Bad Hair (2021) May 2026

The Price of Professionalism: Satirizing Eurocentric Beauty Standards in Simien’s "Bad Hair"

Discuss the "sew-in" scene as a moment of ritualistic trauma rather than a makeover. Bad Hair (2021)

"Justin Simien’s Bad Hair utilizes the 'body horror' genre to critique how 1980s corporate America enforced Eurocentric beauty standards on Black women, illustrating that the assimilation required for professional success often comes at the cost of one's identity and physical safety." and the Black Female Body

Like films such as the South Korean horror The Wig , the hair in Bad Hair is a sentient, parasitic entity. Use this to discuss the "loss of agency"—when the tools used for empowerment (the weave) begin to control the wearer. 3. Historical & Cultural Context Bad Hair (2021)

Roots of Horror: Folklore, Capitalism, and the Black Female Body