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View Full Version : The Angelica Doll: A natural hair doll for young girls



Breanna
May 24th, 2015, 04:15 PM
Check this out! (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/angelica/the-angelica-doll-a-natural-hair-doll-for-young-gi) This is so awesome, a mother creating a new doll with actually natural-textured hair that you can style and everything. If this takes off it's going to be so amazing for many girls' self-image. (and actually kind of crazy how there isn't something like this already...) It's even cooler that they're hoping to make a whole line of diverse dolls with different skin-tones and hair textures to let girls know at a young age that the way they look naturally is beautiful and perfect.

What do you guys think? I'm excited! What a cool mom. :cheer:

pastina
May 24th, 2015, 04:23 PM
that's **really** cool for a lot of reasons! the least of which-- i remember ruining a lot of dolls by washing their hair! :) thank you for sharing! <3

Fericera
May 24th, 2015, 04:47 PM
I love her! What a pretty doll, and I like that they made sure her hair can withstand lots of play. I would have loved to have one of these as a child.

maborosi
May 24th, 2015, 04:54 PM
Wow!! This is really cool! I love that you can style the hair and it's awesome that this project is getting the attention it deserves. :)

Platzhalter
May 24th, 2015, 05:01 PM
Not a fan of such dolls in general, but if I ever had a child to raise, this definitely is the kind of doll I may consider buying for the little one. Showing diversity and allowing a little more creativity than usual at the same time with such a toy is indeed a great thing ;)

lilin
May 24th, 2015, 05:07 PM
That's really amazing. :)

I think the vast majority of us never get to see ourselves represented in the childhood beauty and value standard (both aesthetically and in terms of our goals and talents), and similarly we never get taught how to take care of our hair (common hair care knowledge seems to be that which applies only to thick, pin-straight hair, and even then it's not necessarily going to work for even the few people that applies to). Of no group is that more true than black girls in Western culture.

I love that this will represent a type of natural black hair and make it fun for girls to learn to care for it.

I love that Angelica will have careers that cover a variety of interests that don't seem to have any particular gender bias, rather than stereotypical "women's work."

I love that she's not simply slathered in a 20 different shades of pink.

I love that the goal is to have a full range of dolls with representitive features and hair, rather than the same old Barbie just disingenuously painted a different color.

Yes. Yes. All the yes.

Breanna
May 24th, 2015, 05:17 PM
That's really amazing. :)

I think the vast majority of us never get to see ourselves represented in the childhood beauty and value standard (both aesthetically and in terms of our goals and talents), and similarly we never get taught how to take care of our hair (common hair care knowledge seems to be that which applies only to thick, pin-straight hair, and even then it's not necessarily going to work for even the few people that applies to). Of no group is that more true than black girls in Western culture.

I love that this will represent a type of natural black hair and make it fun for girls to learn to care for it.

I love that Angelica will have careers that cover a variety of interests that don't seem to have any particular gender bias, rather than stereotypical "women's work."

I love that she's not simply slathered in a 20 different shades of pink.

I love that the goal is to have a full range of dolls with representitive features and hair, rather than the same old Barbie just disingenuously painted a different color.

Yes. Yes. All the yes.

Yes! I think the necessity for this doll says A LOT about just how European-centric the societal standards of beauty are (as if there's not enough wrong with the societyal standards of beauty!) I saw the thing about the doll on tumblr and the person who had posted it left the comment: "Don’t tell me representation, dolls, toys don’t matter to children. Think internalized racism and self hatred happen by accident? It’s rampant among the Black community and Black girls are especially targeted" (referring to the quote about how Angelica Sweeting's daughter was starting to dislike her features)

Robot Ninja
May 24th, 2015, 05:26 PM
I've seen a lot of tutorials for how to curl doll hair to make it look like natural hair, so obviously there's a market for it. And yet, that market isn't being catered to, because...why? Do companies hate money?

cat11
May 24th, 2015, 06:59 PM
Thumbs up. I thought blonde straight hair was "the best hair" or "perfect hair" when I was a kid, partly because of barbie and partly because of Britney Spears and other such celebrities. There seemed to be a thing about girls who were portrayed at "hot" having this hair or being blond. Since my hair was really curly as a child I simply thought my hair type was "messy" and "frizzy" and refused to let people see it once I got to middle school because I didn't know how to make it look good in it's own way. Prolly could have benefitted from this idea, even though I'm not black & I just had curly hair, but none the different I hated it like the girl they talked about

Remi
May 24th, 2015, 07:25 PM
It's a terrific idea for a doll. Too bad most parents gravitate to the blond barbie doll because the child screams for it.

Brunette_Barbie
May 24th, 2015, 08:23 PM
And because Barbie is way cheaper to purchase and make.

hinabelle
May 24th, 2015, 08:57 PM
What a cute doll! I would have loved it as a child. I think my own natural texture is turning out
to be just like that doll's! I hope so! :o

Agnes Hannah
May 27th, 2015, 03:27 PM
She is simply adorable, I want one myself! ( I collect dolls) My Barbies always had to have dark hair, I didn't like the blonde ones.

longhairmomof7
May 27th, 2015, 04:21 PM
COOL!!! I am going to try my hand at doll making this summer... But I am going to use organic wool. I think these are amazing though!!!! <3

embee
May 27th, 2015, 05:24 PM
It's a cool idea, and that's a cute doll. Most dolls are pretty unattractive, in my opinion.

Alas, when I had a doll, all I ever did to her hair was cut it off. We had a doll hospital in our city, and my mom had to buy new hair for the doll. That said, it was the only thing I liked about dolls other than their tiny clothes which I thought were very fun. I was a teddy-bear girl.

Nightshade
May 27th, 2015, 05:52 PM
I love this idea :)

(All my Barbies were the friend with long red hair XD )

woolyleprechaun
June 4th, 2015, 12:51 PM
That doll is gorgeous. I want one for my daughters! They are Caucasian like me, but that doesn't mean we can't appreciate black and mixed race beauty too :) I get pretty sick of the lack of ethnic variety in kids toys...

missrandie
June 4th, 2015, 01:12 PM
That's a really cute doll. I actually love that it doesn't have high heel feet or gobs of makeup! That's always been what bothered me about dolls.. granted, I was more of a string-wire-beads-nuts-bolts-etc. kind of girl. My favorite "doll" toy was actually a guy about 6" tall with an orange jumpsuit and a hardhat. He and I had lots of adventures, because I didn't think mom's prissy barbies belonged outside.

My other favorite toy was my hand. I used to pretend it was a horse! Oh, to have the imagination of a child again.

Hairkay
June 4th, 2015, 01:20 PM
The doll looks great. Growing up I never liked Barbie or any similar type of doll. I never got a Barbie which I am so thankful that my parents didn't get one. If they had, I'd have had to lie and say that I was pleased with it. My favourite doll had a dark chocolate skin tone. The hair wasn't wonderful. It was a slightly curly black and that curl didn't last. The best doll hair that stood up to all my braids/plaits was a doll I'd repaired playing doll hospital. The doll ended up bald so because she had a soft head, I hand stitched hair strand by strand into the head. I used thin cotton crochet thread as hair. The doll ended up looking better than how she was when bought.

Hairkay
June 4th, 2015, 01:24 PM
Oh I'd just like to add that my cousin had a little baby doll with an afro. My siblings and I almost had a fight over who could touch the doll's hair.

lapushka
June 4th, 2015, 01:53 PM
I used to have a baby doll, an African doll, with a short shorn do (about 2 inch curls all neatly curled up). Then one day, you guessed it, I busted out the brush and brushed her hair... That was when I learned what an afro was all about. Oopsie. :o Never brush curls is the lesson I learned that day. And still it took me about 20 years not to brush out my wavy hair! :o

Thoughtcriminal
June 4th, 2015, 09:41 PM
...I'd buy one for myself. Natural black hair is SO gorgeous!

MINAKO
June 4th, 2015, 11:32 PM
idk, i had fun destroying all my barbies as a kid, lol. Chopping the bleach blonde hair, customizing the dresses to something errr... punky and painting their faces with sharpie. I think toys are not neccesarily supposed to serve the purpose for people to identify with. that leaves very little to develop a vivid imagination imho. Im obviously not a rainbow pony either and it didnt do me any harm :3