Monday January 25, 2010 00:30
The Coil Review: Picking up where Chris Rock #failed.
Since the beginning of the year, I have become SO much more natural-hair conscious. I notice us more in commercials and TV shows, in magazines and on the streets. AND I LOVE IT.
This is SO awesome.
I found this commercial/trailer on the fabulous blog, The Black Bot, and it’s a great promotion for the website The Coil Review, which has SO much information about natural black hair: news, images, styles, tips, products, salons, etc.
In the last month of me being natural, I have found a plethora of blogs and videos and forums about natural black hair and how to care for it…and am finding more every day.
A decade ago, we didn’t have the same sort of resources before all this Internet technology…or rather, there were people who wore their hair natural, but it wasn’t as easy to access their information before Youtube and blogging became huge.
In retrospect, after watching Chris Rock’s Good Hair, I really feel he #failed at showcasing all black women and our hair. I enjoyed the documentary, yes, but he only touched on relaxed hair and weaves–nothing of which was new to me. The kicker for me was the fact that Rock said he didn’t want his daughters to think they had “bad hair,” so why didn’t he explore natural haircare more?
This industry may be in the minority, but it is booming as well!
Adrienne
January 25th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
You make an interesting point about Chris Rock’s response to his daughters, but in all fairness I think he was trying to point out the absurdity of what black women go through to get “good hair.” I haven’t seen the movie yet but if he didn’t, it would have been nice for him to showcase natural hair.
Charlotte Mutesha
January 25th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
When I first watched the movie, I thoroughly enjoyed it because as a card-carrying-weave-wearer and former relaxer-user, I could relate to all the crazy things black women do to our hair. But after I decided to ditch the extensions and realized the big world of natural hair care products, I wondered why that part was completely left out. He did say at the end that Good Hair is the hair you have on your head…but why didn’t he talk about HOW natural hair is good hair? It wasn’t mentioned at all.
It seemed more as though Chris Rock was poking fun of black women’s extreme measures. And for the white people who were unfamiliar with black hair before, the laughs came at our expense.
Michelle Gregorek
January 25th, 2010 at 10:37 pm
I’m still fascinated about this topic.
As a white woman who had NO idea the pains my black sisters went through over their hair, I am still fascinated to realize this whole hair thing that is going on.
Now I don’t do anything to my hair. Surprise, surprise, not. When I would hear of a white sister who spent an hour on her hair, I couldn’t relate and couldn’t imagine how she could fit in the time. Then you wrote about needing some crazy amount of time (was it 4 hours?), to do some weave or relax something or other, all to go somewhere with your wild and crazy guy…that blew my mind!
This morning on my way out, the black security woman said “Hey, we have the same haircut!” I said “Well look at that! I’m getting mine trimmed up tomorrow, so I am going a bit shorter.” She said “Well I could cut mine too, but I would just buy a shorter one.” What? That was a wig she was wearing? We laughed so hard as I studied her, saying that I had no idea. She told me she could turn me in to a long haired blonde! What a hoot that would be.
Someday I will see that movie. Was his portrayal accurate or did he exaggerate?