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One of Chris Rock's adorable toddler girls asked him why she doesn't have "good" hair and he brings his astonishment—at such a young thing already in tune with society's frown on black women's naturally curly and kinky hair—and unwavering funny to the documentary, Good Hair, directed by Jeff Stilson. He prods Nia Long, Salt `n' Pepa, Maya Angelou, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Ice T, T-Pain, Andre Harrell, Tracie Thoms, and more big personalities to talk about extensions, "creamy crack" (relaxer), cultural demands, weave sex, and the financial investment of hair care. They bring honesty, sincerity, and a wealth of astonishment of their own at the lengths they—and others—have gone to get the hair they want on their heads.

Rock frames the discussion with plenty of time in neighborhood beauty salons full of black women and chemicals, and at the largest hair show in the country, Atlanta's Bronner Bros., whose target audience is black women while the vendors on the floor aren't—which leads Rock to illustrate the chemical science of one of only two manufacturing companies of hair products for black hair that's owned by African-Americans. Bronner Bros.' hair competition—with its flashy costumes, extreme cuts, and serious contenders for the $10,000 prize— is as far away aesthetically from the Hollywood types' smooth locks as the left side of Pepa's 1980's do from the right. But hair is, ultimately, a personal thing with deep cultural roots—even in India, where most of the weave hair comes from.