Review of Good Hair (2009) by Gordon L — 16 May 2010

I imagined Rock's focus would sit primarily on the unsettling habit of American markers that present whiteness as the official style of beauty and success. It was surprising for me (and apparently Rock, too) to see this examination of black hair in American culture splinter off into such unexpected tangents: where weave-hair comes from, how it affects our economy, the global economy, gender-relations, and the pretty sick chemicals used to make "good hair.".

Each of these topics could arguably carry full-fledged documentaries of their own, and I think one of Good Hair's biggest downfalls is that it devotes too much time covering a stylist competition at Atlanta's annual black hair expo. These parts of the documentary, while capturing a bit of the scope of the black hair industry, seem to spend a lot of time idling around like an episode of Project Runway, eating up precious minutes that could have been spent discussing, what I though to be, much more interesting subjects (like how the cost and time-consuming nature of weaves affects to how black men and women relate) more fully.

Even when he gets distracted though, Rock remains an excellent interviewer, loosening folks up enough to give alarmingly honest answers. It's a doc made for all the right reasons, and will likely get people thinking and talking about things we normally accept at face value, which is nothing to shake a stick at.