Good hair?

Ever wondered why Black women are obsessed by hair...well, some of us are, more than others ;). How and why anyone would spend prolonged periods of time thinking or writing about their hair?

Intrigued, or just plain confused, let me take you by the hand child and explain.


Before the new year BBC2 aired Good Hair, a 2009 documentary about Black hair by Chris Rock. Now, if the idea of spending an hour and a half watching Chris Rock navigate the world of Black hair sounds like your idea of hell, stay with me.  Good Hair is a lighthearted, funny and enlightening look at the complicated and intricate topic that is Black hair.

Good hair itself is a loaded term, a hang up from African slavery in the Americas which is still used to denote hair that is supposedly more 'European' in appearance.  Slaves who looked or acted less 'African' were favoured over those who didn't, and all aspects of Africaness were deemed inferior.

Simply explained,

Good hair = long, thick, loose curls or straight, shiny, manageable, like European hair.

Bad hair = short, nappy aka tightly curled, dull, unmanageable, like African hair.

I'll admit that unless you're a Black women the subject of Black hair is pretty confounding.   On the surface it might seem niche and superficial, but in trying to deconstruct the topic, Good Hair delves into an issue that's a symptom of systemic denigration of people of African descent and their culture that sadly didn't end with the abolition of slavery.  Sounds deep huh, and it is.

Chris Rock interviewing a little girl getting a Relaxer

I thought I knew a lot about Black hair when I first watched Good Hair 4 years ago, but I didn't know for example that in the US the Black hair industry is worth upwards of $9Billion, yep Billion, or that some US women fly across states to get their hair done! As a life long Relaxer virgin I don't know what it felt like to have a Relaxer, a solution derived from caustic Sodium Hydroxide that's applied to your hair and scalp in order to straighten curls.  Seeing the affect Sodium Hydroxide has on chicken flesh and on metal as well as descriptions of the likes of Nia Long, the Rev Al Sharpton and other interviewees, that it's akin to your skull being on fire was enough to vow to keep me relaxer free for life!

If you're not black is it relevant? Well hair is part of your appearance, your identity.  As an individual if you were subconsciously and implicitly told that part of your identity was unacceptable and unattractive it would become a deep rooted internal issue no? Worse still, if these messages are relayed to a group of people to the point were they themselves began to police and subjugate their own community in an attempt to keep everyone in line, imagine the long lasting impact.  It's something that we have all probably experienced to an extent at some point in our lives regardless of background.  Whether it's your hair, body, sexuality, religion or life achievements, we're all taught we should be striving towards some sort of ideal. How successfully we do so dictates our self worth and affects our position in the world.

'Hair as a metaphor for life', yeah why not! So watch Good Hair, if nothing else it'll explain why you should never, under any circumstances touch a Black woman's hair without asking!

            

You can watch the first part of Good Hair by clicking the link above (sorry, could not find a better quality version in full and without subtitles, but if you're trying to brush up on your French, win win!). This video channel has uploaded the doc in 6 parts so when the end of video screen comes up just look for Good Hair part 2-6 and so forth until part 6-6.



Kanika x