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http://s2smagazine.com/stories/2011/12/barbie-goes-natural

 

 

One Black women’s group is planning to give Black girls Barbies that truly look like them.

Whether curly or straight, relaxed or in locks, Black women wear our hair in a variety of styles and textures. Why shouldn’t the dolls our daughters play with be the same?

That’s why Candace McBride and her gaggle of natural hair enthusiasts have decided that it’s high-time Black Barbies got a makeover. “When you look for dolls, they all have straight hair,” she told the Ledger-Enquirer, adding that many Black Barbies have blue or green eyes. “It’s tricky even to find ones with brown eyes.”

Candace’s group is prepping to hand out dolls to little girls at Booker T. Washington Apartment in Columbus, Georgia for Christmas. But before the toys reach their recipients, the group is putting the dolls’ hair in natural styles.

“We wanted to show the girls that basically, it’s okay the way God made you,” explained group member Jennifer Henderson.

While the very first Black Mattel doll with the Barbie name wore a black afro, dolls with natural hair aren’t so easy to come by these days. That’s why the ladies found an online guide on how to re-style a Barbie’s hair. The ladies will be using pipe cleaners, end papers and boiling water to transform the dolls’ bone-straight manes into halos of natural curls.

The group only aims to give out about 40 dolls, but you can find out how to give your Barbie a makeover here. There’s also a tutorial on how to create Locs for your doll. Or if you want to customize Barbie to look like Michelle Obama, try this.