Brown Girl Gumbo

Last night, I had the opportunity to catch a private screening of Chris Rock’s new docu-comedy, “Good Hair.” After much publicity and online buzz, I must say it didn’t live up to my expectations. Don’t get me wrong, it was ok, but after seeing so many clips on TV, it was as if I had seen the entire movie already. I thought that there would be something more that wasn’t shown in the clips, but there wasn’t. Perhaps, he could have included a few African-American women who were proud of their natural hair to give the documentary a bit more balance.

If you’ve seen the trailer, you know that he takes viewers on a journey through African-American women and our hair plight. He delves into the obsession that some of us have with chemical relaxers and weaves. He goes behind-the-scenes to enlighten moviegoers on how both products are made. Rock even travels to India to find out how the most popular weaves are produced.

He also speaks with several celebrities including Nia Long, Raven-Symone, Dr. Maya Angelou amongst others to get their opinions on the aforementioned topics. These snippets are sprinkled throughout the film, which provide occasional funny anecdotes. In addition, there is an underlying story about a celebrated hair show that takes place in Atlanta. Throughout the film, Rock follows four of the hair show contestants around as they prepare for the big show.

All in all, “Good Hair” raises many great points about how we perceive ourselves, the lack of black-owned haircare products, and the lengths we’ll go in order to “look good.”

So I ask, “What’s the most you’ve ever paid to have your hair done?” This includes, weaves, relaxers, cut, color, etc. Are you planning on seeing the movie when it opens this Friday (in select cities) and nationwide on Oct. 23rd? Please share!

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