What Does Chris Rock’s Good Hair Mean For Latinas?
6 October 2009, 3:22 PM. By Alex Alvarez
Comedian Chris Rock has a documentary out called Good Hair which explores the relationship between black women, their hair, beauty standards and societal reactions to these.
In typical Chris Rock fashion, the movie’s trailer makes it look funny, smart, cutting (Cuz… hair?! Get it?! Ay.) and, sure, maybe a lil’ bit heartbreaking. Especially heartbreaking? That Rock decided to make this film after his daughter asked him why she didn’t have “good hair.” No, Little Pebble! World, keep your claws and your commercials and your mag ads and your well-meaning but clueless family members away from impressionable baby girls.
Sigh.
Check out the trailer:
We actually first mentioned this movie on Guanabee back when Tyra announced she would show us all what her “natural” hair looked like, sans weave.
We first heard the term “good hair” upon overhearing (Fine. Eavesdropping.) on a Latina mother who described one of her multiracial daughters as having “good hair” and the other as having… something other than good hair.
Hair is so politicized and often ends up becoming a symbol of our identities on many levels: Our ethnicity, our race, our socio-economic level, our health, our job,our sexual orientation, our political ideology, our religion, etc. You can wear it long and be seen as sexy, vivacious, romantic, feminine - or a hippie, a nature-lover, an activist. You can cut it short and be seen as chic, unattainable, closed-off, butch, a soccer mom, a rebel. You can shave it off. You can cover it with a head wrap or a hijab or a habit. You can wear it curly, or relax it. You can wear it straight, or perm it. You can roll it in dreads, or wear it in pigtails. You can streak it blonde or dye that shit with bright purple Manic Panic. All of these choices come with their own set of implications and expectations. But what role does the concept of “Good Hair” play, specifically, for Latinas? We’re a segment of the population not quite understood, and part of this has to do with the fact that there is no one Latina “face.” Our hair comes in all sorts of textures, and the way we wear it comes with a whole different set of history and cultural context and meaning. So what does it say about us, as a group, when a fellow Latina tells her daughter her hair is somehow less than ideal the way it is? What does it say about us when junior high girls streak their dark hair blonde and flat iron their soft waves until they are stick straight and breaking off at the ends? What is says to us is that Latinas are just as susceptible to societal pressures and white-washed beauty standards as any other group. Hell, even blonde haired, blue-eyed white women can’t fit these standards all of the time.
So. Tell us: What’s your experience with reaction to your hair, and is there any particular reason you choose to wear it the way you do?
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I love my nappy curly hair!
When i was much younger I didn’t know what to do with my hair, I couldn’t control the crazy. So I’d always have it in a pony tail or bun. Now I wear it down all the time. Mouse is my best friend… and I have a whole routine on how I do my hair.. from washing to styling. one misstep and my hair is fucked up for the rest of the day.
I do straighten it sometimes and it looks hot… I had my hair straight for a while and one day I realized that my hair wasn’t as curly. I freaked the fuck out! I’m still kind of going thru that [sad face]. waiting for my hair to grow out a bit so I can fix that shit.
I have been asked if I’m half black because of the nappiness.
oh right and dont run your fingers thru my hair unless its straight. and dont come near me with a brush or comb or just dont touch my hair because you’ll make it frizz out. just dont.
I think we’re hair twins! Some kid used to call me “jumbo kinky tail” in 1st grade and i kicked his pinche ass.
ps- I can only comb it in the shower with conditioner, probs you too.
yeah i only comb it in the shower with my fingers. Conditioner is my friend.
in vzla they just go ahead and say it as if it were all matter of fact - kinky hair is “pelo malo.” damn. makes the hair salons lotsa money, though. every special occasion (or, you know, every three days) women and girls get un secado.
my hair is crazy straight and when i was a kid i used to cry cuz i couldn’t hold the Farrah Fawcett bangs. now i like it.
This is one of those discussions where the diversity of the so-called Hispanic community really comes out. Clearly there is not singular “Hispanic” hair texture. I think the issues explored in this documentary speak loudly to Caribbean and South American Hispanics whose background includes a great deal of African heritage, but are probably completely alien to those of mostly White or Indigenous descent. My hair is only slightly curly, and since I was raised to have it blow dried pin-straight on a regular basis. Because my hair is not nappy or kinky in the least it was called “pelo bueno”, but it certainly not bueno enough to be let alone. Very confusing. Any kind of wave or curl or kink needed to be heat-styled into submission, no questions asked. I’m definitely looking forward to this.
Curly hair is hot. Don’t straighten that shit. Please. Thank you.
you’re so funny. but ok.
In PR at least in my family pelo malo has curly, frizzy, kinky, hair, and I have a version of this - thick, crespado, frizzy, wavy. They used to put hot coconut oil and egg yolks on it, burning my scalp and pull on it till I had tears coming out of my eyes as they hit it with a blow dryer to straighten it out. Several hairdressers threw up their hands, they could not deal with it, so they gave me a perm (this genius was a hairdresser once we moved to FL, hello??), cut it all off, flat ironed it, etc. Finally I found an Italian American stylist who gets my hair, she says it’s “a cross between Chinese hair and black hair.” LoL In all seriousness though this is one example of many of the internalized self-hatred and racism that pervades many of our families and is passed down to us.
Please take a moment to check out my documentary film BLACK HAIR
It is free at youtube. 6 parts including an update from London, England.
It explores the Korean Take-over of the Black Beauty Supply and Hair biz..
The current situation makes it hard to believe that Madame C.J. Walker once ran the whole thing.
I am not a hater, I am a motivator.
Plus I am a White guy who stumbled upon this, and felt it was so wrong I had to make a film about it.
self-funded film, made from the heart.
Can it be taken back?
Link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p96aaTSdrAE
My hair is all the way to my waist and it’s super straight. There’s nothing I can do about the straightness - it just doesn’t hold a curl for very long, no matter what I do to it. Also, I can’t put it in any kind of up-do because it’s too soft. That shit just falls right out of any hair contraption you try to pin it up with. I’m basically stuck with one hairdo and I’m totally cool with that. I still love my hair even though it always kinda looks the same.
But the strange thing is that the women in my family say I’m the one with the “good hair.” They all have curly or wavy hair that they can style differently. Their hair looks awesome when it’s curly, wavy or straightened. And yet, they deem themselves as not having “good hair.” I think all of us have good hair - but they’re good in different ways.
oh my goodness…where to start… I used to use hydrogen peroxide, lemon juice and Kool-Aid to dye it throughout Junior High, then I started cutting my own hair - chopped it all off and wore it an inch long throughout high school . Then I got a weave did, then started dying it black, then some other stuff. Now, I am happy to finally have my hair back to natural brown color and just below bra strap. What’s left of it anyway.