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HOLLYWOOD – In the past, Chris Rock has joked about how he is determined to keep his young daughters “off the pole,” or away from working in strip clubs. But in his new film, “Good Hair,” he talks of a moment that caused him a different type of fatherly concern.
Said Rock: “One day, one of my daughters came to me crying and saying, ‘Daddy, why don’t I have good hair?’ ”
The question reignited interest in an idea that had struck Rock about 15 years ago at a convention in Atlanta for around black hair fashions and the extreme lengths black women with kinky hair go to to obtain “good” or straight hair similar to that of white women.
“I instantly thought, ‘Oh my God, there’s a movie in this,’ ” Rock explained.
He’s finally realized that vision with “Good Hair,” a documentary that dives headfirst into what many black people feel is a delicate – even taboo – subject.
Using a man-among-the people observational approach that he used as host of the Oscars, Rock visits beauty salons, hair manufacturers and wig merchants, exploring how the preoccupation with “good” hair has affected the image, self-esteem, sexual relations and even pocketbooks of black people, especially females.
The mystique surrounding “good” vs. kinky hair on black people has long been a pop-culture touchstone. In his 1988 film “School Daze,” Spike Lee staged an elaborate musical production number in a beauty salon where two warring female college cliques battled over “Good and Bad Hair.”
A pivotal scene in the 2006 interracial romantic comedy “Something New” concerns a white landscaper (Simon Baker) who questions a black lawyer (Sanaa Lathan) about her weave after their first night together. And Tyra Banks reignited the subject in September on her talk show when she appeared without the wigs or weaves she has worn through most of her career as a model.
“Good Hair” does more than simply provide a social and cultural examination of black hair. It also provides Rock with a film vehicle that effectively showcases his comic prowess.
“I hope people see that I can be funny in a movie,” he said.
The documentary, directed by Jeff Stilson, won the Special Jury Prize at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and was featured at Toronto International Film Festival.
It opens Friday.
Spiced with interviews with Ice-T, the rap duo Salt-N-Pepa, Maya Angelou and the Rev. Al Sharpton and other notables, Rock exposes how the multimillion-dollar black hair industry is controlled primarily by whites and Asians, and he travels to India, where women sacrifice their hair in religious ceremonies at temples, unaware that their silklike offerings are recycled and processed as wigs, weaves and extensions in black hair salons.
Black men are also given their due, sounding off about how they are forbidden to touch their lovers’ hair. Actress Nia Long provides strikingly candid moments with her discussion of “weave sex.”
“Hair is such a taboo subject in the black community,” Long said. “In our culture, hair that is kinky or nappy is considered bad hair.
“The truth is, all hair is good hair. That is the most important message of this piece. As long as you feel good about yourself, guess what? You have good hair.”
