Chris Rock is a well-known comedian and in his most recent film “Good Hair” he shows that his humor can be entertaining and educational.

In this film Rock studies the field of black hair. He discovers that the black community does not suffer from occasional “bad hair days” but instead they are in a constant battle with their “nappy roots”.

I personally find “afros” attractive and unique but according to Rock’s film this natural state of hair is considered “nappy” to the black community.

Rock interviews a group of three high school girls. Two of the girls have a full weave, which is constructed by their natural hair being braided into circular corn rows and then fake hair is sewn onto the braids; these weaves range from $1,000-$5,000. The third girl wears her hair in its natural state–an afro. The two girls with “good hair” explain that this girl will have a hard time finding a job if she does not “fix” her hair. They continued on saying the afro does not look bad to them, but portrays that she may not take care of herself.

Through a series of interviews Rock discovers that there a few ways to obtain “good hair”. One of these cures is hair relaxer, which is made up of a highly toxic chemical, sodium hydroxide, and is meant to chemically straighten hair.

Rock interviews a scientist who shows the affects of this chemical on an aluminum can. The can is completely disintegrated within four hours of being placed in this chemical solution. I can only imagine what its affects are on the human skull. Users of this hair product refer to the relaxer as “creamy crack” because once the hair is straightened, it is a constant battle to keep it maintained. Instantly, after viewing this scene I felt the pressure weighing down on the black community to feel like they have to have good hair.

I began to wonder why there is such an emphasis on “good hair”. Also, who decided that straight, flowing hair was “good”? I understand that most individuals prefer straight, manageable hair but the idea that a teen would not be able to get a job because of her natural hair did not settle well with me. These questions and thoughts were raised in my mind during Rock’s genuine interviews.

Rock’s background in comedy armed him with sharp questions and witty remarks that seemed to make the interviewees comfortable. The interviews were not typical. Rather than doing stiff, one on one interviews, he would interview an entire barber shop or beauty shop at once during a normal business day. Rock discussed the issues of “nappy roots” with the interviewees on a friendly level and in turn their responses were sincere.

One actress admitted to Rock that she would not know what to do about her hair if she wasn’t independently wealthy. Another African American woman revealed that she only gets her weave wet in front of the opposite sex if it is a very serious relationship; more specifically she said, “Showering with a black woman is more intimate than sex.” Both of these interesting insights would not have been known to the public without Rock’s excellent interviews. Its nice that Rock went about it in a comical way because it’s such a personalized issue for the black community and would’ve otherwise been left uncovered to me and everyone else outside the black community.

Katrina Tupper can be reached at [email protected]