Black Barbie, But Why The Long Hair?

by Brett Singer (Subscribe to Brett Singer's posts) Oct 9th 2009 2:16PM

Categories: In The News, Toys & Games, Shopping

Barbie So In Style designer Stacey McBride-Irby with her mini creations. Credit: Mattel/AP

Mattel has launched a new line of Barbies called So In Style, designed to look more like young black girls.

Except for the hair. The hair is straight.

And that has some parents crying foul.

According to a report by The Associated Press, the new dolls have "fuller lips, a wider nose and more pronounced cheekbones" and resemble a black person's features rather then Mattel's 1960s attempt at racial inclusiveness, which "was essentially a white doll painted brown."

While parents and pundits are praising many aspects of the new line -- a focus on education and mentoring, for example, and the varied skin tones -- they are also asking about the hair.

At first, this may sound silly. But look at the trailer for Chris Rock's new film, a documentary called "Good Hair," that explores the relationship that black women have with their hair.

Rock decided to make the film when his young daughter came home and asked her dad why she didn't have "good hair." Good hair, Rock discovered, means straight hair.

Two of the dolls have what the AP describes as "curlier hair," and quotes the doll's designer, Stacey McBride-Irby, as saying that she wanted young black girls to "to see themselves within these dolls, and let them know that black is beautiful."

If that's the case, some parents ask, then why the straight hair?

Mattel also sells a kit that allows girls to straighten and style their dolls' hair. That adds to the problem, according to Sheri Parks, a professor at the University of Maryland. "Black mothers who want their girls to love their natural hair have an uphill battle and these dolls could make it harder," Parks told the AP.

One positive, of course, is that no matter what is on their heads, these dolls look a lot more like actual young black women than the original black Barbie doll does. One little girl is quoted in the article as saying "She looks like me!" when she saw one of the dolls, mostly because the So In Style line doesn't stick with just one skin color.

Of course, there is still Barbie's impossibly skinny waist and big chest to deal with. But Rome wasn't built in a day, right?

What do you think? Is this a real issue or much ado about nothing?

Related: Pole-Dancing Doll, Breast-Feeding Doll

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Comments (294)

Reader Comments (Page 5 of 15)

Lili 10-11-2009 @ 4:43PM

You know what's funny is that as a child I had a black fashion doll (not a Mattel Barbie, but one that height) that had the same features as described, the fuller lips, the wider nose, the defined cheekbones but she also had short black curly hair. They also had another version with a slightly different skin tone and longer hair. This was 25 years ago!

parrothead 10-15-2009 @ 6:39PM

i just don't believe that the texture of a Barbie doll's hair has kept the African-American race from developing as they would like. Just as the other petty little "racist" words or anything that suggests racism (although not acceptable) should not be used to blame the lack of development. These excuses are wearing thin and it's way past time for these people to take resposibility for their own success in this world.

Susan 10-13-2009 @ 1:40AM

Dear Mattel:

Please add curly and wavy hair to some of your dolls, both black AND white. Not all little girls have straight hair and they are beautiful, too. While you are at it, please see what you can do about giving some of your dolls thick hair & some of them thin hair. Also, some dolls should have limp hair, some should have hair with nice body, some should have fine hair & some should have coarse hair. After all, beautiful little girls need to know that beauty comes in all types.

Thanks,
A potential Mattel customer

Sandra 10-11-2009 @ 4:47PM

Some of y'all have it backwards. As long as black women continue to use relaxers to achieve straight hair more often than they have natural hair, Mattel, etc. will have [some] of their black dolls with straight hair. These are GORGEOUS DOLLS! Get off the bandwagon, and let little girls have fun without their being made to feel like all dolls are supposed to be ugly just to elevate their self-esteem. Get real. Dolls have ALWAYS been beautiful. LONG before Barbie was made beautiful, dolls were beautiful. Geesh.

Nzingha Shabaka 10-11-2009 @ 5:02PM

When you see 99% of black females wearing their hair straight, and blond too, you cannot expect them to give the doll kinky hair, do you? But it is messed up, Mattel, we need a black doll with her own kinky hair.

Tina's Write 10-11-2009 @ 9:34PM

This is a stupid article, making more out of something than it really is. Blacks have too many hair issues and need to get over it ASAP. It's a damn doll. Get over it and worry about the hair on your own head. Wear your hair however you feel comfortable because what's in your head is much more important that what is on it.

Back to the article: No doll can represent every aspect of a racial group. Surely, white folks aren't crying about Barbie's hair color or styling. I think the body image issue might be more important, maybe. How about we stop looking to dolls for personal affirmation? That would be a good starting point.

(And yes, I'm black with nappy hair on some days and straight hair on others.)

Coco 10-11-2009 @ 5:08PM

BLACKS......STOP BEING OUTRAGED! Mattel hasn't even got the female body proportions right, let alone a whole race!

Jennifer Anne Woods 10-11-2009 @ 5:09PM

The author has valid points. So do some of the commenters. I have met black women with all sorts of natural textures of hair. We should not be so closed-minded. It would also be nice to see curlier hair too, and even shorter, but being totally realistic, there isn't a lot you can do with a Barbie. You brush her hair, change her clothes, stick her in her car and then... um, what? As for criticising her waist and chest, the author probably hasn't bothered to look but the figure has changed. The waist isn't unrealistically tiny. Yes, the waist goes in, but it goes in on a lot of women. You ever look? Some of us do still have hourglass figures. Just because low-rise jeans and boy-figured models are in style these days, it doesn't mean us hourglass shapes have gone away. As for the breasts, they really are a lot smaller than they used to be. In fact, looking at the one in front of me right now, I'd say they're only a B or C cup. I'm a D cup, with a smaller waist and curvier hips myself, much closer to the original shape of the doll (OK not with such a tiny waist as she used to have, but it still goes in a fair bit), and I could get all up-in-arms about feeling excluded, or hurt by having it suggested that my slightly over-the-top (but natural, and not heavy) curves are somehow offensive, but really it takes all kinds to fill the world.

Also, as a child, I never once looked at Barbie's figure and felt inadequate. I never met a single person who had that shape, so I didn't expect anyone, including myself, to strive for that figure. It's a doll. Seriously. Get over it. If you think your child isn't bright enough, or confident enough, to know that nobody expects her to look like that, then you are not doing your job as a parent.

mesaman 10-11-2009 @ 5:11PM

So, da baby mommas is don gettin all wiggly coz dey gots straight hair. Hoo, boy. Dats dis crim in na shun! Dey not only ones with black hair. Ever see Indian from India. Dem mommas knows non thing.

keri 10-11-2009 @ 5:15PM

Barbie is not supposed to look realistic. Do you really think the white Barbie looks like every day white American's uh No. This doll is the black Version of BARBIE, long hair, little waste, a corvette a and a man that also looks unrealistic.

Let did nothing wrong in their design.

Damn, give in to peoples wants, then they bitch about how you did it!

Dixie Proctor 10-11-2009 @ 5:16PM

Look around at the african american entertainment role models like Oprah and Beyonce...they have long straightened hair. When was the last time someone criticized them for their hair. Stop making issues out of nothing!!!

archangel 10-11-2009 @ 5:16PM

Since obama got in the blacks cry racist over everything and anything. all I have to say to them is get a life. It's a doll

dee 10-12-2009 @ 12:59AM

Not a single one of the black Barbie doll has afro-puffs? My daughter just turned 9 years old and she still asks that I put her hair up in two afro-puffs. By far the majority of little black girls, those that still play with dolls, don't have permed or pressed straight hair.. so what are you trying to tell my little girl....that her natural hair isn't good enough?

Dactyl 10-11-2009 @ 5:23PM

I think it is much ado about nothing. A doll is a fantasy figure; a girl should use her imagination. I had a Barbie growing up and believe me, I didn't look anything like the doll. It didn't bother me or my friends. We played with them just the same. I think we take ourselves too seriously in this country. Let's get past it.

leah 10-11-2009 @ 5:26PM

people please get a grip its a doll for crying out loud. dolls come with long hair primarily, though some have short and medium lengths too. All barbie dolls have the sleek waist and large chest thats just the way barbie was made. Ok black people do want a doll that looks like them, but we dont want a stereotypical doll that looks like us. Whites wouldnt like it if there was a doll that was pimple faced, horsed mouthed and flat chested. We are touchy about the way our dolls look so what. For the person who was talking about afro americans not all black people are afro americans. There are tons of different types of black people afro is just one please get that straight. I personally think barbie should be done away with. Its causing way too many issues and people just are not mature enough to handle them.

kelly 10-11-2009 @ 7:45PM

It's a "Beyonce" thing.

britmum 10-11-2009 @ 5:34PM

OK, so why the long straight hair??? where to start...
Diana Ross,Janet Jackson, Destiy's Child, TLC, Beyonce.....
need I go on?

zing65 10-11-2009 @ 5:39PM

Are you a stupid person? Are you saying, if the dolls have kinky hair, they would be ugly?

Rosanne Hughes 10-11-2009 @ 5:43PM

Maybe the long hair is so little girls can comb and style it?!?!?
Stop sitting up nights thinking of ridiculous things to whine about. There are a lot of more important issues out there

100

wayne 10-11-2009 @ 5:46PM

nappy hair wig sold separately.......jesus folks,we gotta country speeding toward socialism,unemployment like most of us have never seen and here we are bitching about a doll......priceless