thank you.

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Curly Nikki Interviews Joey Mazzarino | NaturallyCurly.com — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 18:49:31 +0000

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By: Rhian Sharp

Rhian Sharp — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:08:32 +0000

I’m glad that he didn’t try to cover up the truth. Every time I go to the mall I think ‘ what are women of African decent doing?’ Everone know that our hair was not born straight as a pin.

It’s time to face the truth and accept what’s ours.

By: Gabi2009

Gabi2009 — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:35:45 +0000

Watched it again with a friend because someone here had said that Chris Rock had spoken of his daughter’s future hair choice in concrete terms in the film (ie: “when”). I listened carefully the second time around but did not find that reference. In fact, he consistently said “if” not “when”.

However, while watching it for the second time I revised my opinion. While Rock and his film are still entertaining, I found his take on the discussion disturbing. He treated the category “Black Women” as though it was biological instead of political. This is deeply problematic. Especially in light of his assertion in India to the long-haired daughter of the hair exporter when he said: ‘If you see a Black woman run the other way’. As were the explicit class dynamics also at play which were for the most part ignored.

I am not shocked because Rock is an entertainer, not a scholar. However, with regard to his simplistic analysis he might have been able to address some of the generalizations if he had had discussions with scholars in the film to provide more nuanced perspectives.

By: Gabi2009

Gabi2009 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:56:21 +0000

I enjoyed the movie. I found it entertaining – the Bronner Brothers annual event – and educational because I really had no idea that so many Black American women wore weaves or that it cost so much. I liked that Rock showed variety in hair styles as well as the consequences to some methods. I liked that viewers got to see the diversity of opinions that accompanied the hair choices – from both women and men. I have to say that Ice T really impressed me (male opinion) as did Tracie Thoms (female opinion). These two actors said essentially the same thing: if you’re going to wear your hair as it grows out of your scalp, own it and be ready to defend it. I found the movie uplifting and affirming.

By: beautyisnatural

beautyisnatural — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:16:55 +0000

For men, this was probably a shocker, but for women it was nothing new. The first part was interesting about the harsh chemicals, but after that it really was no depth. I was disappointed that there was NOT more women with natural hair in the film. It sort of made those actress that did speak up look “shallow”. Umm… the film was decent, but it was missing something?…?

By: multicultcurly

multicultcurly — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:42:01 +0000

I haven’t seen the movie, but what I got from the interviews he has done — including the one on Oprah, is that he doesn’t particularly care for the hair that is dominant among African-American women. I say that because he made a comment about why he went to India along the lines of he wanted to see where the hair his daughters would eventually wear came from when he appeared on Oprah. I’m assuming that this movie will be funny and enlightening (I’ve never understood the weave and constant changes of hairstyles in AA culture.) However, I do think he does make caricatures of some of the ordinary women.

By: Chevelure

Chevelure — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:14:45 +0000

arkanfine:

There are some extremely gullible white people (including professional reviewers) who think that black women don’t let their s.o.s touch their hair.

Not sure that Chris Rock did black women too much of a favor.