Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Nappily Ever After’ On Netflix, Where A Woman Comes To Terms With Her Hair… And Herself

It may surprise people, but for many Black women, hair is as important — perhaps even moreso — than health. The novel Nappily Ever After examined the relationship a particular woman has with her hair and how it relates to her view of herself. The popular novel has been made into a movie, streaming on Netflix. Read on to see why it’s a fun watch…

NAPPILY EVER AFTER: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Violet Jones (Sanaa Lathan) has always spent an inordinate amount of time worrying about her hair. This isn’t unusual, as most Black women want to make sure their hair is as perfect as possible at all times. Violet learned this from her mother Pauletta (Lynn Whitfield), who didn’t even want her to go into the pool when she was 10, for fear of seeing her straightened ‘do frizz out. In fact, in the flashback at the beginning of the movie, Violet dives in against her mom’s wishes, and the white kids make fun of her for having hair that looks like a Chia Pet.

Now she’s 35 and a successful advertising executive, turning heads with her perfect hair, power dress, and confident air. She tries so hard to be perfect for her doctor boyfriend Clint (Ricky Whittle) that she wakes up at 5 in the morning, greets her mother at her door, and gets a comb-out just so she can be perfect for when he wakes up.

She’s convinced he’s going to propose during her birthday party. He doesn’t — he buys a dog for them to take care of — and she dumps him when he says that she’s “too perfect” and they’ve been on a “two year first date.” But not before an emergency trip to a new hair salon, where she loses some of her precious locks due to a not-so-purposeful mixup after a run in with Zoe (Daria Johns), the natural-coiffed daughter of the salon’s owner, Will (Lyriq Bent).

Emotionally distraught, she tries a few things with her hair, then sees that Clint has already moved on, which causes her to drunkenly shave her head. After letting go of her hair, can Violet look at herself in a new light?

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: It’s along the lines of other romcoms with African-American casts, like How Stella Got Her Groove Back, but with hair as the reference point.

Performance Worth Watching: Daria Johns as Zoe, the 10-year-old who Violet befriends post-head-shaving, after she apologizes for the salon incident. She’s amazed by Zoe’s ability to be herself and not have to worry about her image, or her hair. Oh, and she stays friends with Zoe despite some ups and downs with Will.

Memorable Dialogue: Violet to her mom: “You taught me to be the girl the guy wants, but not the girl that I want.”

Single Best Shot: An extended shot of every emotion that crosses Violet’s face as she shaves her hair off. It’s relief and fear and sadness all at once, and Lathan pulls it off brilliantly.

Sex and Skin: After encountering Clint at Violet’s house getting the last of his stuff, he appreciates how she’s become more of her true self. She gets in the shower with him and they make love.

Our Take: There are beats in Nappily Ever After where you can see where things are going, especially when it comes to Violet’s relationship with Will. But the most interesting part of the movie, directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour and based on a novel by Trisha R. Thomas, is that the romance at the center of the film isn’t between Violet and Clint or even Violet and Will; it’s between Violet and herself.

You can see Violet’s transformation in Lathan’s performance; in the beginning she comes off as a castmember of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, always making sure she looks just right, but for others: Her mother, her boyfriend, her boss, white people. And after she shaves her head and starts coming to terms with not being perfect, Violet’s manner softens, her mode of dress changes, and she lets everyone around her see her vulnerability. The discomfort Violet has when she’s thrust back into a situation where she has to be “perfect” is palpable.

Tying Violet’s journey to her hair makes sense when you realize how important hair is to Black women. When Violet lets go of her hair, she lets go of everything that was keeping her from knowing her true self.

Nappily Ever After is filled with great performances, especially from Whitfield as Violet’s demanding mother and Ernie Hudson as Violet’s father Richard, who leaves Pauletta for a career as a 60-year-old male model. The attention he attracts after his first gig hits the newsstands (it’s an underwear spot in a store circular) makes for a good running joke.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Fun performances highlight a movie that takes some unexpected turns.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company’s Co.Create and elsewhere.

Watch Nappily Ever After on Netflix