Black Barbie, But Why The Long Hair?

whats the big deal .also one word relaxer

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It's a doll, something to play with not real ! Get over it . next it will be oh my goodness miss piggy is too fat, Elmo is to red. they are toys. you adults need to grow up and explain to your children that they are toys there is no real life Barbie.

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hello Tanned girls are not just of African descent. Many are from the Philipeans, India, the South Pacific, South America, ...many places. And their hair is straight. However, It is true though that just like light skinned girls it would be nice if there were also wavy blond, brown, red, and black haired, curly, super curly, and some shorter, great looking, easy to maintain cuts. Every country has them !!!

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Why is it always "oh, you have to have lived through the experience to reaally understand what its like." etc. etc... & this usually pertains to black people who say this? If anybody really lives in this country then they would actually see that ALOT of white women ALSO have naturally curly hair (and that includes me & my sisters btw) & I always wished for most of my years growing up that my hair was straight & I tried straightening it with relaxers & irons, etc. for alot of years too until I finally found a haircut that made it easier to deal with in its natural state.
That is what makes ME mad is that everybody always assumes that its always & only the black women who suffer & deal with this hair problem/issue... if anybody had taken a look around you would see that there are a whoooole lot of us who don't look anything like Barbie.....we have dark hair, darker eyes along with the curls. Everybody also knows too that when you keep your hair on the shorter side it stays more on the kinky curly side (like one of my sisters does...very curly) & me & my other sisters keep our hair on the longer side & it makes it tad easier to deal with when its longer if you ask me... Anyway, alot of people deal with this problem & we all don't have the "oh so beautiful Barbie hair" that you can just style/throw up in the morning in 3 minutes... we'd all kill for hair like that. Alot of white women who have the "nice" hair that you see might straighten it too when they got out so don't go judging because you really don't know.

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Omg...do you mean to tell me black women only have one hairstyle?? There is nothing wrong with having a Black Barbie with straight hair.

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You all had some great blogs. Be happy with the hair and hair color god gave you for it is the most flattering . And as also said the blacks would cry racism no matter what to a point everyone even blacks are sick of it. As far as the Barbies hair kids black or white don't want dolls with short kinky or curly hair, they want long hair that they can curl, comb and brush style and pin up. What you blacks are doing by screaming pregudism is bringing your kids up to be the same and you don't even realise it. Its a damn doll, if you didnt bring notice to it they wouldnt even realise about the nose or color. Kids want a doll who they can play with and do their hair up. And if the doll eats rolls its eyes talks and wets even the better. I remember when I was a child I always wanted a Betsy Wetsy, a doll that you could feed it came with a little spoon, it would wet after you feed it a bottle and you then could change it, and it came with a little bubble pipe that if you gave it some water and put the pipe in its mouth it would blow bubbles. They also had a chatty cathy and a teddy reskin, all dolls that did things. Kids want dolls they can bath, dress , dolls that crawl , cry and come with a million assessories (likebarbie) they don't care about the color they want a doll that they can be a mother to and do to like moms do . Though I don't agree with this new doll that is called the nurseing doll it comes with a vest with two flowers where the breast are and the kid can pretend their nurseing even and they had one that was pregnant and its belly opened for the kid to take the baby out. Now thats going to far.

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Is it me or did anyone say it was a race issue? Geez, can't ask a damn question nowadays....all the white people are automatically jumping to the conclusion of it being a "race issue" or here the blacks go again pulling out the "race card. Frankly, I see nothing wrong with the freakin' doll...it's a doll for christ's sake. Further, do white people ever question themselves as to why they are going to the beach or the tanning salon to get darker...hell to the no, so I'm not sure why blacks have to constantly explain the hair thing. Give it a rest, it's really not that serious. It's 2009 and people should feel free to relax and/or tan as they see fit. Thank you and goodnight!

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What the hell, what about Beyouce and others, give it a break...make a fro Barbie and the reaction would have been the same.

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I say make the nappy haired doll and add a package of grease and a pic comb. At least the poor little girl who ends up with that one can do something with it's hair.

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O, because white chicks aren't tryin to look like black chicks nowadays with the lip injections, tanning, and butt implants...give it a rest chica....it's a two way street. And for the record, the likes of Rihanna and Beyounce don't need skin bleaching cream it's there natural complexion...shows how much you actually know about black people, we come in all wonderful shades from the deepest dark chocolate to the lightest shades of latte. Go get a clue before you start talking about things you clearly are not well informed on.

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Let me get it straight ( no pun intended) people complain because a doll has straight hair? If Mattel had put curly hair, they would yell, racial profiling! What gives people? Can't we just get along?

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as a white girl with super super curly curly hair, even I have had a tough time coming to terms with my hair. people really do want the long, silky, straight hair. i was watching the "millionaire matchmaker" the other day and she said she refused to have girls with curly or short hair, that men only like long, straight hair. it made me cry lol. I have a straightener and i straighten my hair way more often than i would like to. i wish it was easy to embrace my curly hair but i don't have the self-confidence or the courage to just go natural. when i first started straightening my hair i got soooo many compliments. my boyfriends would pressure me to straighten it. not to mention the fact that my curly hair is frizzy and out of control and so hard to take care of. so i can totally relate and i wish the standard was different!

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I am an African American woman and personally, I like the dolls -- hair and all. As I looked at the facial details, I was very impressed with the accuracy. I personally could care less if the dolls' hair was straight or kinky. The doll definitely has ethnic features and that's great. HOWEVER, I understand the debate about the dolls' hair. For those of you making foul comments towards the AAs who have a problem with the doll's hair, just listen for a change. In a society where you have to decide whether to relax (aka pour chemicals and damage) your hair just to be accepted for a damned job interview or presented to clients or even considered part of mainstream America, what seems insignificant to most (aka hair) becomes a serious issue to some. We'd save a lot of money and time, if we didn't have to assimilate so much. At some point, the issue makes a wrong turn from being merely social in nature to down-right psychological. It's not that people are trying to call Caucasian Americans racists. It's about maximizing this opportunity to remold America's view of (and our own self-images as) African American women. I hope I have explained the basis for the debate. No one is claiming that White people are racists. For once, it's not about you. :)

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You are ignorant! Please accept this fact. Thank you!

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i'm white, no black as far back as i know (grandparents), and my hair is just like black hair. so is my sister's. curly and "kinky" (as some people call it). while my sister loves her hair, i never liked mine. wanna know why? it doesn't hurt to run a brush through straight hair. you can do a lot more styles with straight hair. with curly hair, you can part it on one side or the other or pull it up... and that's about it. cuz it's gonna do whatever it wants.

those are the reasons. maybe they gave the barbies straight hair so the kids can play with and style their hair without reliving every morning (in other words bad hair day) of their lives? hm? seems pretty plausible to me.

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Ok, why is no one angry about the black Ken doll's plastic S-Curl, or better yet his lack of proportionate genitalia? Haha. I'm kidding of course. Get real people. There is no way they could possibly represent every single genetic combination of every single race. They would have to make 3 billion different dolls. Do ya really think every white girl has gleaming, long, straight blonde hair? No. And white people aren't mad and crying foul. I'm a mixed race person (Afro-Caribbean,Native American,Latina) and I have a combination of features ( a sharp, thin nose, full lips, and almond shaped eyes). Also my hair is black and curly and I have caramel colored skin. I could be mad that they don't have one that looks like me, but guess what? It's a doll, so who cares. The fact that they are introducing at least some diversity into a doll that has had only 2 options (deep mahogany with straight, black hair, or ivory with straight, blonde hair) for over 25 years is refreshing enough. Now that they have done that, it's still not enough? Come on. Where is the West Indian Barbie? The Asian one? The Mulatto/Mixed Race one? We could be mad about that too. But guess what *gasp* it's a doll. Kids just wanna play. Adults see way more into than kids do. There are so many different combinations of features, and they all are beautiful. They can't make em' all, they would go bankrupt. Barbie represents SOME of those many features, and with the natural (and unnatural) variations of hairstlyes, makeup, clothes, etc. that REAL people wear, what's the big deal about a straight haired black Barbie? What I find more offensive ( but not enough to care) is that they put a "wider nose, and fuller lips" on the thing. Not all black people fit that description. I have seen blacks with thin nose and lips, and white people with wide nose and thick lips. THAT is what might be considered racial profiling, but even still, this is a doll. I doubt there will be any little girls who tell their parents not to buy them one because the hair is straight.

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for cryin' out loud people!! it's JUST a doll! do you know of ANY little girls who don't like to play with their dolly's hair?? how much braiding and combing could they do with an afro? little girls can't manage regular curly hair let along the tighter curls of an afro. straight hair is much easier to play with. and why are parents relying on dolls to teach their daughters about themselves, shouldn't we and mothers be teaching them to have good body image and good self worth ourselves? if you must, point out that the straight hair is not how it really is, but really? if barbie not having an afro is your biggest grip, count yourself lucky and shut up.

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It's a damn doll...get over it.

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They should have made some of the Black Barbies with straight hair, and some with "nappy" hair. Then there wouldn't have been a big deal! I know some blacks that use a "hair straightener" to get the "white hair" look. Geez!

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