(instrumental music playing)
Chris Rock, narrating: Those are my daughters, Lola and Zahra,
the most beautiful girls in the world.
And even though I tell them that they're beautiful
every single day,
sometimes it's just not good enough.
Just yesterday Lola came into the house crying
and said, "Daddy, how come I don't have good hair?"
I wonder how she came up with that idea.
There's always this sort of pressure within the black community like,
oh, if you have good hair,
you're prettier or better than
the brown-skinned girl that wears the afro
or the dreads or the natural hairstyle.
I mean, have I gone around thinking it
and have I said it to myself, "I got good hair"?
Do I say it to my daughter
and not even thinking what I'm saying?
I'm like, "Honey, you have such good hair.
You have such beautiful hair."
Growing up I considered anybody's hair but mine good hair.
My mom is white.
I'm half Russian and Norwegian on my mother's side,
so my mom's hair is silky and blonde.
And I was like, "Why?
Just why didn't I get your genetics?"
That was what I looked at as, you know, good hair
was white hair.
Long: The lighter, the brighter, the better.
And that's the thing that causes great dissension
within the black community and with black women.
You know, I look in the black hair books
and it's like all the hair is straight.
It was a hard decision in the beginning.
I was like, no, I'm gonna be strong
against all the-- the forces
that are gonna try to get me to straighten my hair.
You know, you look at the magazines
and you wanna be that girl.
You wanna be that girl.
And you have this-- this fantasy
where you think if they straighten it out,
then all of a sudden it's gonna grow and really move
and really flow and I'm gonna have this hair.
Well, you never had the hair to begin with, but you don't know that.
Andre Harrell: When you look at a woman's hair,
it's a fantasy come true if they could really pull that off.
So for me, yeah, hair is real important.
Well, I would say
that hair is a woman's glory
and that you share that glory with your family.
And they get to see you braiding it
and they get to see you washing it
and they get to-- it's a glory.
But it is not a bad thing or a good thing. It's hair.
If you have it on your head, it's good.
If you have it growing between your toes
it probably isn't so good.
Rock, narrating: So what feeds this hair machine?
How do we decide what good hair is?
Well, at least for some people, that decision is made
where all major black decisions are made:
In Atlanta,
at the Bronner Bros. Hair Show.
That's right, the Bronner Bros. Hair Show.
Twice a year for over 60 years,
the Bronner Bros. have hosted this massive hair show
with over 120,000 hair professionals in attendance,
over 28 major hotels booked exclusively,
and over $60 million pumped into the Atlanta economy.
Good hair is good business.
My father started it 60 years ago
and the show was actually a seminar
to teach the people buying the products
how to use the products.
And 60 years later, the number-one purpose of the hair show:
to come learn how to use new products.
Certain products' index
triple what the white market does.
We're 12% of the population, but we buy 80% of the hair.
Wow, I got in the wrong business.
Bronner: All I know is we spend a ton of money on our hair.
No matter what, we're gonna look good.
We're gonna look good. That's the bottom line.
We're gonna look good regardless.
Rock, narrating: While the main purpose of the show
is promote products and make tons of money,
the three-day event culminates in a hair contest
where stylists from around the world
come to compete and show off their skills
in front of an arena of cheering hair fans.
The winner not only takes home $20,000,
but also receives lucrative endorsement deals
and establishes themselves as the leading voice
in black hair.
Now can you tell me how are the hair stylists
chosen to compete in this competition?
We try and select the best of the best.
If we see someone that's exciting on stages,
we invite them in to do our battle.
Tanya-- I really can't say her strength
because this is her first time doing the battle.
Her weakness is that she's sort of new.
Well, I'm happy to be nappy.
How about that? Woman: Oh, lord.
See, Tanya, don't take it there.
Huh-uh. You don't wanna be nappy.
No, I'm not say-- I know my hair can get very coarse, but--
Ooh, and then they try to find a better word for it.
She's trying to dress it up. Crumel: Yes.
Dress it up, baby. It's okay.
That's a stigma. Chris, are you listening?
Girl, you look bad. It's not called bad.
Crumel: It is. Nappy is not bad.
Crumel: Well, actually-- It could still be good.
It's just nappy. I changed it around
because people with their soft, natural curly hair...
It's not good hair. ... I call that bad hair now.
Because it's hard to curl? Because nappy hair holds curls.
Rock, narrating: Tanya's new to this, but she's also
business partners with former Bronner Bros. Champion Kevin Kirk.
Kevin won 20 grand back in 2005
when 20 grand really meant something.
If that belt could talk,
what do you think it would say?
It would say, "Bring home my brother
August 18th."
So the brother's held captive?
It's held captive. Bronner Bros. got it on lock right now.
I picture myself being David
and all the other contestants being Goliath.
Derek is a very exciting person. He's a unique person.
His performance is always at the top.
Styling, he might be a little bit weak on that,
but exciting, very exciting.
Rock, narrating: Derek competed last year, and many people,
mostly Derek, felt he should have won,
but he ended up losing on two technicalities:
nudity and too many people on stage at one time.
(sizzling)
My biggest scare was me trying to find a pair of boots
to wear for this show.
A guy hit me up on Myspace
and he ended up being a boot designer.
Jetta, Tyree. Terence, Tyree.
He basically takes boots that you--
a boot that you already have
and redesigns it and customizes it,
and hopefully you guys will see
a fab, fab pair of boots.
I-I can't wait. I'm so excited about this right now.
Freddie-- very smart.
That's her strength. Smart can do hair.
Her weakness is that she overthinks it.
She goes over the audience's head.
Last year's theme was "Broke Front Mountain."
So that was based on the movie "Brokeback Mountain."
It was kind of. When we did--
we did a video clip that was in the beginning
that was about 30 seconds.
(folk music playing)
I'm gonna work on them with all these.
I might have to hide from them to get them though.
I'm gonna be hiding more than Harriet Tubman was hiding.
You know, I liked "Broke Front Mountain."
I think I just shouldn't have cut the hair in the boxes.
I put this F.J., my logo, on there
and people thought it was something Asian.
They couldn't-- they just couldn't keep up.
(folk music playing)
Now which of the other stylists
are you most worried about?
Freddie J.: Um...
mm, probably Jason.
Jason Griggers.
Me and Jason know of each other.
Do you have any enemies in hair?
No.
Jason's strength is his incredible hairstyles.
I actually am from the same home town as Jason.
He's been doing my hair since about 2000.
My hair was her length when I started coming
and this is my-- no tracks in this.
So he has what we used to call the growing hand.
(women giggle) Griggers: I never said that.
So, Jason, you seem to have been able
to get women off the weaves.
You're kind of like the Betty Ford of black hair.
I refer to it as the Rosa Parks of hair.
(laughter)
Rock: Jason? Mm-hmm.
Where does a white man learn how to do black hair?
In school they teach you everything.
This one teacher that I had,
she would always give me a pair of these
to walk around school with and she said,
"I don't hear you clicking and twisting."
She a black woman? She was a black woman.
She was the only black teacher at school.
And she was determined to teach you--
She was determined to teach me how to work those Marcel irons.
So she's like Branch Rickey
and you're the Jackie Robinson.
Announcer: That's "The Jackie Robinson Story,"
starring Jackie Robinson as himself.
It's big league all the way.
Long: There are some white people that are good at doing black hair,
but there are very few that I've met.
There are very few.
So what happens is you walk in
and the first thing you say is,
"Do you have a pressing comb?
Do you have a flat iron? Do you have--"
And it's like, "Oh yeah! You know, we have everything.
I can do whatever you need."
And then the process start--
the process starts and it's a little tragic.
If you're not-- if you don't understand black hair, you're afraid of it
if you see it in its natural state.
And you can't really see around it.
They don't understand that it can change.
Give me two days, baby. What you want?
Long, short, black, blue, green,
a little fan on the side?
What hair do you-- give me a picture,
give me two days, I got you.
Rock: Is this your hair? Yeah, it's all mine.
All your hair? All mine.
Shake it for me. (laughter)
So how does this happen?
What-- what did you put in it?
If you went under the counter in a black woman's bathroom,
she's got about 30 or 40 bottles of different things.
She's always constantly trying out something,
trying to perfect the solution, if you will.
The antidote. Heh, the antidote, yeah.
Rock, narrating: Relaxer: The closest thing we have to a nap antidote.
For all you white people out there that don't know what it is,
you name a black woman, any black woman,
no matter how famous or infamous,
they've either had their hair relaxed
or they're having their hair relaxed right now,
and a lot of black men too.
If your hair is relaxed, white people are relaxed.
If your hair is nappy, they're not happy.
So what's your definition of "good hair"?
Something that looks relaxed and nice.
Yeah, relaxed as in straight. Wow, what do you have there?
Is that a bucket of relaxer? No doubt, baby.
Rock, narrating: Relaxer:
Also known by its government name sodium hydroxide.
Relaxer's the chemical that will take
a black woman's hair from this
and change it into this.
Wow, look at it.
Look at it, look at it.
Look it, my ring's still there. (laughter)
My fingers, all there.
I think I'm gonna marry you. (laughter)
Rock, narrating: In fact, as far as hair products go,
Relaxer is the cash cow for the Bronner Bros. Hair Show.
It's how black women have been getting
their hair straight for decades.
Announcer: Vigorol liquid hair relaxer--
you're going to love your hair
like you've never loved it, come rain or come shine.
The first time I got a relaxer,
I remember thinking, wow, now I'm pretty.
Now I'm beautiful.
I could be-- or closer to it at least.
Announcer: Dark and Lovely Permanent Creme Relaxer.
A beautiful way to relax your kind of hair.
Mentally, I think a lot of black women are--
they're on this quest for attaining
the straightest hair possible,
trying to conform to a more European look.
The straighter hair the better.
And we've been coached
with that mentality since childhood.
Announcer: Vigorol hair relaxer and the hot comb...
Rock, narrating: I remember seeing ads like this
when I was a little kid watching "Soul Train."
What the hell is relaxer anyway?
Where does it come from?
Well, some of it comes from Greensboro, North Carolina.
This medium-sized town was once the capital of the confederacy.
Man: Why fight segregation?
Rock, narrating: But now it's the home of Dudley Products,
a $35 million black-owned hair empire
that employs thousands of people worldwide.
Greensboro is the home of the Dudley Mansion,
the Dudley Beauty School,
Mr. Dudley himself,
and of course Dudley Manufacturing.
(cash register dings)
(beeping)
Dudley Products have been valued
at up to $100 million.
The plant itself is worth over 10.
It employs hundreds of people
and is situated on over 47,000 acres
of prime North Carolina real estate.
In short, Mr. Dudley is a nap impresario.
Bad hair has been very good for Mr. Dudley.
What's he doing? Eric Bias: Joe is making relaxer.
Rock: This is how they make relaxer?
This is-- this is a portion
of a 7,000-lb batch of relaxer.
7,000 lbs is worth how much?
7,000 lbs-- we're talking about $18,000.
This'll last Prince about a month.
Exactly. (laughter)
Bias: The slightest bit of these chemicals--
they really cause harm to the body.
A splash of sodium hydroxide in your eye
can potentially lead to blindness.
It may not happen right away, but it can lead to blindness...
But you'll eventually have a dog. Yes.
You will eventually have one.
And the more of these chemicals you inhale
as you continue to work in it,
it can have an adverse effect on your body.
Rock: Here, let me just-- let me read some of this.
"The rate of change is controlled by what factors?
Temperature, concentration, time and ph."
Wow.
What's that word? What, ammonium thioglycolate?
Wait, say that again to the camera. Ammonium thioglycolate.
You're smart. (laughter)
Rock, narrating: Enrollment at the Dudley School of Beauty
means one thing: long nights
pouring over scalp theory.
These budding hair scholars master the chemistry of Dudley Products
and how to use them on mannequins,
even white mannequins.
They're also tested on the finer points
of how not to put relaxer in the eyes,
how not to burn ears with hot combs,
but most importantly they learn that
if you can make enough black women happy,
you can live like a king.
(classical music playing)
When you go back home, I want you to tell the world
we manufacture our own product,
we sell our own product
to our own through our own.
That's the reason why we will never,
never sell our company.
Because if I asked you to take off your clothes
that you didn't buy from your race,
it would be a nudist camp in here right now.
Rock, narrating: The nudity thing was a little weird,
but if you sniff enough chemicals,
you just might say anything.
But I've got to admit
looking at these proud black women
just made me think about my daughters.
So the next day I got on a plane
and went to meet the Dalai Lama of hair himself.
Tell me, when was the first time you had relaxer in your hair?
Uh... Late '70s.
James Brown, who's like the father I never had,
was in his office one evening in Augusta, Georgia,
and he said to me
that he was real tight with the Republicans.
And I said, "Well, if you're so tight, why don't you get us
Martin Luther King's birthday a federal holiday?"
He said, "Get the White House on the phone." I said, "Yeah, right."
But I told his secretary to get the White House on the phone. They left a message.
Three hours later, to my surprise,
the White House called back.
He got on the phone and told him
he wanted to come see President Reagan.
So they agreed to meet on January 15th, '82. And I'll never forget it.
He said, "If you're going to the White House, I want you to look like me.
Because when people see you, I want them to see me.
You're a reflection of me."
He took me to a lady in Augusta named Mary.
He said, "I want you to style Rev's hair like mine."
That's the day we went to the White House, right there.
When was the first time you had a Relaxer?
I was nine. I remember the exact day.
And I was like, "Mama, I wanna get my hair done.
I want a relaxer." She was like, "What do you know about relaxers?"
And I was like, "I want a relaxer."
At nine years old I got my first relaxer.
And I remember it just being...
This was like-- it was like a miracle.
I think you're trying to blend in.
You're trying to make everybody comfortable.
Relaxed. Relaxed and not like, "Oh my god, what is that?"
You know, I think-- That's what the relaxer does.
That's what it does. It relaxes people.
How old were you
the first time you got a relaxer?
Ooh, God.
I was about 70.
70? Mm-hmm.
You went your whole life--
Not my whole life. I'm still alive.
I relaxed my hair when I was in the 10th grade.
And I'll tell you, when you was really gangster,
you could show up in homeroom with rollers in your hair.
And you had rank by how big the rollers were.
The yellow rollers were smaller and they get bigger and bigger.
The orange rollers meant you had more hair.
So it was like, you know--
I actually got a mug shot some-damn-where with rollers in my hair.
Yeah.
I have a relaxer. I am on the creamy crack.
You call it creamy crack?
Because once you're on it, unfortunately people tend
to have a difficult time getting off of it.
Creamy crack. Rock: Creamy crack?
Creamy crack. So you're saying your hair's addicted to relaxer?
It was. For a time, I was the first one at the beauty shop.
I was like, "I feel roots.
Hook it up."
I don't know, I was taught by a lot of old hustlers.
They said the only way you could have
a upper hand on a woman is to be flyer than her.
(overlapping voices, clippers buzzing)
Rock: Tell us about your first time you ever got the process.
Man: The cookout. Yeah, the cookout.
Ooh, you got to wash that out immediately.
As soon as it starts to burn,
you gotta get to the sink immediately
or else you'll lose your hair.
The burn of a perm is I think the most excruciating burn.
I think it's-- I think it's hotter than fire.
Especially the first time.
I mean, the first time you've never felt like
your whole skull is on fire.
And why are you doing this?
Ice-T: You have maybe a pimple or something in your scalp
and that stuff gets in, it'll start to burn.
But usually if you're really trying to relax your hair,
it's kind of like a torture session.
It's like you want it to get as straight as possible,
so you feel it burning, but you be like,
"Just a little longer. Just a little longer.
A little bit longer. Wash it out!"
Anybody here ever been shot? Man: Yeah.
So what felt worse, the bullet or a relaxer?
Anybody here have a baby?
What's more pain, a chemical burn...
(laughter) ... or childbirth?
Childbirth.
But what if you had to have a bad perm
for eight hours?
(women murmuring) Ahh!
What-- where were you shot? In the face.
Oh, you got shot in the face? Yeah.
That's a pretty bad shot. The first 50.
Barber: I was the first 50 Cent.
Somebody just thought you was ugly?
(laughter) Could be.
Now what's it feel like, the chemical burn?
Can you explain it?
You know, like you're on fire literally.
You know, my head was just burning.
The sensation was just horrible.
Immediately I just began to cry. It was horrible.
The burning of the skin, the stripping, the ooze--
you know, the oozing, the weeping--
all the things that go along with stripping
that superficial epidermis off of the skin.
You can get a burn, like scabs around your head, in the middle of your head.
It's supposed to take the knottiness of your hair
down to some thin, laid-back "suave bolla" Dominica hair.
But if leave it in too long, you just get
negro nappy, scab-left-in-kongolene too long,
and you just are walking around twisted
with scabs on the front of your head.
That's how my asymmetrical thing came in. Oh, yeah?
Remember when my sister permed-- did my hair?
And then this whole side was burned off? Yes, I remember.
And then that's how the style of the...
asymmetrical look came in with Salt-N-Pepa
and I had to shave off one side of my hair. That's right.
And that's how-- Rock: Wait a minute.
Salt: My hair fell out. Pepa: I remember that. That was devastating.
I was really hurt for you. And she tried to--
Rock: The "Push It" video.
Salt-N-Pepa: Right before that.
Rock: Because in the "Push It" video it's-- it's kind of...
Pepa: Yeah. Salt: And then you were coloring it in with--
With pencil, with brown pencil.
I was coloring in those spots for you. I remember that.
Could you imagine that?
And she's coloring my hair with pencil,
trying to cover the bald spots.
Mm-hmm. (sighs)
So I'm here with Professor Berry, world renowned.
Now could you tell us exactly how dangerous
sodium hydroxide is?
Sodium hydroxide will burn through your skin.
The chicken is your skin. Okay.
So it'll go from my brown skin down to the white meat?
Right. Wow.
Now you realize this goes on people's heads, right?
Sodium hydroxide? Yeah, people--
black people-- black women, some men--
you know, Morris Day, Prince-- put sodium hydroxide
in their hair to straighten it out.
Why would they do that? To look white.
Probably what sodium hydroxide is doing
is actually breaking down the protein in their hair.
If it gets down into the scalp,
it'll kill it at the root and you'll actually have bald spots there.
So if you do-- if you're a beautician or something
and you're dealing sodium hydroxide all day,
I mean-- I wouldn't do it.
If you breathe just the fumes from sodium hydroxide,
those fumes will ruin your lungs.
They'll damage your lungs permanently. Wow.
Now this is an aluminum soft-drink can
and it's been in sodium hydroxide for just over an hour.
Another aluminum soft-drink can
that's been in for about three hours.
And then this one has been in
for about four hours.
It has disintegrated.
So that can's got a good perm.
That can's got a good perm.
Rock: Wow, you're a big girl.
How old are you? Six.
Getting that perm. (woman chuckles)
What's the youngest kid you've ever done?
Probably three.
Three? Three.
Rock: How long have you been getting your hair permed?
This is the second perm, huh?
No. How many have you gotten?
I had a texturizer
and some of my hair fell out
and my mama started giving me some kidee perms.
(chuckling)
So your mama gave you kidee perm?
I didn't even know they had kidee perm.
Of course they go to the drugstore
and they see kidee perm.
Well, a kidee perm is really the same as any adult perm.
It's just milder.
But it's still that same chemical,
that hydroxide chemical that can be very damaging.
Rock: It would be like a kidee beer.
Right, right.
Does your hair blow in the wind?
Is it cuter than the other girls' at school?
Really?
Sometimes their hair be hanging down
longer than mines.
The other girls at school got perms too?
I mean, I have had mothers that are starting
to give their girls-- their little girls perms
and they're not even two years old yet.
They're calling regarding consultation on--
"Dr. Maclin, what do you think that I should do?
My daughter is 1 1/2
and it's tough for me to comb her hair.
I'd really like to put a perm in. What do you think?"
Under a certain age the child is still growing,
the scalp is still maturing,
the follicles are still maturing.
And if you're putting this chemical on too early,
you're damaging-- you're damaging
your child's follicles almost for life.
When was the first time you got a perm
in Jaylin's hair?
It was back in July, I think.
How old was she? Three.
She had turned three in june.
Do you like getting perms?
I got a little three-year-old, Zahra.
She don't have a perm though, not yet.
Should I get one for her?
Yes. Okay.
Why should Zahra get a perm?
Because she's supposed to get a perm.
Because everybody's supposed to get a perm?
Yes. Okay.
(glockenspiel music playing)
Rock, narrating: When the time's right, I'm gonna tell my daughters,
"Don't drink, don't smoke,
and don't have babies till you're married."
Now I gotta add, "If you do have a baby,
make sure you don't get her a kidee perm."
Wow!
Now it's five days till the show. Mm-hmm.
What do you think you need to work on the most?
Upside down cut.
Crumel: I'm hanging upside down from a bar
and I'm cutting one of my models' hair upside down.
It's really hard.
Oh, Jesus.
(laughs) I'm scared, ahh.
So are you gonna try to cut in front of her face?
Huh-uh, she's gonna have a spiked bob.
Okay, so you ain't-- okay, that'll make it easy.
Whew, that's what I was telling you.
It take you so long to catch on here.
Kirk: In order to do great things,
you know, you have to have greatness inside you.
I believe that greatness is Jesus Christ.
Our talent level might be right there,
but it's that faith and I know the team that we have
will take us over the top.
(overlapping voices)
Now sacrifice--
If you ain't never been there, you're about to go there. So let's get ready, okay?
Sacrifice-- we're gonna start a fast
starting midnight tonight.
No sodas, all right?
No juice. Water only.
We're purifying ourselves, okay? (people murmuring)
Kirk: No snacks. Water only.
Woman: No food? (voices overlapping)
Kirk: Okay, first of all-- Woman: What do we eat?
Kirk: Hold on, hold on, hold on.
You're not finna to stand here
and tell me what you are or not gonna do, all right?
Winners do one thing-- hold on.
Winners do one thing: That's win, all right?
And we're gonna make some sacrifices.
I've sacrificed a lot for this show,
but I won't keep-- I can't--
that's something that I really don't believe in.
You're not a Christian? No.
(classical music playing)
Wow, she's getting debris out your nose.
You went to school for this?
Woman: Yes.
Rock: Now what does the feet washing do for you, Derek?
Derek: I'm wearing a 4" boot for the show.
Rock: A 4" boot? Right.
And so, you know, I need to make sure
that my feet is right so they won't be all hurting
after I get off that stage.
Because people don't wanna see me nasty.
So this is my me time.
So now can you describe your show?
It's a real high-energy show.
Man: And one, two, three, four.
I chose the theme "Battle of the Bands,"
because it's a big thing here in Atlanta.
It basically shows rivalry throughout the first part of the show.
Then everybody who's in the show come together
to do this whole number at the end of the show.
My people's on point this year.
I just like glamorous, sexy hair.
That's what people want. That's what men want to see.
Now what do you have to say
to the competition right now?
You come correct.
That's all I can really say to them. Just come correct.
That's why they got me at the end.
'Cause they know what's about to happen.
You're the headliner? Yeah.
They're just my openers.
Can you tell us about this year's competition
and what you have planned?
Basically I have planned a bar scene
called "The Aqua Bar."
Freddie: My theme is I play the owner of a bar
and I'm the hair stylist that works at the bar sometimes so...
Freddie: Two other ladies come in the bar
and they have these hideous ponytails.
I talk her into getting a haircut.
I tell her I have to wet it and she says, "Water?"
So then there's an aquarium at the back.
So basically I throw her in the aquarium
and I jump in and cut her hair.
So you're gonna make it a little simpler this year by...?
I-- I'm trying to make it simpler.
I-I think it's-- But going underwater.
(scissors snipping)
How much time do you spend
rehearsing for this show?
I haven't rehearsed at all for this show.
What I'm trying to do this year is a bit of an experiment.
My-- my theory is if I can get into
what makes women feel pretty
or what makes women feel good, I can expand on that.
So I'm trying something different
this year for the hair competition.
Woman: What are we seeing you for today, Jason?
Jason: A little restylane and a little botox.
Woman: A little botox. A little bit of this and a little bit of that.
Fill this up. Fill it up?
Fill it up. Okay, we'll fill it up.
Let's get you over here on the table.
Okay, I gotta psych myself up.
You're gonna do great. I can do this.
I can do it, I can do it, okay. Good, excellent.
I was reading that botox was something similar
to python venom or--
It's actually botulism toxin.
What is the main ingredient in this restylane?
Hyaluronic acid. Like I know what that is.
I don't want to be too aggressive
since this is your first treatment, okay?
Some of the girls, that have-- that come into the salon
say they get this done, so I'm excited to--
I think you will end up loving it.
I'm pleased with the way everything is looking now.
The redness and the swelling are normal.
That will dissipate over the next several hours to 48 hours.
I don't feel as beautiful as I had anticipated.
Ice the face over the next 30 minutes.
I feel like I've been attacked by 1,000 killer bees.
Well, we came up with a test
because human hair usually has
a little weight to it, so it bounces.
So if you ladies mind jumping up for me,
you can kind of see which one's real and which one's not.
Bounces, bounces, just sitting there.
(laughter) Not doing anything.
Rock, narrating: They always say "Diamonds are a girl's best friend."
But diamonds better watch out
because there's a new friend in town
and its name is weave.
I-I don't remember the world without weaves.
Back in your mother's day there was wigs, right?
The weave is like a graduation from the wig.
At least a weave is like an extension of reality.
Maybe her mother's mother was an Indian or something.
It's about big hair today. I can't keep up.
I'm like, "Peps, you got to get this hair bigger," you know.
They just want a little fullness, a little thickness.
They want their own hair but with some drama.
They want to go like this,
like in the movies in the 1970s or something.
Like Farrah Fawcett.
Those images are stuck in everybody's head
and they ain't letting them go.
Chicks be wanting to be blonde or something.
When I first started going to Extensions Plus,
which is where I get my hair from in L.A.,
they used to have a back entrance.
And going in Extensions Plus
was like a scene from a James Bond movie--
your dark glasses, and you pull up to the door and you run in
and it's like, "Did anybody see me? Okay."
When I was-- when I started doing it,
women weren't as free to discuss--
"No, this is really my hair." No, it's not.
It's really not.
So in the early days everyone was lying?
For the most part, yeah.
Back in the day, a weave was kind of like--
it was a secret weavy society and it was like, you know,
weave out or weave together and--
you know, have little weave-- special weave sayings.
I don't know. It was like a special little world that--
Literally I had white friends who were like,
"Your hair grew overnight!
A foot. How did you do that?"
I mean, like-- they used to have these dolls in Toys "R" Us
that you can make their hair grow by pushing a button.
I swear to god, they think black people
had a little button at the small of our back
where you pressed the button and the hair grows.
Woman: ♪ Hair that grows hair that goes ♪
♪ To here, to there ♪
Ford: You know, it was considered our beauty secrets
that we just don't discuss.
And now it's like women stop other women on the street,
like, "What kind of hair is that that you got?"
And we share our secrets.
You know, the weave words and the weave culture,
I wasn't in it for very long, but I was--
you know, you have to get indoctrinated quick.
So they teach you a lot.
You know how you're in the desert
and you see the tumbleweed going by in a scene in a movie?
Well, if you're on 125th Street in Harlem
or Hillside Avenue in Jamaica, Queens, where I was,
or any number of places in Brooklyn or Crenshaw,
wherever you are in this country in a black neighborhood,
occasionally you will see the tumbling "tumbleweave"
blow down the street.
It's a ball of hair that's flying out of a door
after they have done the--
the weave and swept up the hair.
They sweep it outside and it goes tumbling down the street.
And I call it the tumbling tumbleweave. I love it.
Every time I see it, I'm like, "There goes the tumbleweave."
(roaring)
The tumbling tumbleweave.
I think the horrific part of the hair
was when I really started to find out, you know,
what they was doing,
because it was a mystery early.
And then I was like, okay, if it's a wig, do they take it off?
They're like, "No."
"How does it stay on? Glue?"
"Sometimes. And they sew it."
They sew it to what?
Then I was just getting more and more information and stuff.
It was like a secret society, a hair society
of what's really, really going on and stuff.
It's very interesting.
Do they have classes or--
I don't know, but I'm starting it.
So you're like a weave scientist.
Yeah, I-- I'll note myself as a weave scientist.
You're a-- a "weavologist."
Rock: So what's in your hair now? A few things.
This hair underneath the other hair is thick hair.
This is a weave right now.
This is a weave. That's my edges and everything.
I have pieces that are--
kind of like-- you know, like extensions.
Right now I have clips in my hair.
(clicking tongue) I've attached--
Two pieces here because I want-- A little more--
Fullness. Mine is a one-unit.
Like-- like that.
Oh, God. It's like Dr. Frankenstein.
Yeah, like-- It lives!
(laughing) It lives, it lives.
Long: There are different ways of doing it.
You could do tracks, where you take a cornrow
and you attach the track onto the braid and sew.
If you have a full weave, like myself--
my entire hair is braided up,
and then there's a very thin net that protects my hair,
and then the tracks are actually braided onto the net.
Calloway: The thing about a successful weave--
and as we say in our industry, you got to know your weaver.
Know your weaver, baby, because you know
you got to be able to do it and cut it.
She got to know what she's doing, right?
Yeah, I'm from New York, but I live in Colorado.
You flew from Colorado... Yep.
... to New York? Yep, to get my hair done. Yes, I did.
How long is the flight? The flight is 3 1/2 hours.
They should do a weave airline.
Sometimes you got a long flight
and you want to pass the time,
if you can get your hair done on a flight...
Woman: Oh, absolutely. ... would you take that airline?
Yes, I would.
Every black woman in the country would take that airline.
And when you land, your hair's done.
Oh! Woman: Exactly.
Depending on who your hairdresser is--
I mean, I've been in the chair for six to eight hours.
Black men have to become very very patient.
It's like jail.
And I remember it took a good five hours.
It was a very intricate piece and I was very particular.
I don't like weaves that you can see the tracks.
I don't like weaves where it looks like weaves.
I don't like hair that looks like that waxy hair.
If it looks waxy, it needs to look shiny
because you put grease in it,
not because there's extra pieces of plastic in it.
I'm very particular about my hair.
Okay. I get serious, right?
You get really serious about your weave.
I love my weave. I do, I love it.
I embrace it, yes.
Do you have a pet name for your weave? No!
Money. Bitch costs money.
I've paid a lot of money for this.
But this is-- this is an investment.
The black hair business is a $9 billion business.
60 to 70% of the business is the weave hair alone.
The margin is 125, 150%.
How much is this hair?
$1,000. $1,000?
For just the weave or the weave--
Just the weave, not the hair. The hair was more.
Let me tell you, them prices can go up.
One of these can run you $5,000.
I'm famous for switching out my weaves
once every month because I get bored.
Is that $18,000 for the year?
Yeah, about that. (Rock laughs)
Throughout her whole life? Oh, my god.
Probably about $150,000. Oh yeah, about that.
I change my mind a lot.
So some people have a wine cellar. You have a weave cellar?
1998-- this was a good year for weaves.
Now how much does this cost? Woman: That's $1,000.
This is $1,000? Yes, it is. Yes, it is.
You come in-- it's a maintenance.
You gotta come in every two weeks or once a week
for wash and condition.
And every six weeks you have to get in to retie that.
Wow, this is amazing.
$1,000? Yes.
It starts at $1,000. It starts--
So what's-- I mean, how high--
you can go as far as $3,500.
$3,500? Yes, yes.
And who's paying for this? Ladies, working people.
Black women? Black women, everyday people
that are working and want to look good
and look as natural as possible.
She's wearing a hair unit over there.
You? How much did you pay?
$1,000. Rock: You paid $1,000 for--
And those two ladies in the back over there--
Question: Where do you work?
(laughter) I have my own business-- childcare.
Rock: Childcare, okay.
You spent $1,000? And it's worth it.
Wow. She's wearing one.
Yours cost $1,000 too? Where do you work?
I'm a schoolteacher and I'm a grad student. Rock: Wait a minute.
Schoolteachers don't make no money. (laughter)
And this lady, she's getting hers for the first time today.
You're getting your first $1,000 weave today?
Yeah. Wow.
I've raised the kids already, so it's my turn now.
It's your turn for the weave. That's right.
Good for you. $1,000.
People don't realize how much money is in this.
It just seems that your clientele
is more hooked to this than, say, cocaine in a sense.
I'll tell you, once they start, they won't go back.
Right, like-- They won't go back.
She's been getting weaves for 10 years. Yeah.
If she had a drug habit, she would've been to rehab by now.
You know, even a bad drug addict
got periods of sobriety.
The weave is gonna put you in situations
that you don't wanna be in.
Yes. You're gonna have to date men
you don't wanna date because you're hungry.
Because I got the weave. You gotta pay the money on this weave.
The problem is when it becomes something
that's beyond your means
and we buy what we want rather than what we need.
And I tell women all the time,
"What do you have a $1,000 weave on for
and not have food in the house for the kids?"
It just doesn't make sense.
Rock: How does the average girl pay for this?
I have no idea.
I think about that all the time.
Like what would I do
if I didn't make the money that I have?
I guess I'd... I have no idea.
(jazz music playing)
Now are you paying for this?
I'm paying for it right now. Okay. Right now?
You had--
You've had a man handle this expense before? Yes.
Any of you guys ever been pressured into, you know,
giving a woman some money
because of an expensive weave?
Mother and daughter.
Mother and daughter?
So you're spending-- weaves, you-- Oh.
The weaves are hurting your pocket? Oh.
Some woman wants to look good
and a man is going to find money up under a rock
so that she can be pleased by getting her hair done.
Those are the facts.
Well, I have a layaway plan on my-- on my hair units.
So you can layaway the weaves?
That's right. I have a layaway plan.
This lady right now, she--
in about another month or so,
she's getting a new one.
She already started paying for her next weave.
The price of maintaining a woman
is like real estate in New York City.
It's skyrocketing. It's beyond out of hand.
One trip to the hairdresser or the weavologist
could leave you bankrupt.
Do you think some of the men are being asked
to subsidize this weave habit
and it's creating an animosity in the community?
Oh, it definitely can create animosity.
I mean, it's one thing for me to subsidize your living
or subsidize your education
if you're young and I'm young and you're in school
or I'm gonna help you with your kids even.
But to subsidize your weave?
I mean, hard enough for me to get a job,
hard enough to go through school to get something,
and you don't want me to help you
with an education, children, mama,
a 401k plan, none of that.
Your weave-- you want me to go to work
and invest in you putting some hair
on the back of your head that ain't yours?
I mean, I can't even write it off on my income tax.
Maybe I should have, as part of my dependents, your weave,
because your weave cost as much as some children.
That's ridiculous.
Rock, narrating: As you can see,
the hair business can be cutthroat.
So far I've learned that good hair
could put you in the poorhouse.
And if you're not careful, it could burn down your house.
Back in Atlanta, the hair show battle was coming together
and I was wondering how our contestants were holding up.
Okay, we're gonna see
your first rehearsal on this stage.
Yeah, but we have a problem. What's the problem?
This stage is double the size it was last year.
This is some bullshit. This really is though.
There's no way that y'all are gonna be able
to make it all the way down this damn stage.
I can't work with this.
This stage is double the fucking size it was last year.
This is some bullshit.
Whose job was it to get you the measurements of the stage?
Bronner Bros.
I don't have the right measurements,
I don't have rules, I don't have shit.
Derek-- he said he didn't get
the dimensions of the stage.
Oh, really? Did you know the dimensions of the stage?
Yes, I got it in my packet.
Are you nervous? No, I'm just anxious.
Rock: Just anxious? Yeah.
Like anxious you're getting ready to kick somebody's ass?
Well, yeah, yeah. Okay.
How was it, Tanya?
Um, it was fine.
Pay attention, shit.
It's plugged up. He already did it.
It's plugged up.
It's on the cord.
We kind of ran into every mishap
you could possibly have.
It all had something to do with the show.
What we got, 10 minutes left now?
God, come on!
You name it, it happened. Lord Jesus, help me.
I just know this is our destiny. You know what I'm saying?
Through my prayers, through the vision that God gave me,
I said the next time it would be you.
Did I not say that? Okay.
Jason, everybody's rehearsing.
Everybody's rehearsing, that's right. Except you.
You're the only one.
Yet you're the favorite.
I just can't see why I'm the favorite.
I mean... Are you worried?
No. You're not worried?
Like I said, like I said, I would love to win,
but, you know, whatever happens happens
and I'm excited either way.
And no rehearsal? And no rehearsal.
But we're gonna look good. Okay.
You know, looking good--
looking good is half of the battle.
Rock, narrating: It may be all about looking good for Jason
and the other hair show contestants,
but it's all about cash
for the 1,800 hair booth vendors.
You guys are heads of the Black Owned
Beauty Supplier Association.
Most of the black manufacturers have sold their companies
to the various companies like Revlon and Loreal.
Rock: Do black people own anything in this room?
We have a cluster of black manufacturers.
And these two rows-- this row here and this row here--
are all black entrepreneurs, black manufacturers.
So of this whole convention,
only two rows are owned by black people?
Most of this is white? Most of it is, I think, Asian.
Asian? Right.
Most of black hair money is made by Asians? Right.
Is it hard for black people to get in the black hair business?
Yes, yes, it is very hard for African-Americans
to get into the hair business.
The koreans have dominated the manufacturing
and they also dominate the retail of it.
Koreans only sell to korean retailers.
But because the profit margin is so large,
they will not sell to other African-Americans.
What are you, Korean? No.
What are you? Chinese.
Chinese, sorry. That's okay.
Are Chinese people in China buying any black hair?
We would like to.
And then second of all, we're not Chinese.
We are Korean. Korean, sorry.
Imagine if I went into another community
and just set up shop selling them what only they use.
The question would be whether they call the cops or whether they just shoot me.
But in our community, anything goes.
And I think that a lot of that we gotta blame on ourselves.
I mean, it's not like anybody else needs black hair products.
So if we can't control what nobody uses but us,
that is real economic retardation.
Rock: How many other black hair companies
do you know of that are black-owned?
That manufacture their own products?
That manufacture their own products.
About four out of hundreds.
So did the white man just buy up
everybody else's company? Yeah.
In 1987, Revlon's president--
he said, "Eventually, there are not gonna be
any black-owned hair care companies."
And then you could see the gradual takeover
through the late '80s into the '90s.
And now very few of the companies that market
to African-Americans are black-owned.
No wonder the schools and everything else is out of control.
I mean, you get up and comb your oppression
and exploitation every morning.
Or you attach your economic exploitation
to the back of your head every morning.
Or you shove it down or you put it on a nightstand.
"Here's my symbol of economic exploitation."
Lights out, go to sleep, wake up and cover it back up.
How are you gonna think right
when you're wearing exploitation all the time?
That is a real grass-roots need
to recapture the fact that we can't control something
as close to us as the hair on our head.
Rock, narrating: People are complaining that black people
aren't making any money off this hair,
but the truth is it's not our hair.
When and if my daughters ever decide to buy hair,
it can come from anyplace in the world.
What kind of hair is the ponytail?
Uh...
guess it would be considered--
it's called "human" on the pack.
What kind of hair is in there?
Oh, my god, I didn't know you were gonna ask all these questions.
I would have called the lady that I bought it from.
This is 100% human hair,
meaning that you can curl it,
do whatever and it won't melt.
This is 100% real, baby.
So do-- do you have any idea
what nationality these humans were?
What part of the world these humans come from?
Yes, Indian humans.
Janet Jackson's hair is Indian hair? It's Indian hair.
Who else got Indian hair?
Right now I have Indian hair.
It's human hair, though, and it's preyed upon.
Are you thinking-- are you considering--
I see Jessica Simpson has her own weave line.
Have you looked into having your own weave line?
Mm-hmm. So there's a chance you may join the weave empire?
I-I don't know. It depends on if I can get a straight connection to India.
Then-- then I will, yeah.
(jet engines roaring)
Rock, narrating: You heard what Raven said--
a straight connection to India.
Well, I guess that's where I gotta go.
(train horn blaring)
(Indian pop music playing)
Rock, narrating: This is India, a land with a population
of over one billion people.
A quarter of the population lives below the poverty line,
making about 40¢ a day.
Good thing they don't need weaves.
Overpopulation is at the root of much of India's problems,
but there would be even less room if the Indians
didn't ship out most of their hair.
After software and statues with 80 pairs of hands,
human hair is India's biggest export.
(Indian folk music playing)
My cab driver Sanjiv said if I wanted to find good hair,
this was the place to go.
All right.
Mr. Murali. Hello, how are you?
All right. Chris rock here.
All the way from America. Yeah, very good.
You're welcome to all this.
Now I hear you're the man with the hair. Yes.
You got more hair than anybody. Yes.
If I want some Indian hair, you're the man to see? Yes.
This is daily we are getting like this,
collected from the temple. Wow.
Well, show me some more. Let's see some more. Yes, come.
What are they doing right now?
Now this is the hair which is brought from the temple
and they're just segregating this thing.
And this is-- before washing we do like this,
then we go for washing because there will be some bugs.
It is all dead bugs, but some people,
they don't like to have the lice and bugs in their hair.
Yeah, I don't-- whenever I buy hair, I don't want no bugs in it.
Murali: This is the place where we process human hair.
Weave paradise. Yes. (chuckles)
Rock: This is where the magic happens. Yes.
And everyone's got a perfect weave on their head.
Yes. What are they doing right there?
See, this is the remy I showed you.
That is, after washing, they'll just put the hair
in the hank and remove this tangle,
and they'll remove the top side of the hair.
Wow. So then it will be bundled.
It will be single one of bulk hair.
Rock: Okay.
Approximately how many heads of hair are processed every day?
Murali: No, their weight. Kilos?
So you don't even care about--
You measure it by the kilos. We measure by kilo only.
You're like Scarface-- keys.
Rock: Kind of like cocaine. Yes.
Rock: Hair business is probably an easier business too.
Yes, it is a legal one. It's legal.
(murali chuckling)
Are there hair farms?
Are there just places where just a bunch of women
are sitting there, growing their hair?
No no. It's everything from sacrifice, tonsure.
Everything's from the sacrifice.
Your other friends sacrifice their hair too?
Yeah, everybody does. Everybody does it?
I guess nobody in India buys hair.
Yeah, we already have our own hair.
It's like fish buying water.
Has anybody ever tried to steal your hair? No, not yet.
If you see some black women, just run the other way. Okay.
Rock: Now there seems to be a great demand
for the hair all over the world.
Can the temple satisfy all the demand
or do people find other ways to get the hair?
Right.
So-- so let me get this straight.
Women fall asleep.
And while they're asleep, someone--
Trimming their hair. Takes their hair?
Yeah. Does this happen a lot?
Somebody is cutting hair.
So you go see "I Am Legend"
and when you leave, you'll go, "I am bald."
Hair is worth more than gold? Yes, yes.
And women are being scalped...
Yes. ... to get this hair.
10 inches and better? Yes.
It's like porno. Excuse me?
Rock, narrating: I've learned that this good hair
came from a religious ceremony called tonsure,
and that's what I needed to see: the tonsure ceremony.
If my daughters were going to eventually wear this hair,
I needed to see what kind of person's head
it had been on first.
Over 10 million people tonsure their hair every year.
They tonsure their hair in exchange
for the gods' blessings.
Why do you tonsure your hair?
You ever think about your hair?
No, no, I don't think.
Thinking about seeing it again on somebody else? No, no, no.
God likes hair? Yeah.
Rock, narrating: Tonsure.
That's the word we keep hearing-- tonsure.
85% of india's population have had their hair shaved
at least twice in a lifetime in a religious ceremony
known as tonsure.
In India, hair is considered a vanity
and removing hair is considered an act of self-sacrifice.
(crying)
Rock, narrating: By the end of the night,
these pretty young girls will be bald-headed.
And in a few weeks, their hair will be
on the heads of doctors, lawyers,
and even strippers swinging off of poles.
These people have no idea where their hair is going
or how much it's worth.
The money made at this temple
is second only to the vatican.
The hair collected here is auctioned off to exporters
who distribute it around the planet.
But its chief destination
is the weave capital of the world: Los Angeles.
('70s rock music playing)
Deejay! Hey.
How's it going, man? Good, how are you?
Can't wait to see what you got. Oh, yes.
All right, let's go in.
Rock: Now, deejay... Yeah?
...how much money worth of hair
do you have in that bag right now?
Roughly about $10,000 to $15,000.
$15,000 worth of hair? Yeah.
Have you ever been robbed? Anybody ever-- No, no.
Luckily no, touch wood.
Right? Gupta: Yeah.
Do you have security? No.
Security is its suitcase,
and they think it's clothes and I'm a tourist.
Charles: I need a-- The auburn shades or the natural black?
Natural black and I need 14- to 16-inch. Yeah.
Now-- now what are you looking for
when you go through the hair?
Well, one, I look to make sure that the ends are not so frayed.
You know what I mean?
I look to make sure that when I run my hands through it
that it's silky.
Okay, now is this your first stop today?
Yes, today it's my first shop.
So you get it first? Uh-huh.
Beverly Hills gets it first.
So you start here and then you go to Compton?
It's not quite like that, Rock.
Everything else works like that. No, no.
Okay, so you have this big-ass suitcase
full of hair. Yes.
And you're starting-- this is your first shop. Yes.
Will you make it through the day with that--
How long before all that hair is gone?
It can be gone in a few hours.
A few hours?
Once the ladies get it, they want more.
And they won't pay their rent to get their hair done.
Yeah, there's a lot of that going on in america, a lot of foreclosures.
But they got hair. But they got hair.
There's no hair closures going on.
So if you're not in the weave business,
you're not in the hair business.
It's true because you can't make the money.
The weaving is where the money is.
It takes you up there, puts you up there with the doctors,
you know, that kind of income,
because you're finding something that you can really promote.
It's like surgery-- non-surgical hair replacement.
It's the real deal.
You ever say, "Hey, this hair is from a Hindu princess"?
No. Charge a little extra?
No, why should I say that?
Well, I've put it on some celebrities
and said, "This was on so-and-so.
I'll sell it to you if you want it."
They'll buy it. "I got so-and-so's hair." Really?
So you can sell a used weave
if Angela Bassett had it?
Yeah, she brings it back, then I resell it.
I say, "Angela had it on her head."
They're like, "Really?" This is Vivica Fox's hair.
Yeah, and they'll buy it. Rock: Really?
She like Malaysian hair.
Oop-- Vivica likes Malaysian hair.
Rock: She's not really into the Indian hair.
I knew there was a market for selling Indian hair,
but what I really wanted to know
was if I could make any money at all selling black hair.
Black hair!
(car horns honking) - Naranjas!
Black hair!
Man: Dos dolares! (buzzer buzzing)
How you doing, sir? Man: Okay, sir.
How are you? Pretty good.
So you sell a lot of hair here? Yes.
What kind of hair? We have lace-front,
we have the India hair, we have synthetic hair.
We have so many different hair. Wow, wow.
Do you have any hair from Africa? Yes.
Really? Can I see the African hair? Yes.
Where's that?
This is-- that's not African hair.
Yes. That's Indian.
It says-- India is Africa. From India.
That's Indian hair... Yes.
... for African women. Yes.
Rock: See, I was trying to sell...
I had Indian hair and I sold it easy.
But the black hair, nobody...
Would you like to buy some black hair?
Yeah, we have-- I have all sorts of black hair here.
Some of this hair is from Cleveland
and Cincinnati.
This hair is from Detroit.
Well, you might want to take it back.
So this is not good hair? Huh-uh.
Is that all from someone else's--
This hair was cut off at a Baptist temple.
Well, I couldn't-- it's not--
it wouldn't be healthy for me to sell that hair here.
What, you think somebody's gonna get like sickle cell
or something from wearing black hair? Yes.
The hair is no good. But it's black hair.
Woman: I know. For black people.
But black people don't wear that no more.
So my nappy hair is not worth anything?
No. No.
They don't want to look like, you know--
look like, you know, Africa, like this.
Okay. They want to look the style.
You know, right now you look in all the magazines.
All the styles-- They want to look sexy. They want this.
So this is sexy? Woman: Yeah.
Nobody walks around with nappy hair no more. No more.
You see how many people they do it?
No, you mix with the hair straight. Look more natural.
As far as black women wearing hair
from other nationalities or, you know,
the hairstyles of other ethnicities and races,
I would just say that European and Asian hair,
the texture, seems to be the style
that all women seem to be trying to achieve.
Ice-T: I always was bothered by women that had it
and used it as a power thing.
It's kind of like if I'm wearing somebody else's jewelry,
but I'm flexing it on you, that's kind of fake.
So if you got a wig on, but you're flexing your hair
like I'm supposed to give you points for that hair,
I'm not giving you those points.
I'll give you points for your ass,
I'll give you points for your legs and your skin,
but you don't get points for that,
but you're whipping it at me like...
and a real pimp can always look at a girl and know what she looks like bald-headed.
Be like... you could see through the cap.
I have alopecia,
which causes hair loss on your head or on your body.
I chose not to wear a wig for a number of reasons.
There's this feeling about somehow hiding,
and I never wanted to feel like I was hiding something.
I wanted to deal with
sort of accepting who you are and looking in the mirror
and feeling as though you're beautiful and legitimate.
So I think the reason hair is so important
is because our self-esteem
is wrapped up in it.
It's like a type of currency for us,
even though those standards
are completely unrealistic
and unattainable, especially for black women.
You know, you're gonna be graduating soon,
going out into the real world.
You might have to pay your parents back
for the weaves at some point.
Do you think you have a chance
of getting a good job with natural hair
or are you gonna need a weave to get a good job?
Even though I think your afro is kind of cute,
if somebody came into my office
with an afro way out here and a suit,
that just seems really out of place.
It's like a contradiction,
so I would kind of second-guess.
Girl: I agree with you.
Like if I was going to, say, some new law firm
and you wanted to, you know, join,
and I'm like, okay, you look really nice
and I'm understanding what you're saying.
But I can't get past the fact that you're gonna
be sitting with big executives and all that.
And it's like they're not gonna really take you seriously
for the fact that you just don't look too put together.
You have to kind of really have conviction with it
because there are so many pressures to straighten your hair.
But the result is--
is a beautiful thing, you know.
And it's funny because I always think it's interesting
that to keep my hair the same texture
as it grows out of my head
is looked at as revolutionary.
Like why is that?
(clippers buzzing, voices overlapping)
I seek them out with the natural hair.
Now do you seek out women with natural hair because it's more affordable?
Absolutely.
How old are you? 19.
19... Have you ever seen a woman,
seen her hair and thought,
"I can't afford her"?
Sometimes. Okay.
I know how you feel. I know how you feel.
Rock: Does this have an effect on the relationships
between black men and black women?
Is there a pressure on a black man...
Right. ...that's dating a black woman
that a white man doesn't have dating a white woman?
A black man automatically knows out the gate,
especially if his mama's black.
He's already grown up in a household with a black woman,
so he kind of understands the importance
of getting the hair done and of the woman looking good.
And he wants his woman to look good.
Yeah, he probably has to make a--
a bit of an investment in that area
and just know that's part
of being a black woman, and I'm gonna embrace that.
I'm just saying your woman has a head of hair,
it's like a condo
and you gotta pay the maintenance.
(woman chuckles) Mm-hmm.
When your woman's hair is jacked,
it's a reflection on you.
(women laughing)
When you date a chick, these are the--
as a single guy, when I go out with a girl
and I look at her and I'm looking at her hair,
first thing I know, whether we could go to the bathhouse,
steaming, swimming, or a beach trip,
and is it going to be a big to-do?
You have natural hair, you can do stuff, more stuff.
If I got caught in the rain,
it's not the end of the day.
She would be like, "Oh, I don't want a massage,"
or, "I don't want to go to the steam room."
You say, "Why not?" "I'm not tense, I'm not tense."
You know she's tense.
She's tense at the idea
of the weave she just paid for just falling to pieces.
Do you swim?
I have a pool.
That doesn't answer the question.
I do have a pool.
I can definitely get in the water.
I definitely get in the water from about here down.
You don't swim? No.
We don't play those games.
He's gotta be really special for me to get my hair wet.
Taking a shower together
could be more intimate than having sex.
Wow.
That's damn near like you're my nigga for real.
All my white classmates, whenever I'd get out of the pool
and my hair went from straight to curly,
they were like, "Wow," and they'd pull on it and I'm like...
But they're curious.
They're curious white people. It's okay.
It's okay, you can touch it.
But just be gentle and if it's me.
Don't just go walking up to a random black chick on the street
and reach out to touch her hair because you might get hurt,
your fingers broken, sawed off, something.
Rock, narrating: Of course a random white stranger
shouldn't walk up and touch a black woman's hair.
But what about her husband or her boyfriend?
You'd be surprised.
You guys, you ever been with a woman
that you couldn't touch her hair?
When you can't put your hands through a woman's hair,
there's a lack of intimacy.
I mean, have you ever put your hand through a black woman's hair?
Not that I can remember.
You can't touch a black woman's hair.
You just don't touch it. You just leave it alone.
Don't tell me I can't touch your head.
It's decoration. Leave it alone.
It's like plastic fruit?
Kind of. Just leave it alone.
I don't care if you got fake titties.
I want to be able to squeeze 'em.
There just can't be no off-limits to no parts of your body.
If it's fake, cool, but I wanna touch anyway.
Like really, don't do that
because I'll have to fight you.
Rock: So you can't touch your woman's hair?
Hell no, not a black woman, not after she get it done.
"Nigga, I just got this done.
Now let me wrap this up before we do anything."
The weave-- yeah, it doesn't matter.
It matters-- it definitely matters
if a girl got natural or weave.
I like real hair.
If you're bald-headed, I'm cool with that, too.
Man: Really can't run the fingers through
because your shit gonna get stuck.
Like a D.J. Eh, eh, eh, eh...
I don't wanna run into the tracks
and get caught up and gotta reset the fingers.
You know what I'm saying?
It's like getting your fingernails stuck in a sweater.
You don't want that happening. That's just nasty.
Rock: So weave touching is off-limits?
Do not touch my weave, no.
I don't even touch the inside of my weave barely.
But how close could you get with somebody
if you can't touch their hair?
At the right time, the right place,
I might be in another zone...
but if I'm in my right mind, get out of my weave.
So what do you gotta be, high for somebody to touch your weave?
Maybe.
Weave sex is a little awkward.
Rock: What do you do? I mean...
Um... I guess stay on top.
Rock: So if you're making love to one of these women
and you wanna roll your hands through their hair,
you just gotta really put all the--
put all your effort in the bangs.
My advice for men when they're making love
to a woman who has a weave
is keep your hands on the titties.
That's probably the safest bet.
On the titties.
You can only touch up to here?
But if you get here, that's the forbidden zone?
Exactly.
Grabbing it during sex is gonna tear the relationship's ass up.
That's gonna hurt the relationship
because it's gonna go here, there,
and they don't want you pulling that tail.
Maybe we stayed together back in the old days
because Kunta Kinte could put his hands
through Kizzy's hair,
thus bringing them closer together.
Kizzy was his daughter.
Oh, Kizzy was his daughter. I messed up.
Rock: Does your wife let you touch her hair?
The question is do I let her touch mine?
So I hung out with her a couple of times.
You know, we went from partying
to maybe we should do something.
Been over to my house a couple of times,
laid up in the bed a couple of times.
I ain't get at it yet, but I'm close.
But I haven't ran my fingers through her hair because I'm not sure
is she really-- is that all her hair?
And I don't wanna ask her is that all her hair?
And I don't wanna fool around and run my fingers through it
and she says, "Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Wait, wait. Don't do that."
I don't wanna ruin the rhythm,
so I've been waiting for a period where
I ask her, "What are the rules and regulations
of messing with your hair and making you feel sexy?"
But I haven't got there yet.
I'm still waiting for that moment.
Wow.
Hold it a minute. Hold it a minute.
Now I was making love to this woman one time, right?
And I was, you know, giving it from the back.
You know-- You was giving it from the back?
Man: Doggy, doggy style. Doggy style.
And she told me-- Man: Whoa, easy.
She told me to pull her hair.
And when I pulled her hair,
it came off.
I said, "Whoa,
I think it looks like a man."
Oh, no, that's a little different now.
But it wasn't. Bald-headed as can be.
Okay.
So you cannot touch a black woman's hair?
You can't. Wrong. You can't do it. Understandably so.
If you paid $150 for her to have her hair styled, don't touch it.
So you can't touch the weave? Man: No.
Rock: When was the last time you touched a woman's hair?
1986, before the market crashed.
The market crashed in '87, October 19th.
The last time I was allowed
to touch a broad's hair
was '86, somewhere in there.
White women love you to touch their hair.
Pull it, yank it, swing them around by it,
jump off the ceiling with it,
jump off the cliff and hang-glide with it.
Is this why black men-- some black men favor white women?
Yes. No, I don't favor them.
But some black men, not you. Oh.
Some black men do favor-- Man: White women.
Yes. Yes!
Do you feel a level of intimacy with a white woman
that you cannot feel with a black woman?
Yes, I do. I'm not gonna say that.
I'll speak up myself. Hell yeah, yeah.
Because there's no rules.
I can do things with a white broad
that I can't do with a black, yes.
Woman: But have you? Not true--
(voices overlapping)
Whoa, whoa, whoa!
(voices overlapping)
Rock, narrating: It's no secret that some of the best conversations
happen in barbershops and hair salons.
While the big hair business like manufacturing
and distribution isn't in black hands,
these barbershops and hair salons
employ thousands of black men and women
all over the country, feed black babies,
and send thousands of black kids to college.
And they continue to act as social centers in their communities.
As the barber,
what is your role in the community?
I'm the doctor, I'm the psychiatrist.
Whatever it is you need,
if I could help you, I'll try to help you.
It's still an industry where somebody can go into business,
make a lot of money, not have a college education,
be able to do something wonderful for themselves
and for their families and maybe even their communities.
But there's this expression, creative expression
of black people that I think is shown
when we see all of these amazing individual hairstyles.
What's the definition of this style?
Right there, that style? See that?
It's like a sculpture.
Hairdressers are superstars, barbers are superstars
that are-- that are bigger than doctors, lawyers.
What are your hair dreams?
Woman: I want to own a whole chain of salons.
Like IHOPs. Right.
Rock: What's your hair dream? What's my hair dream?
To own my own salon, to be a platform artist.
Platform artist at, like, the Bronner Bros. Show?
Right, like at the Bronner Bros. Show.
♪ So in love with you... ♪
Rock, narrating: So here we are in Atlanta.
After months of rehearsals in the heat, fish tanks,
botox clinics, churches and day spas,
we've finally made it to the Bronner Bros. Hair Competition,
all in the pursuit of good hair.
Now let's break it down.
We have Jason,
the self-proclaimed Rosa Parks of good hair,
the favorite to win even though no one has seen him practice.
I told everybody, be here around 3:00.
It's 3:05. It is what it is.
Rock, narrating: We've got Tanya and Kevin.
They have some beautiful models...
Oh, God!
Rock, narrating: ... and the Heavenly Father in their corner.
Kirk: Victory, Lord.
In the name of Jesus, Heavenly Father, let your will be done.
Rock, narrating: And then there's Freddie,
the old pro with a tragic history
of elaborate themes gone wrong.
But they can have-- they set up okay.
Rock, narrating: And then there's Derek,
a guy who's all about the hair.
Have you seen the boots?
Wow, that is some boot!
All of them as representative of the black hair industry
as anything the Bronner Bros. put on their shelves.
Yes, folks, this is the alpha and omega,
where it all begins and some of it ends,
where the weave monster sleeps
and the world of curl leaps.
It's the Bronner Bros. Hair Battle Royale.
Now let's get ready to do some really good hair.
Dr. Angelou: Hair is a woman's glory
and you share that glory with your family.
Rock, narrating: Okay, before we start, let's meet our judges.
First up, the beauty surgeon, Dr. Dave Ray;
internationally known weavologist, Sammy Jones;
hot comb expert, Brittanica Stewart;
and of course former champion,
the legendary Patrick Antonio Bradley.
(fanfare)
Welcome to the Hair Battle Royale.
Here are the basic rules.
There are four categories that each contestant
will be judged on:
there's a mandatory three-cut--
three heads of hair must be combed and styled.
They have 15 minutes to complete a look--
a fantasy look or an avant-garde look.
And finally, they must present
a central theme onstage with music.
Announcer: Tanya Crumel was born in New York
and raised in Birmingham, Alabama.
Tanya has been doing hair for 12 years
under the instruction of Kevin Kirk.
She gives total thanks to the Lord
every single day.
Ladies and gentlemen, give Tanya
a great big round of applause.
(crowd cheering)
(dance music playing)
Announcer: Can you feel the blows?
Tanya came to hit hard.
Don't hurt her.
Ooh!
♪ Cut it, cut it ♪
♪ Let it go... ♪
Announcer: She don't want no split decision.
She wants a knockout.
(crowd cheering) Announcer: Tanya Crumel.
How'd you feel, how'd you feel?
I feel good, I feel good.
It was fun.
Is there anything you would change? Huh-uh.
Rock, narrating: Just when we were all certain that Tanya couldn't be topped,
Jason's models arrive
with 700 carats of diamonds.
Even our own camera crew was taken by surprise.
Would this be the deciding factor
in the 60th Annual Bronner Bros. Hair Battle Royale?
Let's see.
(crowd cheering)
Announcer: Jason Griggers.
(alarm clock beeping)
(Jason yawning)
Jason, recorded: I was having the most amazing dream.
Oh, well, it's time to go to work.
(dance music playing)
Announcer: Time to get that work done.
Exercise.
Getting in shape.
Rock, narrating: Now we know why Jason didn't rehearse.
No one needs to choreograph hot women with no clothes on.
Announcer: If you like what you see,
let me hear some noise out there.
(crowd screaming)
Announcer: This is...
Jason Griggers.
Will it be a knockout? Will it be a T.K.O.?
You're the best, papa. Thank you.
You're the best, mama.
Rock, narrating: With such a hard act to follow,
I could see that Freddie was cracking down on her team
and internalizing the pressure.
Make sure when I cut you or curl you, work the judges.
Work the judges, smile.
Seductive smile.
Rock, narrating: There's no question that Freddie
is a brilliant mind in the hair world.
But after the failure of "Broke Front Mountain,"
her success will depend on her ability
to translate her concept into good hair.
(dramatic music playing)
It's obvious at this point that Jason's styling ability
is a thorn in Freddie's side.
Freddie will have to harness her amateur models
and rely on a complicated concept to earn the belt.
Announcer: All right, well, make some noise
for Freddie J., ladies and gentlemen.
(dance music playing)
Ah, Freddie had her whole camp
out there exercising.
Woman: ♪ You need a perm ♪
♪ To get this job you need a cut ♪
♪ Girl, I can't ♪
♪ I love my hair... ♪
Just a little shampoo. Doing it, do it.
Rock, narrating: The judges have no idea what's going on.
Freddie really made it simple this time.
Announcer: Freddie knows how to handle it.
Woman: Oh, my goodness, what are they doing?
She trying to cut her hair in there.
Announcer: She's cutting that hair underwater.
Woman: I think they threw her in.
What's going on? We need some help.
Get the lights on.
Announcer: Freddie had a secret move.
Freddie J.
Come on, Atlanta, give it up for Freddie J.
Aquarium, aquarium. Freddie!
You did great. How'd you think it went?
I didn't even know what was going on.
Rock, narrating: While freddie and her team
were still catching their breath,
scores of dancers and models began to amass around Derek J.
(fanfare)
Announcer: He is Bronner Bros.'
current male hairstylist of the year.
He will radiate his greatest potential to the world.
So you're closing the show? Yeah.
They opened, so now it's time to have the night's headliner.
You're gonna take this to the next level?
Yes. Good luck.
Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen,
I know you are ready
to see the battle continue.
He is Derek J.
(crowd cheering)
(whistle blowing, hip-hop music playing)
(woman vocalizing)
Announcer: Ah, he's in the house.
Oh, my goodness.
Rock, narrating: Remember, the maximum number of people
allowed on stage is 10.
Anything more should result
in an automatic disqualification.
Announcer: Uh-oh.
I-I think...
he wants...
to knock out.
Ladies and gentlemen, Derek J.
It was way more than 10 people...
They were nude too. ...but they was not on the stage.
You know what I'm saying? So he found a loophole.
You can have 20 dancers on the side of the stage,
but they can't be on the stage.
Yeah, but if I get two plane tickets to go to New York
and I show up with 10 people and go,
"Well, they're not gonna sit,"
they don't let me on the plane.
Bell: I understand what you're saying, but--
So this man brought 70 people? It's a band.
Earth, Wind & Fire don't got 70 people.
Even though the judges have not
deliberated against him on the fault,
we're gonna stand in our faith
and claim victory right now, Lord.
Who do you think won? We did, of course.
All right. Take care. Okay.
Stay off the pipe.
You guys still think you're gonna win?
Of course! We know we're gonna win.
There's no question. We're more about the substance than the show.
They need to bring it back where it's about hair.
Rock, narrating: Jason's assistant was right.
At the end of the day, it's all about hair.
And even though none of them cut that much hair,
one of them was about to win this contest.
Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen,
we've got a champion.
Our winner is Derek J.
Derek J.
Did you all have Derek winning?
All: Yes.
Bringing out the marching band
actually used more than 10 people at one time.
Stewart: But they were not on the stage.
To be honest with you, he was brilliant.
Everything tied in for him. Jason was number two,
but he was actually first in the hairstyles.
But just like in basketball, you have to play offense and defense.
Stewart: Freddie, I didn't quite get it.
I was like, well, where is the connection here?
You know, these people are in the club.
Is there, you know, a fish tank in the club?
It didn't congeal. So Tanya lost.
What advice would you have for her? Originality.
Now if she had did her homework and realized
that cutting upside down--
some of the other competitors have done that years before.
She's new to this, but maybe by the third time she'll be all right.
Stewart: This is our Hollywood.
Competing has literally become
a profession in itself.
Rock, narrating: In trying to understand the world of black hair,
I've been all over the world
and I've talked to all sorts of people.
I've seen sodium hydroxide in its rawest form
and in the heads of four-year-old girls.
I've seen some people pay thousands for hair
and others give it away to God.
I've learned that the black hair industry
generates billions of dollars,
mostly for white people and Asians.
I've hung out with the best hairdressers in the country
and watched a thrilling hair competition.
I've seen black women work hard in their own businesses
to give other black women straight hair.
So what do I tell my daughters?
I tell them that the stuff on top of their heads
is nowhere near as important
as the stuff inside their heads.
Once we realized and identified who we were,
then it became personal.
Now I am also free to be who I wanna be no matter what.
So my relaxed hair is just, to me,
as African-based as an afro
because all of that came out of black culture.
But I don't think it should be--
I'm not my hair. You know what I'm saying?
You know, it's just like putting on clothes.
It changes-- it alters your appearance
and it also alters the way that you are perceived to the world.
Hair's very strong.
There is no "good hair." Hair is hair.
You have to embrace what God's given you naturally
and keep it moving.
You gotta work with what you got.
Or weave in what you don't got.
Or weave in what you don't got, hey.
This is like soul music crossing over, this weave thing.
We don't even know how many white girls really got weaves.
We should look at that, Chris.
We should find out which of these girls
that we think got long wavy hair
really got a weave.
Black hair-care manufacturers
have turned the black hair-care industry
into a chemical waste dump.
Who cares?
Not one piece of research has gone on in America
while we have gone to the moon and walked on the moon--
when our scientists have not even walked
on a black woman's head.
Natural hair is freedom.
Black women-- yes, we are high maintenance,
but with us you get so much.
I just think that women
shouldn't point fingers at other women
for whatever they're doing to enhance their bodies.
Other than that,
do whatever makes you feel good.
Because trust me, if a woman ain't happy with herself,
she's gonna bring nothing but pain
to every-fucking-body around her.
(jazz music playing)