When I saw the trailer for comdeian Chris Rock's upcoming documentary titled, Good Hair, I immediately thought of Spike Lee's movie School Daze. My mind replayed the scene where the "Jigga-boo's" and the "Wanna-be's" were singing about "good" or "bad" hair. The debate on black women's state of hair is an age-old topic.
Growing up I was always told that I had "good" hair. My hair has always been extremely thick and long (well past your shoulders in the black community is considered long). One Saturday morning after years of sitting in the kitchen, next to the stove getting my hair hot combed my mom stated she'd had enough. She was tired of burning her fingers and I was tired of her burning my ears, forehead and the back of my neck. She decided to purchase a PCJ relaxer from a local store. I remember watching her mix this creamy looking stuff that smelled awful. My scalp felt like it was on fire but the end result was long, silky straight "good" looking hair. That was 20 years ago and I've been hooked on relaxers ever since.
I recall everyone from kids to adults telling me,(more like commanding me) "Don't ever cut your hair because you have pretty hair." or "I would kill/love to have hair like yours." Sounds pretty extreme huh? I realized that I am caught up in the hype. I don't want to go out in public if my hair is too puffy from newgrowth and my edges aren't straight! Shoot, I never just really thought I had the best hair. To me good hair was the kind that mixed kids had, all pretty, shiny and curly. Sounds like I agreed with society. Don't misunderstand me, I am grateful for having hair period. God has blessed me with it, as a matter of fact he knows the exact number of strands on my head(see Matthew 10:30). Truth be told, due to overprocessing it with chemicals my hair became damaged. It's tough keeping it all together with overprocessed hair. Anyway....
The documentary seems like it will be full of humorous truths. It's crazy to see that after all these years people are still hung up on what's consider good hair or not. I look forward to seeing the film in its entirety, whenever that is since there was no date. The reviews should be quite interesting too. It was refreshing to see black female celebrities talking about their sew-ins(admitting that they have weave) and making light of the situation...I wonder if they will switch the game up and rock their real hair? hmmmm...
Click here to see the documentary trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m-4qxz08So
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