If you’re African American, it doesn’t matter if you grew up in the North or South; at some point in your life you’ve heard the term “good hair.”

But what do those words really mean, especially in 2009?

With Chris Rock’s new movie set for release next month and Tyra Banks deciding to ditch the weave, we posed that question to some Qcity residents, and here’s what we got.

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Sunya Folayan (photo above):

“Good hair is healthy and natural hair. It breathes and reflects one’s insides. I’ve been natural 20 years and before that I got tired of doing what was not me. I have nothing against weaves. I like being the way God made me.”

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Tory Kenan, 36:

“Good hair is any hair that God gave you. If you find it within yourself to love it, then that’s good hair. If you don’t love it, then why should anyone else? I like a woman that’s confident with what she has.”

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Michelle Jones, 43:

“Good hair is whatever works for you. Each person has a different definition of what hair is to them. I like natural hair. No chemicals. It’s low maintenance and I equate it to going back to the beginning when our hair was healthy and we appreciated it more.”

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Terry Little, 53:

“Good hair is healthy. Washing and conditioning it and taking care of it make it good hair. If you do that, then it doesn’t matter how you wear it.”

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Bill Pride, 69:

“Back in the day, we were made to believe that fair skin men and women were the cream of the crop and smooth curly hair was the thing. That’s not true. The most lovely, attractive people are ladies as black as pitch from pole to pole. As long as your hair is clean, how you wear it is personal. I don’t get into that.”

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Larentta Pinkston, 53:

“Good hair is whatever way you wear it. I use to think that curly hair was good, but as I got older, it’s whatever way you want to wear it.”

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