Rock This Hair

(NEW YORK) Chris Rock turned on his inner documentary gene on us in Good Hair to teach us few powerful life lessons. Most extensions come from sacrificial temples in India; the best relaxers are crazy dangerous, and you have to be one smooth player to go through a beautiful black woman's hair. What he doesn't talk about in the movie is his first childhood barbershop experiences. "In the early ones that I went to in Brooklyn, men had to keep their jackets on because they were afraid to have them robbed," Rock shared at the film's Cinema Society screening last night. "Now someone comes to my house for my cut or I go to a places where I can at least take my jacket off!"

And the day of the premiere was like any other for the film's star. "I got up and took my kids to school," he said. "I went to see that new Ricky Gervais movie and by the time it was over, I needed to pick my kids up again and took them to tennis before coming here. You know what? There might be a Venus [Williams] in there!" The comedian's family stayed behind at home, though there's was plenty of support for the project at IFC center. Reverend Al Sharpton, Padma Lakshmi, Lenny Kravitz, Adrian Grenier, Andre Harrell, Olivia Thirlby, Reed Krakoff, and Narciso Rodriguez were just some of the names who sat through the docu-comedy full of Atlanta hair competitions and star packed cameos.

The pre-movie hair talk was downright crazy. "I take off my wigs and just parade without them on the set of my show," announced Wendy Williams. "But as soon as the cameras are turned on...baby that wig goes right back on." When one writer asked Al Roker about his personal favorite hairstyle, the normally jovial weatherman scratched his bold head and shot back: "You're kidding, right?"

The after-party moved to the Standard where guests like Rachel Zoe, Guy Oseary, Gina Gershon, and Genevieve Jones were welcomed with the hotel's famous burgers and mushroom quiches. The hair discussion went on. "I'm really into my hair, so I strive to have a lot of good hair days," offered one of the film's contributors, Sandra 'Pepa' Denton. "Today looks pretty good, doesn't it? It's straight and it's doing what it's supposed to do!" Precious star Gabourey Sidibe made a late entry to the party, while enjoying the last three weeks of relative anonymity before the release of the Oscar-favored movie. "I'm still in awe of just being invited to things like this," she exclaimed. "I mean, I still live in my Astoria apartment!"
VALENTINE UHOVSKI