Bad Hair | Film Review
**Contains Spoilers**
Anna, an assistant at a television station, attempts to elevate her position at the company by getting a new weave. She did not anticipate all of the baggage it came with.
Based on the trailer I wasn’t too sure what to expect but I gathered this movie would be horror-ish. Well..... it’s giving satire, lowkey horror, with a sprinkle of folklore. Sounds a little weird but Bad Hair had a lot going on.
I’ll start with the good, loveee the pop culture in this film. It is set in 1989 and it shows! Costume and set design is definitely on point! Lots of color filled with nostalgia. Plus we had some great stars, Kelly Rowland and Vanessa Williams. I was pumped at first. The characters had braids, wigs, weaves and natural styles too! Even the way it was filmed, it has such a 90s vibe.
Anna wants to impress her new boss so she decides getting a weave would be her golden ticket. She finesses her way into getting an appointment with LA’s top hair stylist. As the weave is being installed it gets very cringey (but I’m pretty sure that was intentional) you hear daunting music and you see close ups of the needle going into the braids. Sis is crying from the pain plus she’s tender headed. We see the needle irritate her childhood perm burn. Gross, I know. It was a lot but like they say beauty is pain. Now here is what confused me. She got a weave but the character was actually wearing a wig (IRL). So the wig was essentially the “weave” and something about that was off to me. The entire plot is about her weave but she’s wearing a wig. I guess the Black woman in me finds this strange. Anywho, as soon as Anna sees herself she instantly feels like a new person. I’m sure we all can relate to that feeling. Virgie, the hairdresser, told her not to get it wet. Remember this is 1989, probably before wet and wavy.
First day out, sis is already patting the weave but I’m assuming that’s where the satire comes in. We know the weave itch doesn’t really start that soon. Anna uses Virgie’s essential oils to soothe the irritation and guess what it is! The pink lotion ! Another nostalgic moment. When Anna tries to finger comb her hair, the weave cuts her finger. Like bleeding and everything. As the movie continues we see that the weave feeds off of blood and needs it in order to maintain its style. Tell me why the weave started killing people ! Like the hair took over her body and legit killed people. That’s when it got even more crazy. If the weave didn’t get its feeding it started to get matted and look ugly. Plus if you tried to cut it out, it would kill you too. The movie went downhill for me after that or maybe I just didn’t get it. Vanessa Williams’ weave started killing damn near everyone in the office. In the end Anna killed her weave by getting it wet by the office sprinklers.
The movie had some triggering scenes that almost every Black woman can relate to like, when younger Anna got a perm and her cousin burned her!!! I remember those days when I couldn’t take the burning any longer. But ultimately the film fell short. I enjoyed the vibes of the movie but the story just was off.
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