Synopsis

 My Nappy ROOTS:  A Journey Through Black Hair-itage, an edutainment documentary, takes an unparalleled look at how black hair is used as a prism through which to look at cultural, societal, and political issues in the African American community over time.  The film reveals the significance and pride of African hairstyles prior to the first arrival of enslaved Africans to America, where the broader struggle of Black people began.   This cultural and social struggle created the rise of the first great Black entrepreneurs and the billion dollar ethnic hair care industry-that exist today.

Starting with the first attempts of black hair styling, the feature-length documentary displays an array of various techniques and styles including the conk, press and curl, the afro, the jheri curl, and locs. Each distinctive style marks a distinctive time in American history, politics, and African American culture.  Exploring beyond the surface, My Nappy ROOTS delves internally into the mindset that created the never-ending debate of “good hair verses bad hair” and the role media plays as instigator. From the start of the film, an underlying theme of overcoming obstacles develops into an inspiring story of success and business that does not end.  Instead, it raises the question of “where will we go from here?”

My Nappy ROOTS will tell its story largely through the voices people who were, and are, instrumental in the changes that have influenced the cultural images, aesthetics and behavior of Black Americans.  Filmmakers Regina Kimbell and Jay Bluemke assembles a world-class line-up of celebrities (Vivica A. Fox, Patti LaBelle, Ella Joyce and Malcolm-Jamal Warner to name a few). Historians, authors, journalists, comedians, stylists and barbers, industry business icons like George Johnson, Johnson Products, Ed Gardner, Soft Sheen Products, Bernard Bronner of the Bronner Brothers International hair show and others provide historical, professional, and personal accounts on their Black hair journey. The Black hair industry, which is always passionate, sometimes outrageous, and often humorous is considered the liberation of Blacks in the United States.   This liberation is not only captured on film but experienced from beginning to end with  My Nappy ROOTS:  A Journey Through Black Hair-itage.