Comedian Chris Rock has made one of the year's most enjoyable documentaries. Good Hair is a highly entertaining - not to mention occasionally jawdropping - film about hair, and especially the relationship between black women and their own locks.
Several extraordinary facts emerge: it is now almost taken for granted that 99 per cent of black women will use some kind of straightening product in their hair, despite the fact that the chemicals required can cause lasting damage. The unspoken reason is that naturally black hair (or 'nappy hair' as it is frequently referred to in the film) is considered unsightly, especially compared to highly regarded European flowing hair.
Rock also examines the popularity of the weave, and travels to India to discover for himself how hair is lopped off at religious ceremonies and then sold on for re-use as attachments in North America. It's essentially a sociological study and Rock is not afraid to tease out some difficult questions: why is 'white' hair so special? How do black women afford this continual hair treatment (a basic weave begins at 1,000 dollars)? Does it fall to their men to fund?
Perhaps most astonishing is the fact that in the 9 billion dollar black hair industry, there are only 4 black-owned companies. Although equally illuminating is Rock's discovery on hair and sex (you can look, but you most certainly cannot touch a black woman's hair).
Rock is a charming and insightful presenter, getting the most out of a range of interviewees, who are quite happy to tell him how it is. He intersperses his interviews with a visit to America's largest black hair show, which makes Christopher Guest's mockumentary Best In Show look positively tame in comparison.
Paul Hurley
