Naturally Kinky

Chris Rock just produced a documentary that was an entry at the Sundance Festival about black people and the black hair care industry. I can't wait to see it. Here is the story:

Rock's `Good Hair' documentary is film fest entry
By DAVID GERMAIN – 2 days ago

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Chris Rock was having a good hair day at the Sundance Film Festival.

Hours after President Barack Obama's inauguration, Rock sat down to talk about his Sundance entry, "Good Hair," a hilarious examination of the cultural pressures that prod blacks into costly, often painful methods to care for their hair.
The idea first hit Rock in the mid-1990s on a standup tour through Atlanta, where he came across the Bronner brothers hair show, a glitzy convention for black stylists.

"I thought, wow, this would make a great movie, but that was like 15 years ago, and no one was making funny documentaries 15 years ago," Rock said in an interview Tuesday alongside Nia Long, one of many actresses and other celebrities Rock interviews in the film.

"So you cut to now, and I have daughters, and I'm really dealing with them and their hair a lot, and my friends have daughters, and we talk about our daughters' hair issues. I kind of saw where to go at it, and now people are making funny documentaries," he said.

"Good Hair," one of 16 films in Sundance's U.S. documentary competition, follows Rock from the Bronner brothers show to neighborhood salons, businesses dealing in hair-care products and the streets of India, where human hair is a huge export industry for hair weaves.

"I was kind of scared to come to Sundance in a sense, because I think this is the blackest movie ever made," said Rock, a producer and co-writer on the film. "So I was kind of scared to come to Utah, because it's so white."
But Rock said Sundance crowds have given "Good Hair" an enthusiastic reception, bolstering his hopes that it can find a broad audience. Produced by HBO, "Good Hair" eventually will air on the cable channel, but Rock and his collaborators are considering a theatrical release first.

While loaded with the 43-year-old actor-comedian's wisecracking humor, "Good Hair" also raises serious questions about identity and equality among black women who feel they need long, straight, silky hair to fit into white society.
"It's this whole thing about approval. That approval is not simply, `I want white people to love me.' It's like, `I need a job. I want to move forward, and if I have a hairstyle that is somewhat intimidating, that's going to stop me from moving forward,'" said Nelson George, executive producer of "Good Hair."

Rock interviews women who undergo hair-relaxing treatments with chemicals that burn their scalps and others who pay thousands of dollars for hair weaves. Along the way, he trades witty, insightful observations with such figures as Maya Angelou, the Rev. Al Sharpton, actresses Raven-Symone and Tracie Thoms, and singers Eve and Ice-T.
Long talks candidly in the film about her own perms and weaves, but in the interview with Rock, she also speaks hopefully about how Obama, his wife and their two daughters can help blacks overcome the cultural inferiority complex that prompts them to change their hair.

"Just seeing that family photo and seeing the daughters with their hair in cornrows sometimes, it resonates for me in such a huge way," Long said. "I just feel finally we have an image that's the most powerful image in our country that actually is a part of who I am."

Rock also reveled in Obama's inauguration, but he joked about another hurdle still facing blacks.

"Excellent black people have always been compensated for excellence. Always," Rock said. "The real equality is when we can have a black president as dumb as George Bush. That's when we're really equal. That's when the dream has come true."
HBO is owned by Time Warner Inc.

I decided to make my own hot oil treatment for my hair using my peppermint oil. I mixed some molasses, the last of my palm kernel oil, and a few drops of peppermint, and heated it up. I used molasses due to the nutrients in it like copper, magnesium, chromium, manganese, molybdenum, zinc, phosphorous, Pantothenic acid, vitamin E and Inositol. It is also good for keeping dark hair dark and supposedly makes gray hair dark as well. It also has sulphur in it, which is great for growing hair. The palm kernel oil is great because of the moisturizing properties, and the peppermint oil is great for stimulating the scalp and promoting hair growth.

I mixed equal parts molasses and palm kernel oil, heated that up, added a few drops of peppermint. Added it to freshly washed, but not detangled hair and wrapped a warm towel around it for about 45 minutes. RInsed it out in the shower using my Dr. Bronner's soap, and then did my usual routine of co-washing and my products afterwards.

My hair feels unnaturally soft, looks shiny, and overall I am impressed with my own homemade concoction. My husband loved the smell of the molasses and peppermint oil together, saying I smelled like an Andes Mint when I had the treatment in my head. Of course he thinks it is crazy I put food in my hair, he always asks me if I am making cookies when I make some of my homemade concoctions.

I posted a pic of my hair. It is second day, unstyled hair aka bed head, so please forgive me.

So the other day, while looking for some stuff at the Sprout's they just built by my house, I found some Dr. Bronner's Castille soap. I have heard many people rave about this product as it has a gazillion uses. You can use it as shampoo, body soap, toothpaste (yeah toothpaste), for cleaning your tile and floors, to a million other uses. I tried it as a body wash and shampoo. Now usually I go shampoo-less, and use black soap for my body. I love black soap, and I am a true convert to the black soap love, but I decided to use a shampoo since I was doing a hot oil treatment that I will post about later. I love this stuff as a shampoo, usually shampoo leaves my hair feeling completely stripped and feeling hard, but this soap left my hair really soft, and it felt really clean. I also enjoyed the tingle it left in my hair from the peppermint. If you don't like the idea of tingle, there are other fragrances such as almond, rose, citrus, tea tree, eucalyptus, lavendar, etc.

All in all as a body wash and shampoo it is a great product. It isn't too harsh on the hair, it is cone free, and it is fair trade. The best part of all is it is relatively inexpensive. A little goes a long way and a 16 oz. bottle should last a long time, and it is less than $10 for the 16 oz. bottle.

I made some of my whipped coconut oil and shea butter and thought to add some of my peppermint oil. It smells and looks heavenly. I usually do half coconut oil/half shea, but this batch is slightly more coconut oil than shea, which gives it a more white color. My usual coconut oil/shea has more of a yellow color due to the unrefined shea butter I use:



Probably not a good picture to show contrast, but trust me it is more yellow than the first pic.

I added just a few drops of peppermint, and it makes it smell heavenly. I think it might be wonderful for my scalp, and it is supposedly great for stimulating hair growth. It can also be used on the skin for circulation, but considering my situation (I'm pregnant) I was a bit nervous about slathering it all over my body, even though smelling peppermint oil is supposed to suppress nausea, which would be a life saver right now. It also is supposed to eliminate dandruff and can be used to get rid of lice. Peppermint oil might go great in a hot oil treatment as well. I think I will try a hot oil treatment of palm kernel oil and peppermint. The sweet smell of the palm kernel oil and peppermint oil should be heavenly.

The shea butter and coconut oil make for a great daily hair conditioner, as well as a body moisturizer. It is supposedly a great way to help limit and prevent stretch marks too. I have been using it for a year with great results skin wise and hair wise. I just use an egg beater to blend the shea butter and coconut oil that has been heated in a double boiler to give it a whipped texture.

Anyway I will be using peppermint oil in other ways and I plan to update you soon on some other product purchases :)