It's funny, and you'll learn about that of which 95% of UK citizens are ignorant - black women's hair. African-American comedian Chris Rock takes us on a personal journey of discovery through the multi-billion dollar world of black people's grooming products, extensions, weaves, and wigs. Along the way you will be informed, worried, and made to laugh. A lot.
Do you know what hair relaxer is? Creamy crack? What are the groundrules when making love to a woman with a hair weave? No? You must be white. And need enlightenment. Whatever your skin colour, you need to see what happens to a Coke can when immersed in the same chemical as straightens hair.
Rock's odyssey begins and ends with an apparently simple question from his adorably beautiful - and of course black - baby girl. "Daddy, why can't I have good hair?" Good meaning straight and fine, like the white folks. Rock explores the highly toxic chemicals used on children as young as 3. The hair that is given away in India for nothing, then fixed onto black women's heads in the US for anywhere from $1000 to $3500. The huge and highly profitable industry which is mostly owned by white people.
A celebrity line-up of actresses, models, hairdressers, plus no less than Maya Angelou (first straightened her hair at the age of 70) and the Rev Al Sharpton (first straightened his hair to have more political impact) provides an entertaining and always insightful flow of hilarious testimony. Structured around the narrative thread of an astonishing high-end hair styling championship. Who will win? The black woman who cuts upside down? The one who cuts underwater? The gay black man? Or the gay white man? Hold your breath.
GOOD HAIR is a rare feature theatrical release as it works equally well on two levels, as great and unrelenting comedy, and as a serious documentary asking serious questions about fashion, ethnic identity, and commercial exploitation.
It's one disappointing weakness is it's cop-out ending. What will Chris Rock say to his baby girl about her hair?
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