Good Hair* Review

Christopher Guest-allusions aside, this is a crucial documentary about race and gender today.

Like the Fast Food Nation of the beauty business, comedian Chris Rock busts open a multi-million dollar business in this hugely entertaining documentary.

Candid, often hilarious, chats with musicians (Eve, Ice-T); academics (Dr Maya Angelou) and everyday New Yorkers reveal a nation’s perverse obsession. Be it burning applications of ‘creamy crack’ (relaxer straightening cream) or debt-inducing $1000 weaves (using Hindu hair ritually shaved at temples and secretly sold to salons), hair matters.

The madness crescendos at a trade show where hairdressers jump through hoops to impress loony judges. Rock struggles to keep a straight face as the hopefuls dress hair upside down or underwater to prove their scissor skills. But all Christopher Guest-allusions aside, this is a crucial documentary about race and gender today.