mysskay 4 October 2009 at 1:32 am Permalink

a lot of fair comments have been made here. being that i haven't seen the movie yet i can only speculate based on what's been covered on the show.

I believe we have enough material on BGLH in general, that in the proper talented hands, we could have a serious documentary to address the 'less entertaining' natural hair/locs that were left out. additional thoughts, 1) chris is a comedian we should expect the documentary to reflect that 2) how much more can chris's movie do than their own mother's image they see on a daily basis 3) it is commendable that chris took his daughter's comments serious and sincerely wanted to do something 4) at the end of the day hollywood is hollywood and if its not entertaining it won't get a pass 5) i definitely would like to see a film/documentary address the origins of the term Good Hair and how the white power establishment is involved 6) i would love to see a woman head a documentary looking at all hair types/styles and the black man 7) how will women be judged now knowingly wearing hair that may have been stolen or is obtained through unfair trade from little girls. lastly, i want to mention the moment were Chris/Oprah pointed out to Ali that she couldn't stand out as a blonde and be striking when everyone else looks the same way. did you see the 'moment' she had where you could tell that had NEVER crossed her mind. i would like to see that explored more as well, where looking like everyone else is not standing out, for all women not just black and white as we often like to compare. so much of all this has to do with the business of the beauty industry and how they benefit from all this. how much easier/cheaper would it be for all women to wear their natural hair/color and just maintain/style — not much money there, huh? no one who wants to work again is going to exploit the beauty/fashion industry. they tell us a certain color is hot. we buy it. they tell us a certain celebrity has the 'it' look. we want it. then they make the 'must have items/look' seem less accessible so they can charge more. we fall for it. there's a perfected picture on a magazine. we duplicate it. sometimes we go after each other, when really we need to come together and go after the truth instead.

socialism: its everywhere you want to be. that's a documentary i'd like to see.

Amma Mama 4 October 2009 at 2:41 am Permalink

It was a good episode in my opinon! Solange looked GORJUSS! and Oprah's hair is nice 2 me! As long as they're happy an content with their hair!

Anonymous 4 October 2009 at 4:58 am Permalink

@ anonymous October 3, 2009 2:07 PM
Why do we have to have unresolved issues if we did not find his comment funny. MAYBE IT IS YOU WHO HAVE THE UNRESOLVED ISSUE BECAUSE YOU DID. EVERYONE IS ENTITLED TO THEIR OWN OPINION AND SHOULD BE ABLE TO EXPRESS THEM FREELY WITH BEING ACCUSED OF HAVING ISSUES.

AND YES THAT IS VERY STRANGE THAT A MAN THAT HAS BEEN ALL OVER THE WORLD AND ACROSS AMERICA HAS NEVER SEEN A BLACK WOMEN WITH LONG HAIR. THAT IS HARD TO BELIEVE TO ME, IS THAT ALRIGHT FOR ME TO SAY, IF YOU ENJOYED HIS JOKES ABOUT CALLING OPRAHS SAD PIC A SLAVE THEN FINE TO EACH HIS OWN, BUT I WOULD BE LYING IF I SAID I LAUGHED I WAS OFFENDED, ESPECIALLY WHEN I SAY THE WHITE WOMEN IN THE AUDIENCE CRACKING UP! I HAVE NO ISSUES WITH MY HAIR, I AM NATURAL BEEN NATURAL ALL MY LIFE, MYSELF, MY SISTER AND MY MOTHER ALL OF US IS PASS BSL. NO ISSUE HER, JUST MY OPIONION WHICH I AM ENTITLED TO AS ARE YOU.
AND YES HE HAS COME ACROSS BLACK WOMEN WITH HAIR, HE DID NOT WANT TO INCLUDE THEM FOR SAKE OF ENTERTAINMENT, HE SAID IT HIMSELF, SO RELAX AND LET LIVE, ANONYMOUSOctober 3, 2009 2:07 PM

Anonymous 4 October 2009 at 6:44 am Permalink

I'm honestly starting to think that naturals in general are just too damn sensitive. The slave comment was a JOKE!!

And yes….black women are brainwashed. Just because Chris Rock poked fun at it, doesn't mean that it is not true.

I do agree that the show didn't go deep enough into the issue, but there's only so much time. Honestly, you would two or three episodes to really get to the core of the problem.

M.J. 4 October 2009 at 7:08 am Permalink

@ anonymous who replied to me
Like I said, even if it wasn't in reference to her hair, it's still an inappropriate comment. That's like me saying,"Boy Anonymous, you sure did look sad yesterday…you looked just like Aunt Jemima on the old pancake box or Kizzy in Roots". Why make such a comparison? It's a WRONG statement no matter how you slice it. (Now imagine that I made that statement in front of ten million white women and they laughed out loud at you after hearing it). And where is one's sense of self NOT to take offense? There were no slaves (or pictures of slaves) in Oprah's studio that day, so why make the comparison- no matter what facial expression she was making??? She looked like a cute little black girl in the '50s to me. Nothing more, nothing less. BUT, as an FYI her hair was pressed hard in the "emancipation photo" and almost entirely natural in the "slave photo". But, whatever… we'll agree to disagree. I'm out.

e none in this country now

I don't think his comment had anything to do with Oprah's hair. I think it was her facial expression in the photo and the fact that it was a B/W photo. On the next photo, he said something along the lines of "it looks like you got your freedom here". In that photo, Oprah was smiling

Queenbuv3 4 October 2009 at 12:13 pm Permalink

I just chopped all my hair off again. I love not having to think about my hair all day!! I know a lot of women are focused on getting length but does anyone else just not care about having long hair and is happy to just have short natural hair?

Here are some reasons I might never grow my hair out again. Gee, it MIGHT rain I better bring my umbrella everwhere I go today. I want to hurry up and leave my house to do errands but first I have to take a shower so I can do my hair or figure out how to make my hair look decent or wear a hat all day. I have REALLY OILY SKIN on my face, body and scalp but because my hair is so dry all the time I would only shower every other day and now my skin and scalp are a mess! With really short hair I can take a shower everyday and have my beautiful clear skin back!

I have too much going on in my life to deal with the curls. I feel so free. I don't know if I'll ever bother growing it out again. My hair does not make me beautiful, my heart, mind and soul does.

Are their any other ladies out their rocking the bald or really short hair and aren't trying to grow it out?

Queenbuv3 4 October 2009 at 12:21 pm Permalink

I only saw the last half hour of the show and was just excited that this movie was made. I think too many women, black and white, equate their beauty with how their hair looks. I hope I get to see the movie.

I loved that Solange was on the show and I just cut all my hair off again partly because she talked about the freedom to just live your life and not be consumed with your hair all the time.

I didn't see the part that you all are talking about-Chris's comment about Oprah looking like a slave with her natural hair as a little girl. That comment is not cool and I'm shocked that after making a movie like this he would say something so awful about a black woman's hair. And we wonder why black women are running to the salon and spending tons of time and money to get their hair done. That comment makes you think he still doesn't get it.

totallytwisted<3 4 October 2009 at 6:21 pm Permalink

I think everyone is over-reacting to the slave comment. I think he said that NOT because of her hair but because the photo looked really old it was black and white and looked tattered. His daughters look the same way and he wants them to stay that way so I'm sure he wasn't saying she looked like a slave because of her hair.

carma1616 4 October 2009 at 9:08 pm Permalink

I wish the movie would focus more on "good hair bad hair" stereotypes but its a good things to just start the "black" hair conversation! If we want our daughters to enjoy wearing natural hair, and end the kiddie perm they have to see it somewhere. Like the woman featured on Oprah, I stopped perming my hair when my daughter told me she wanted straight hair like me. A year after by BC My daughter is 5 and she loves her BIG hair. It starts at home people. Do as I say not as I do will not go too far. Children are not stupid. Natural hair is good for them but not their mothers?!?!? BTW how does Chris's wife wears her hair?

Nadie

mysskay 4 October 2009 at 10:43 pm Permalink

@carma1616

here's a link to a pic of Mrs. Rock
http://jamationline.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/malaak_picture_f35.jpg

Aisha 4 October 2009 at 11:24 pm Permalink

Anonymous said:
"chris rick answers the first question about him not including loc-wearers and natural hair divas because the material was not 'entertaining enough'… wow."

What he really means is he couldn't make jackasses out of the natural people that were interviewed. So he scrapped the material.

naturallyblessed 5 October 2009 at 7:40 pm Permalink

Please check out the documentary called My Nappy Roots. The movie has clips of various Hollywood actors/actresses discussing natural hair.