Good Hair Page #6

$1,000.

Yes. It starts at $1,000.

It starts?

So, how high--

You can go as far as 3,500.

- $3,500?

- Yes, yes.

And who's payin' for this?

Ladies, workin' people.

Black women?

Black women,

everyday people that are working

and want to look good

and look as natural as possible.

She's wearing

a hair unit over there.

You? How much did you pay?

1,000.

You paid $1,000?

And those two ladies

in the back over there.

A question.

Where do you work?

I have my own business.

Child care.

Child care, okay.

And you spent $1,000?

And it's worth it.

She's wearing one.

Yours cost $1,000, too?

Where do you work?

I'm a schoolteacher,

and I'm a grad student.

Wait a minute. Schoolteachers

don't make no money.

And this lady, she's getting hers

for the first time today.

You're getting

your first $1,000 weave today?

- I am.

- Wow.

But I raised the kids already,

so it's my turn now.

- It's your turn for the weave.

- That's right.

Good for you. $1,000.

People don't realize

how much money is in this.

It just seems

that your clientele

is more hooked to this than,

say, cocaine because...

Well, l'll tell you,

once they start,

they won't go back.

They won't go back.

She's been gettin'

weaves for ten years.

If she had a drug habit,

she would've went to rehab by now.

You know, even a bad drug addict

got periods of sobriety.

The weave is going to

put you in situations

that you don't want to be in.

Yes.

You going to have to date men

you don't want to date

just 'cause you hungry.

'Cause our hair's

got to be weaved.

'Cause you got to pay

the money on this weave.

The problem is

when it becomes something

that's beyond your means,

and we buy what we want

rather than what we need.

And I tell women all the time,

''What do you have

a $1,000 weave on for

''and don't have food

in the house for the kids?''

It just doesn't make sense.

How does the average girl

pay for this?

I have no idea.

I think about that all the time.

Like, what would I do

if I didn't make

the money that I have?

I guess l'd--l have no idea.

Are you payin' for this?

I'm paying for it right now.

Okay. Right now?

You've had a man handle

this expense before?

Yes.

Any of you guys

ever been pressured into,

you know, giving

a woman some money

because of an expensive weave?

My mother and daughter.

Mother and daughter?

So you're spend on weaves--

These weaves

are hurtin' your pocket?

A woman wants to look good,

and a man is going to

find money up under a rock

so that she can be pleased

by getting her hair done.

Now, those are the facts.

Well, I have a layaway plan

on my hair units.

So you can layaway

the weave?

That's right.

I have a layaway plan.

This lady right now,

in about another month or so,

she's gettin' a new one.

She already start payin'

for her next weave.

The price of maintaining a woman

is like real estate

in New York City.

It's skyrocketing.

It's beyond out of hand.

One trip to the hairdresser,

or the weaveologist,

could leave you bankrupt.

Do you think some of the men

are being asked to subsidize

this weave habit,

and it's creating

an animosity

in the community?

Oh, it definitely

can create animosity.

I mean, it's one thing for me

to subsidize your living,

or subsidize your education

if you're young and I'm young

and you're in school,

or I'm going to help you

with your kids even.

But to subsidize your weave?

I mean, hard enough

for me to get a job,

hard enough to go

through school and get something,

and you don't want me to help you

with education, children, Mama,

401K, none of that.

Your weave.

You want me to go to work

and invest

in you puttin' some hair

on the back of your head

that ain't yours.

I mean, I can't even write it off

on my income tax.

Maybe I should have, as part

of my dependents, your weave.

'Cause your weave costs

as much as some children.

That's ridiculous.

As you can see, the hair business

can be cutthroat.

So far I've learned

that good hair

could put you

in the poorhouse,

and if you're not careful,

it could burn down your house.

Back in Atlanta, the hair show battle

was coming together,

and I was wondering

how our contestants were holding up.

Okay...we're going to see

your first rehearsal on this stage.

We have a problem.

What's the problem?

This stage is double the size

it was last year.

This is some bullshit.

This really is, though.

There's no way that y'all

going to be able to make it

all the way

down this damn stage.

I can't work with this.

This stage is double

the f***in' size it was last year.

This is some bullshit.

Whose job was it to get you

the measurements of the stage?

Bronner Brothers. I don't

have the right measurements.

I don't have rules.

I don't have sh*t.

Derek, he said he didn't

get the dimensions of the stage.

Oh, really?

Did you know

the dimensions of the stage?

Yes, I got it in my packet.

Are you nervous?

No, just anxious.

- Just anxious?

- Yeah.

Llke ''anxious,'' you getting ready

to kick somebody's ass?

- Well, yeah.

- Okay.

How was it, Tanya?

It was fine.

Leah, pay attention. Sh*t.

It's plugged up.

He already did.

It's plugged up.

It's on the cord.

We kind of ran

into every...mishap

you can possibly have.

It all had something

to do with the show.

What we got,

ten minutes left now?

Guys, come on!

You name it, it happened.

Lord Jesus, help me.

I just know this is our destiny.

You know what I'm saying?

Through my prayers,

through the vision that God gave me.

And I said,

''The next time it would be you.''

Did I not say that?

Jason, everybody's rehearsin'.

Everybody's rehearsin'.

That's right.

Except you.

You're the only one.

Yet, you're the favorite.

I just can't see

why I'm the favorite.

I mean...

Are you worried?

- No.

- You're not worried?

Like I said,

I would love to win,

but, you know,

whatever happens happens,

and I'm excited either way.

And no rehearsal?

And no rehearsal.

But we're going to look good.

Okay.

Lookin' good

is haIf of the battle.

It may be all about

looking good for Jason

and the other hair show

contestants,

but it's all about cash

for the 1,800 hair booth vendors.

You guys are heads of the Black Owned

Beauty Supplier Association.

Most of the black manufacturers

have sold their companies

to the various companies

like Revlon and L'Oral.

Do black people

own anything in this room?

We have a cluster

of black manufacturers.

And these two rows

and this row here

and this row here

are all black entrepreneurs,

black manufacturers.

So of this whole convention,

only two rows are

owned by black people,

but most of this is white?

Most of it is, I think, Asian.

- Asian?

- Right.

Most of the black hair money

is made by Asians.

Right, correct.

ls it hard for black people

to get in the black hair business?

Yes, it is very hard

for African Americans

to get into the hair business.

The Koreans have dominated

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