Most of us have a love-hate relationship with our hair. African American women included. Why focus on this segment? The Oscar’s slap heard around the world made me recall a movie I had forgotten about.

It’s been talked to exhaustion. Except……..there is an element that I have not yet seen discussed. As we all know, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage at the Oscar’s. Rock made a joke of Jada Pinkett’s buzz cut. Smith defended his actions by saying it was done out of love. He did it to protect his wife, Jada Pinkett, feels from her condition of alopecia.

IMHO-no matter how she wears her hair, Pinkett is a stunningly beautiful woman. So elegant. Many did not even know she suffered from the condition.

Alopecia. We are talking about female baldness here. That’s really a difficult and emotional experience. Hair is HUGE business. For African American women, it’s a very big business. It’s also a very personal journey.

Chris Rock knows hair? The coincidence and irony is that he has actually done a ton of research on it.

Research? Why would Chris Rock do research on African American womens’ hair? He did a huge movie on it.

What is the name of the movie? “Good Hair”. Never seen it? It was actually very well done. YouTube highlight reel:

You hear about how-even back in 2009- the “black hair business” was $9 BILLION. The chemicals, the brands and a global trip on creating weaves and wigs. It even touches on the subject of s-e-x with a weave.

I gained a great deal of respect for the WEAVE.

There were lots of emotions going on during this incident. This movie adds yet another dimension.

PS-at the time of writing this, the Academy announced Will Smith’s 10-year ban from the Award show.