The View - Chris Rock - October 7, 2009 part 1

[prettibrooklyngirl]

I do not know why Barbara Walters keep saying that black women get relaxers because they want to look white. I got my first relaxer when I was 21 years old and the reason why I got it is because it is easier and more manageable that way, I did not get a relaxer because I wanted to "look white". It has nothing to do with that. To be honest, no one knows why every single black woman gets a relaxer. Reasons vary, you cannot speak for everyone.

[Ryukikon]

Whatever many black women want to say, the underlying reason for the blue eye contacts and the hair color changes and weave, etc. Is to have a Euro standard of beauty. Its not just with Black women, Hispanic woman and yes Even many ethinic groups of Asian woman. It happens, it is just Exposed more in black women because it is more obvious and people focus on what black people do more. Most black people think straight hair is good hair. Its self Racism, will you stop thinking it looks nice, No.

[danieblu]

Um i don't agree nowadays with the looking white point that Barbara was trying to make ... maybe that was true 30 years ago but i have never wanted to look white. hair is just a form of expression. i have had braids, dreads, relaxer...I even shaved my hair off at 1 point and now im back to natural and im 19 and have a lifetime of crazy things I would love to do with my hair.. but hair is expression like girls who dye their hair pink ... women are beautiful no matter what color they r

[leston4life]

Women have problems. Ugh!

[epiksonik]

not maneagable? whoop is a dusty brained boozed out black bitch sometimes.

[RealityBites771]

Its funny how much people do not know about black people.

[sunchildnkosi]

Joy there are millions of white people in Africa. Millions.

[dalishus09]

FACE IT!!! AS MUCH AS PPL WOULD LIKE TO BELIEVE THAT THEY KNOW THE INS AND OUTS ABOUT EVERY DAMN THINK IN THIS COUNTRY THEY DONT!! NO ONE KNOWS WHY EVERY SINGLE BLK WOMAN WHO PERMS THEIR HAIR DO IT! THEY JUST DONT!! THEY TAKE AN EDUCATED GUESS BY GOING OFF OF WHAT THEY KNOW.I DONT PERM MY HAIR BECAUSE....SO PPL WHO PERM THEIR HAIR MUST THINK THE OPPOSITE! lol im going natural btw...i DAMN sure never permed my hair because in wantd to look white...white ppl nvr crossd my mind when i permd my hair

[AfroNinjaX]

she said nappy hair on tv lol, 3 steps forward 7 steps back rofl.

[AfroNinjaX]

managable my ass rofl babara was on the dot when she asked about hair.

[IMFLORIDA305]

Managable my ass!! Thats a damn copout most black women dont even know what their natural hair looks like let alone how to coexist with it.

[hornet90]

Man I'm a black guy and i've grown my hair out so many times just because I like the afros and the braids and how versatile it is. Wouldn't trade it for anything!

[BlackSkullz09]

The only way to keep Afro hair manageable is to braid them. And the funny thing is black hair is the most fragile so whe you perm it even more moisture gets sucked out of it. Now we live in a community where not only black women wear wigs or extentions because hollywood is full of women who wear them. Angelina jolie, madonna, Eva longoria, Britney spears, etc.... and these arent black women. All women are very contious of their appearance and looks

[SW33TI316]

i jus gotta say its def not abt bein white. black ppl are sexy no matter the texture of their hair, their shape color whatever. and there are def black ppl of all colors with small noses jus like there are white ppl with big noses so ppl need to get educated and stop bn ignorant. enuf with that already

[Applebaum]

some black women hate their afro natural hair because they have been born into this western society that over promotes white beauty and have been effected

and if the problem isnt that

why then do most black women get fake hair that doesnt resemble their natrual hair texture

which is thick afro 'nappy' coily hair?

[NatSimTho]

Woopie kept pushing the point that it's about keeping hair manageable... That is true but it's about a lot of things i.e. the images of beauty and some people strives for that one image... White/light skin, slim frame, straight hair, blonde hair... all these narrow things which are pushed on every woman, generally and culture specific elements also. Now black women also get this but it's also about what the industry offers, which is not hair care to suit black peoples hair.

[NatSimTho]

. I have my own natural 'black' hair, not chemically treated and it's easy to manage IF I do it in the correct way. The problem is I have to spend a lot of money, search high and low and sometimes buy from the US to find products to suit my hair. Salons and products are not designed to deal with natural African or Caribbean hair that is why perms, weaves and chemicals are seen as the only way.

[NatSimTho]

Even non black women straighten their hair by straightness etc however the way black women do it with perms is more damaging as it manmade chemicals which is harder on the hair because there's a longer way to go for straight hair.

[NatSimTho]

The main point is its the norm and natural black hair is not considered as beautiful as others also it is not as socially accepted in a lot of places, stupid yes I denied this fact until I came across discussions about natural hair in the workplace and how its not considered professional to have your naturally tightly curled hair.... Point its about a lot of things manageability is one excuse but even that is just a generic answer for the real reasons.

[aynota]

i love whoopi & sherri and i get where they are coming from, but they are soooo not being honest about where i "desire" for straight hair comes from

[CAR18MEN]

does anyone know if hair schools currently teach students how to deal w/ black hair????

[sassygurlxox]

I've been watching The View for a long time and always thought that Barbara is condescending towards black women...

[tdubblz]

I must admit, I used to get perms and remember getting my hair 'straightened', both of which were painful routines you learn to endure when you're young. I don't miss chemical burns, dry scalp, burnt ear rim.

This whole concept that kinky, coily, 'nappy' hair is ugly and straight long hair is the 'standard' of beauty is an ugly left over stain of slavery.

[ANTM55]

Whoppi is confused she backtracks. Long flowy hair (white hair) is seen as beautiful because the majority have it and its everywhere. Its accepted as the most beautiful. Black women then also want to have what is seen as beautiful hair.

If it wasnt to do with being white, then why would weaves come in blonde and celebs like Tyra, naomi etc wear them?

[ebeledi]

@ANTM55 true it definately has everything to do with "conforming" to the white standard of beauty not necessarily "wanting to be white"...however their is an embedded inferiority complex in black women thats why so many of them are quick to say "she has good hair"

[lavinder11]

@ANTM55

Most of the time it really is about a different style. Tyra's skin looks really good with auburn hair. She wasn't born with it, but I know two black women who were born with red hair and people accuse them of trying to be white.

[BillKiernan]

wow, barbara walters is really stupid. i don't mean that in the usual cliche insult way, she's just really, shockingly, stupid.

[MrLeatherface2783]

i am glad chris rock did that documentary i had long hair and got it braided at a spot the things i seen and heard about women and their weaves was dumb as shit plus women hating on me cuz i was a dude with long hair really shows how dumb women are about their hair

[lavadava69]

To say my eight inches of natural hair is "unmanagable" is wrong. I can twist, braid, cornrow, flat twist, two strand twist, blow out, spiral curl, and even straighten sometimes my hair. My hair is great and healthy. AND VIRSITILE!!!! We just dont know how to deal with it. Product FOR OUR HAIR is amazing and makes it easy as pie to style!

[ebonyrose316266]

whoopi and sheri are both delusional

[ssaturn]

if you see 100 stringy haired blonde bitches running around flinging their shit around and america calls it "pretty hair," where does a nappy headed bitch fit in? come on. shits been like this since the beginning of time. i dont think black women wanna look white. they just wanna look cute. you go to salons and all they say "og gurl ma heir is so cute." thats all. everybodys hair pool is different. the nappiest hair can get relaxed and look cute. the nappiest hair can get relaxed and fall out.

[cukistcrispeque]

Btw, I hated Chris' documentary. I felt like he was making fun of those women, like "Oh, those silly black women. Doing possibly lethal things to their scalp. Let's all snub their primitivity." What a loser for calling attention to a sad epidemic and not questioning WHY black women do it. There's so much pain and history behind black women and their hair. The insecurities upholding the black haircare industry are infinite.

I apologize for all the comments. I'm just completely digusted.

[miles222uk]

I think the issue here is the amount of money these women are spending on their hair and who profiting from it?

In the UK most of the black hair and beauty shops are owned by non-black people. It would be nice if our black communities had a piece of the pie. Billions are spent on black hair products and weaves yet we are still very poor as a people.

[cukistcrispeque]

If that were the case, then black people would be profiting off of other black people's insecurities. That's not the best thing for our community either.

Same thing in the US. Arabs and Koreans own black haircare stores. I don't mind giving my money to someone who deserves it, but we basically give away our money to other people in order for us to voluntarily harm ourselves and our hair. Not worth it imo. The amount of money black women spend for their hair in general is just plain sad.

[cukistcrispeque]

Plus, both Whoopi and Sherri make it appear completely acceptable for us to put damaging chemicals in our hair. As if burning our scalps and permanently impairing our hair follicles is just the plight so woman who are so unfortunate not to be plague with naps have to deal with. There is really no way to justify putting poison, like lye--a chemical that's used to be clean clogged pipes--into our hair. There is no way I'm going back to that.

[cukistcrispeque]

*some

*are so unfortunate to be plagued with

(wow, I was angry ;))

[cukistcrispeque]

My straight hair, although it "looked good" and was socially acceptable was absolutely disgusting. I either had to wash it within a week because the grease made me feel dirty (basically a waste of 60 bucks) or not wash it so I can kkeep my straight hair for longer (although I got horrible dandruff). Oh, and let's not forget the smell. My hair always smelled like burned grease. It didn't smell anything like my floral shampoo. *That* not my kinks definitely made me feel unfeminine.

[cukistcrispeque]

Further, black women who wear wigs or weaves and straighten their hair and claim they do it for managability also aren't exploring what "managability" means. So what if you can't comb through it? Maybe you weren't meant to. I wear my hair naturally, and I put the *least* effort in my natural hair than when I had to with my relaxed hair. I will never waste another six hours of my life getting relaxed, blowdryed, fried, and then overly greased.

[cukistcrispeque]

Straight definitely isn't the only way to look feminine. None of them really know what they're talking about (considering they're all tv talking heads and not sociologists, by a long shot) when they talk about Africans, hypothetically speaking, trying to find ways to straighten their hair. I call bullshit. Africans style their hair in various ways that *don't* include a comb. They dye it, they braid it, whatever. Madame C. J. Walker was an American product, not an Sudanese or Ghanan one.

[cukistcrispeque]

Wow. For once, I don't agree with Whoopi.

Black women get their hair straighten for a multitude of reasons. More often than not, it's tied, whether directly or indirectly, with our culture's standard of beauty, which just happen to be eurocentric. Straight hair is not the only way to "look good." Ugh. WTH?

[AsSheLikesIt]

@cukistcrispeque Nah, I have to disagree. That may be true for some, but for others we just want MANAGEABLE HAIR!! I just don't have time to spend hours upon hours, combing, twisting, braiding etc natural hair! It's a practicality of modern life.

[cukistcrispeque]

@AsSheLikesIt Okay, you don't have or have not been given the tools (conceptual tools, not physical equipment) to handle it, but that in itself doesn't mean afro-textured hair is by definition unmanageable. Like, have you never heard of a wash-and-go? I've lost more time, energy, and money from relaxing, far more than when I went natural, which to me suggests relaxing is more an aesthetic decision, not an economical one.

Also, dunno what straight hair has to do with modernity or practicality.

[AsSheLikesIt]

@cukistcrispeque In other words, my life is far too busy to spend that kind of time on my hair. If a two hour trip to get my weave put in saves me 20 minutes a day for 2 months, then I'm putting in the damn weave! YOUR experience with YOUR hair, is not evidence for all black women everywhere - which is my point. People are different. Their hair is different. Their reasons for doing whatever the hell they feel like with their hair are DIFFERENT!

[hillmcdaniel]

I think black womens hair is beautiful whether in curls or if they straighten it.

i just don't understand *confused*

i think black womens hair is beautiful

look at vivica fox, whitney houston, gabrielle union, mel(from spice girls) i am sorry but i do NOT understand i have black friends and they do not have extensions and they are not mixed with any race and their hair is just shiny and beautiful i'm white and my hair is not the straightest i need a flat iron like everyone else

[fallon75]

why do they keep saying straight like white hair? none of the people in my white family have straight hair... asians and indians have "straighter" hair then white people...

[ericdisney1]

@fallon75 exactlyy

[ellebyelle]

Joy as so pretty... I'm Caucasian nd I <3 my hair LOL. I think person must have hair that, he/she likes... I think tit's not right when parent decides your hairstyle....

[kikiCARIBBEANGirl]

i wonder why i see black women with straight weaves and not white, asian , insian and mixed girls with afro wigs? hum.. is ironic that the most versitle hair in the wolrd ( black hair) is no good ( its like saying the the iphone is not just awesome)when cris went selling the black hair, nobody wanted to buy it, but alot of folk like the indian hair. I bet if skin colours could be bought to , the Dark skin colours that god gave black wont sell as much either. when u dislike what god gave u,.BAD!

[elishot]

o.m.f.g. LMAO! AT SHERRI OUTING BARBARA "Its the same as you using botox" LMFAO!!!!!!!

[noldorian86]

well the thing here obviously is about what girls everywhere see in movies and magazines

they see straight hair

and you could say straight hair is "white" hair

ofc it doesnt mean blacks girls wanna look white, but it sure does mean they want their hair to look "white"

and u say they go thru all that just so they DONT have to manage it ?

thats just contradicting urself

wtf do you call spending money and going to a fkn hairdresser to get ur hair done?

[azurretown]

Lets all be serious Assimilation is the real problem in the black community and other communities. If we do/did not strive so hard to fit into a society that does not love us we might love ourselves and accept ourselves and take the time to get to know our hair and other characteristics of us as a people.

[nikkidabest812]

whoopi is not lying all black women don't wear weaves, or get perms becase they want to look white. Not all, but some. For some it is just easier to style. When i got my first relaxer race was not even on my mind. There are some who may do it to look white, but that is not the case for all.

[Peonieful]

I felt that Whoopi and Sherri were being very dishonest, there is no other reasons why Black women torture themselves with harmful chemical relaxers, wearing weaves, and wigs other than to try and assimilate into the cultural norm, which as Black women we do not naturally fit into. but it would have been nice if they brought that up as well

[1000shoeswoman]

wow thats why i love the view the multie cultural panel ''LOOSE WOMEN IN UK A'NT GOT A CLUE they do'nt get the view on differnt cultures wow yes your show rocks ladies keep up the good work

[zoragirl4]

Joy looks really pretty with her naturally curly hair.

[AlethiaLight]

Not all black women have frizzy unmanageable hair. In parts of East Africa like Ethiopia, Somalia, etc, a lot of women have rather Caucasian looking hair, so black women wanting hair like that isn't simply about looking like white women. Back in the 70s women were rocking the afro. Society's view on what's beautiful is a fluid, ever changing thing. As humans we generally try to conform.

At the end of the day, what does it matter? It's just hair, people should just do whatever style they want.

[56Dove]

The whole reason behind afros being so hot in the 70s is because black people were trying reconnect with their culture. Natural hair is not unmanageable, you have to work with it just like when you have to go to out and get perms and grease your hair, it all takes a little effort.

[AlethiaLight]

I don't see what's wrong with using that effort and getting a weave. Societal perceptions of beauty are an ever changing thing, I don't see what's so wrong with people wanting to conform to hair styles that are popular in their society. I have naturally soft long hair (im east african) and I wouldn't exchange it for the world.

[MistaChubbz1]

POW

[malikastone]

I'm also really disappointed in Whoopi. I don't know why, but for some reason I figured she was more on point than this. However, just goes to show how deep the hair neurosis goes within us as a people.

[babyEroose]

I disagree. I felt & so did the audience by applause that whoopi saying we perm our hair 2 make it more manageable, versatile & less time consuming IS the main reason blk women today do it. It has it's roots in Euro standards of beauty but many do it today not b/c they want to look white. Using the hot comb is the same as getting it relaxed, so instead of a chem burn u got burnt w/hot metal-what's the diff? a burn is a burn. so all b/c you don't put in chems doesn't mean u r natural b/c u r not>

[babyEroose]

wearing it natural. also the feminine ideal from all types of men is str8, flowing, long, hair so that is another reason. plus it may be str8 but unless it's a str8 up wrap, it doesn't look like white hair so saying 'we wanna be white' is an oversimplification. i like finally seeing a blk woman whose worn her hair natural her entire public career actually coming 2 the defense of us blk women who perm b/c 2 often i see & hear women w/natural hair go on about how i hate myself b/c i keep a perm.

[PopCulture20]

can someone explain to me why some white people aren't born with straight hair as most Caucasians?

[malikastone]

So sad that, of the women on this panel that could have actually spoke the real deal about this subject, it took Barbara frickin Walters to break it down!! Barbara Walters was so onpoint in this video and Whoopi and Sherri couldn't take the truth. Which is that many sisters are constantly trying to live up to the euro beauty standard. Even going so far as to expose themselves to chemicals so dangerous you have to put gloves on to apply it, but then put it on your bare scalp and hair?!

[sekoukim]

I honestly felt like Whoopi could have made a better point. Yes black women want their hair to be more manageable, but the desire to have straight hair is definitely tied to looking like another race as well. Now I must admit that some black women have different textures, but I just don't think Whoopi and Sherri were comfortable enough to address the inferiority complex that some black women have.

[IAmSoTight1]

@malikastone you obviously dont get it. its all about looking good. women everywhere just wanna look good, not white. Jennifer Aniston is Hedious.

[TheYumKitty]

@malikastone "Many" not all sisters that wear relaxers are trying to live up to the "Euro" standard of beauty. Its important that we realize that all people are different and have different reasons for performing the same actions.

[sinistavoicez]

Sisters are so full of shit I swear

[1000shoeswoman]

why they full of shit them please tell me

[erevaj]

Joy is right... comformity (social pressure) is a b*tch

it may be a benefit, but it's not all about being manageable... it's about what society views as beautiful

[irondrumwork09]

lol when i hear whoopi and sherri talk about this from this part, i cant help but to assume that all bw who wear that shit are just conforming to the European hair style. Now if this was the 1950s i could under stand but now we shouldnt have to comform to all this just to have it look like every other races hair to some what fit in!

[mellaLee21]

lol, Sherri looks like she wants to sock Barbara in the mouth.

It's hard to hear Babara spouting off bec. you know she doesn't grasp the full concept, but she & Joy both have a point..a part of it HAS to be that we have been indoctrinated into westernized beauty roles. If not then White actresses would be weaving nappy hair into their scalps and not the other way around.

Manageability is a part, but whoopi & Sherri would be having a more honest discussion if they were say on BET.

[FuckUtube2008]

whoopi and sherri = two complete liars. "easier to manage". sure. get the fuck outta here.

[Jiggahata1]

So all black women that 'relax' their hair b/c they have hair envy and want to look like white women? Tell me, are you a black women? and do you have hair that's quite unmanageable? I've seen your pg. It's all black women who shake their assess, you really seem to have a good idea of what black women think?

[sabeth23]

Thank you so much for the link & the complete episodes. No chance (that i've found) for Europeans to follow the view, and your efforts are much appreciated :)

[Evilkitty64]

~~~~blurry~~~