Many of you may or may not have heard of Chris Rock’s upcoming documentary titled “Good Hair.”

This title has been the subject of much controversy. According to the Sundance Film Festival website, director Jeff Stilson’s cameras follow Chris Rock as he travels to hair salons, styling battles, scientific laboratories, and Indian temples to explore the way black hairstyles impact the activities, pocketbooks, sexual relationships, and self-esteem of blackpeople.

The phrase good hair has been a term that causes much contention among black women. Given the debate that usually follows the use of the term good hair, I assumed this film was a comedian’s attempt to poke fun at a sensitive topic.

Rock actually came up with the idea for the film after his daughter, Lola, came to him crying asking, “Daddy, how come I don’t have good hair?”

The film is about Rock’s search to find the origins of the question, and why his young daughter is obsessed with it.

Along with questioning the hair industry, Rock also gets stories and observations from celebrities such as Ice T, Kerry Washington, Nia Long, Paul Mooney, Raven Symone, Maya Angelou, and Reverend Al Sharpton.

A&T Junior, Dana Hawkins, praises Rock for what he’s trying to do in this film.

Hawkins says, “Many people have sought out to expose the negative stereotypes the black community and society put on black women’s hair. Spike Lee did it with his movie ‘School Daze’ and India Arie did it with her song ‘I Am Not My Hair.’

They inspired me because your hair doesn’t make you who you are. I hope Chris Rocks documentary can do the same to black women and girls of all ages.”

I believe Hawkins makes an excellent point because Lola represents millions of African-American girls who are forced to feel insecure because of the phrase “good hair”.

It has long been a stigma I’ve grown to hate. I mean, what is good hair? What makes one type of hair better than another? Why can’t we just embrace all types of hair?

Negative labels have caused African-American women to spend all their money on sew-ins, caps, wigs, extensions, perms, relaxers, etc, trying to look like what society perceives as beautiful.

This is the issue that Rock sets out to solve in his film.

According to the film description on the Sundance Film Festival’s website, what Rock finds is that black hair is a big business that doesn’t always benefit the black community and little Lola’s question might well be bigger than his ability to convince her that the stuff on top of her head is nowhere near as important as what is inside.

It’s that lesson that may make this an amazing documentary and for that reason I recommend that everyone, especially African-American women, go see Chris Rock’s “Good Hair”.

• Sylvia Obell