‘Good Hair’

“Daddy, how come I don’t have good hair?”

It might be the most loaded and universal question within the African American community.

And it’s the question – asked by his then-5-year-old daughter – that propels comedian Chris Rock throughout “Good Hair,” a hilariously funny documentary that, like all great comedies, is shot through with equal parts pain and heartbreak.

Rock did not have an answer for his daughter, so he embarked on a madcap tour through beauty and barber shops, the Bronner Bros. Hair Show and finally India, where the most coveted source material for hair extensions is grown.

Along the way he interviews celebrities in search of that perennially vexing question: What is it about black people’s hair that freaks white people out so much?

Visiting a laboratory, Rock demonstrates the corrosive properties of relaxing formulas and interviews scads of women who ruefully recall their worst flat-iron and chemical burns.

The most heartbreaking scenes feature a 6-year-old with her head slathered in punishing chemicals and later, a group of teenagers reflexively announcing that, even though a friend’s Afro is “cute,” she shouldn’t expect to get a decent job looking like that.

If the audience misses anything in “Good Hair” (directed by Spokane native Jeff Stilson), it might well be more testimony of African American women who have let their hair grow naturally.

“To keep my hair the same texture as it grows out of my head is looked at as revolutionary,” says the actress Tracie Thoms. “Why is that?”

The answer proves elusive, but “Good Hair” at least raises the question, with equal doses of affection, provocation and wisdom.

“Good Hair” is playing at the Magic Lantern Theatre.