CUT AND DRIED Rock checks out what women go through for their hair.

What at first seems to be an affectionate look at the history of African-American hairstyles quickly turns more serious, as producer-guide Chris Rock explores the uses of “relaxer” (actually sodium hydroxide, a.k.a. lye), a chemical used even by young girls to smooth out their natural curls, and the manufacturing of weaves (often made with human hair imported from India, where it’s sold for little or nothing by individuals with no idea of its value in the States).

The film seems to be leading up to a damning assessment—essentially, that ubiquitous hair-straightening (more common among African-American women than men) is essentially a denial of blackness. But Rock and even Al Sharpton, who appears in an interview, adopt a more measured stance. Sharpton notes that relaxer and weaves, whatever their economic and cultural costs, have become an indelible part of black identity in America, and Rock discreetly declines to say what he’ll allow his young daughters—the inspiration for this film—to do.

Individual hair horror stories are compelling (only Ice-T wears a cap), but Good Hair isn’t quite a consistent film. It could easily have lost the material involving the Bronner Bros. International Hair Show, which plays like Zoolander without the laughs. But as an exposé of an undercovered subject, it raises surprising questions with a consistently entertaining purview. If only Michael Moore had this kind of focus.

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