What you're saying is basically "understanding is a bad thing". White people learning more about the commonplaces of black living isn't stupid or unlikely, and black people examining their own culture isn't either.

Ayana Byrd's book "Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America" is an interesting read. Maybe you should have a look. I know you've "solved" this problem -- white power -- but the real story is far more complex than that. Remember the Jeri Curl? Where's the white power in that? You've got hold of one aspect of the subject, but there are many others. For one thing, white people don't wear their hair "natural" either; otherwise there wouldn't be 75,000 people employed in the $40 billion haircutting field.

Not everything about being black is a reflection of surrounding whiteness. A look at black culture is interesting BECAUSE IT'S CULTURE, not just because it's black.

he should've interviewed michelle obama.

if she'd change her good hair to an erykah badu/angela davis blowout afro, my soft white heart would burst with happiness.

Because what is it to them that blacks are burning their scalps and inhaling toxic fumes for the sole purpose of looking like their masters (their bosses, politicians, movie stars)?

So... when white people spend hundreds of hours in tanning booths, exposing themselves to toxic levels of ultraviolet radiation, who are they trying to look like?

Reference as well: hair dye, tooth whiteners, breast enlargement, breast reduction, perms, hair straightening, etc. Everybody wants to look like what they're not. Applying critical race theory to this phenomenon makes you sound smart, but it's not really very interesting or useful. Doubtless you'll consider this the criticism of someone who lives in denial of the fundamental truths that only you see; your pattern suggests intellectual laziness hidden behind a thorough command of a single intellectual discipline that you mastered 20 years ago and haven't really done much with since.

Charles, you post many photos of beautiful women. How often do these women have hair that has not undergone extensive styling involving harmful chemicals? Would you find these women as attractive if they did not have "white" hair styles? Are you complicit?

people are paying through the nose to become what they are not and could never be—European

Wait. Didn't you say you consider yourself European? It seem it is possible although it requires reading Marx and Spinoza, not trying to make your hair look right.

The whitest black guy in Seattle calling out white folk, glad your white editors enjoyed this, Chuck.

Who is the proper reader for this film critique?

"A look at black culture is interesting BECAUSE IT'S CULTURE, not just because it's black."

This just might be the finest sentence ever written by a Stranger comment poster.

Sometimes a hairdo is just a hairdo.....

On a side note, it seems like many black ladies basically shave their heads when they get older, or wear wigs. Is this because of all the chemicals used for straightening damages the roots?

Asian women spend a lot of money making their straight black hair curly and colored. God knows how much time and money American women spend making their hair the color, length, and texture it isn't. Vanity knows no borders.

We also know that black women prefer straight hair because white hair is straight, and white hair is desirable because it is a symbol of power and prestige. Black hair is not a status symbol. It has revolutionary power, roots power, "for real" power—but those things do not make you look beautiful. Black, as it turns out, is genuine but not beautiful.

Mudede is the perfect example of the ideal spectator for this film. Let me rephrase, a young 10 - 15 year old Mudede would've been the perfect example of the ideal spectator for this film.

Sadly, to many of us have bought into the garbage that he has expressed in his post. Thankfully there are real men out there within our community who seek to reverse this instead of embracing it like Mudede. I laud Mr. Rock for his foresight into this psychological dysmorphic disorder that has been worked into our psyche for centuries now. It's way passed time we start to discard these last vestiges of white supremacy that keep on causing struggles within our community.

We can't do anything about people like Mudede, they have been programed to think the way he does and to see blackness that way. But as Mr. Rock is wisely doing we must identify for our children these remnants of white supremacy and explain to them what they mean so that they're able to know what they mean, reject them and don't end up like the Mudedes of the world.

In light of that this film is way more than appropriate for young African Americans, they are the only ones who can learn both economically (so they're able to understand who they're enriching when they become consumers in that industry) and mentally (so they're able to understand the programming that ingrains in them the idea that they are "genuine but" ugly) from what is shown in it.

@ 10 i totally agree.

Chris Rock's daughters WILL grow up and have to decide what to do with their hair, join the mainstream by adding and straitening, or go natural. The point is not lost on them because they are young as you suggest. As most of us, they will probably do a bit of both within their lifetime, and when the time comes to make a decision, they will have a wealth of information lovingly provided by their father. You make the sweeping statement that our youth won't be interested because of the older, less relevant, stars featured, but there you are wrong. Our youth are raised by us, and can typically reference as much old school hip hop as their 40 something year old parents - which is besides the point. The point is, young people at an age to consider what to do with their hair, will get the message of this movie. Finally, you would be surprised how many people from all races have no clue just how toxic the chemicals in relaxers truly are. For those who have used it all their lives, it's just something they do, like eating a McDee's Hamburger, or drinking diet cola. I've seen white people go up to black women and ask how they grew their hair so fast. I've had more than one white person reach to stick their hand in my naturally kinky hair and say, "Wow, how do you get it like that, and why isn't it strait"? So, at the end of the day, this movie is for all of us.

I'd die if I could grow a beautiful black fro. Die. I have a beautiful white fro, and I'd still die for a black one. I'm pretty sure this has very little to do with ethnicity and historical-social-political power structures. Shut up Mudede.

@Ren/Pinehurst

Thank you. The only reason that I have for wanting straight hair is for the avoidance of razor burn. And as soon as I find a set of products that works on that condition, my interest in having less-kinky (read: razor bump creating) hair will fade away.