‘Hair Raising’ Black Identity Issues

Just heard about Chris Rock’s documentary on hair. I laughed when I first heard he’d actually made a movie about hair. I thought to myself, “Man…that’s a subject that really hits close to home.” My hair’s always been such a big deal for me and it definitely makes up my identity.

So I tried to find out a little more about Rock’s movie and realized, hey, I’m not the only one with the hair identity issues.

Good Hair follows Chris Rock through the Bronner Bros. show; interviews with black hair care product manufacturers, neighborhood salons and even to India where the hair export industry thrives on demands from hair weavers. He also interviews several women who’ve undergone hair treatments such as expensive hair weaving and scalp-burning hair-relaxing. Several celebrities such as Ice T, Raven-Symone, Salt-n-Pepa, Nia Long and many others have also shared their funny and thoughtful insights.

It has his signature humor but it also asks some major questions about equality, identity, image and race issues. Do black women really need straight and silky hair to fit into the white world? Nia Long talks about her own weaving and perming but also says that Obama’s presidency and a new black First Family will hopefully do away with the cultural inferiority which prompts the hair treatments in the first place. Hmmm….maybe….maybe not.

If y’all wanna read a little more about Chris Rock talking about the movie, check out this interview.

I know the feeling…my hair has made me so miserable sometimes that I’ve desperately prayed to go bald! I’m sure many of y’all will understand what I’m saying. You just keep asking that probably non-existent Hair Goddess, “Why can’t my hair just be like normal people?” We compare ourselves to those with sleek, shiny hair and somehow it feels like you’ve gotta have hair like that to fit in.

Like I said, hair’s always been a big issue for me but I never thought about it as a part of my racial identity until I heard of Good Hair. It’s really true though. As African-Americans, our hair forms such an important part of our lives, our identities, and a desire to just be able to look conservative and blend in. Don’t you think?

“Hair is always a metaphor of the deeper racial issues we don't deal with in this country, issues like internalized racial superiority and internalized racial inferiority” says Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, director of the New York based, Urban Bush Women dance troupe. Back in 1993, she started writing Hair Stories – a series of dances based on the Black hair identity. The premiere of Hair Stories didn’t happen until 2001 and although I didn’t get to watch it, I remember hearing about it back then.

I’m sure hair is an important part of any culture, not just African-American culture. But for us, I think it has many deeper meanings and complexities that we probably don’t even realize. What do you think?

Have any of you watched Good Hair or even a performance of Hair Stories? What do you think? Any “hair-raising” stories to share?

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