Stars: 4/5

“Nappily Ever After” is a beautifully predictable ode to natural hair.

The Netflix original debuted Sept. 21, just a month and a half after the streaming service released its trailer. Sanaa Lathan stars as Violet Jones, a successful advertising executive whose entire life is flipped around when her boyfriend doesn’t give her the engagement ring she is expecting. For her entire life, Violet has been groomed into hating her natural hair in all its kinky glory, and when she’s finally pushed over the edge, it has to go.

The film is clearly intended to tell a story of self-love and appreciation, which it does for the most part, making it truly commendable. The movie is an adaptation of a novel of the same name written by Trisha R. Thomas. The film feeds of the novel to accurately embody the struggle of accepting your natural hair texture from the perspective of a woman of color.

The movie is set up in stages that coincide with the hair phase she’s going through, making it easier to follow both the plot and Violet’s character development. The stages were straight, weave, blonde, bald, new growth and, finally, nappily. It just so happens the most important events to happen in Violet’s life all seem to happen when she starts to change her hair.

It’s a little stereotypical that Violet’s trigger for changing her hair was a breakup. Then again, a breakup is commonly the reason behind women drastically changing their hair. Hair is sometimes a symbol for what you’re going through on the inside, and that’s exactly what “Nappily Ever After” shows. Violet was always trying to be perfect and hide who she really was by perming and straightening her hair. When things start to go wrong in her life, things go even worse on her head.

The movie’s only fault is that by the third hair stage, the movie ending becomes extremely predictable. The journey to the end is the real reason why the audience should stick around. Rather than seeing the played out stereotypes of black women, the audience gets to experience the ups and downs in the life of a woman making the best of her natural beauty.

The best scene of the entire movie is when Violet shaves her head. Lathan made this moment her own and didn’t fabricate a single minute of it. The producers stripped down everything and didn’t skip a moment — you’re with her from the moment she picks up the clippers all the way to the last strand of hair falling from her head.

“Nappily Ever After” does a great job at showing the effects that current beauty stereotypes can have on people. You see how Violet’s mom and the world around her have shaped her opinion on beauty her whole life because, subconsciously, she associates the perfect woman with long, straight hair. In order to find beauty in herself, Violet has to learn that there is no such thing as the perfect woman.

The Netflix original film is certainly something special. It has romance and makeovers and a big picture lesson, but it doesn’t conform to your everyday plot line. Black women now have a movie that embraces the beauty of their natural look while still stating how they look is their choice. It’s a story that shows how there’s no such thing as “the perfect woman.” Beauty can be found in exactly who you are and who you choose to be.