The Black Plug : I Want To Look Like Barbie!

There is nothing that gives a little girl more confidence then having a doll that looks like her! Many black girls grow up thinking they aren’t good enough or pretty enough after one visit to the toy store. Most of the barbie dolls sold in stores are white or black with bone straight hair and European features. Growing up, I literally owned one black barbie with a natural hair fro. I have no idea where my aunt was able to find her because they were so hard to come by. Unfortunately, I got her for Christmas later on in my childhood so the brain washing had already taken place. The rest of my barbies looked like the barbie version of Taylor Swift in black face. There was hardly anyone that looked like me on television or in the play room, so every night I prayed for straight hair, only to wake up with the coarse fro I could barely get my fingers through. I wanted to look like barbie. As I matured, I was able to recognize my own beauty. I learned that beauty came in ALL shapes, sizes, colors, and textures. But even though I embrace my black features, there are still younger black girls struggling with low self-esteem due to white washed dolls.

Even with the natural hair movement constantly expanding, it is still very difficult to find black dolls with natural hair. The lack of diversity in name brand toys has driven many black entrepreneurs to start their own line of black barbies. Karen Byrd is the founder and designer of Natural Girls Unite, a company that customizes black natural hair styles for barbie dolls. Form dread locs to fish tail braids, there is no limit to what Karen can create for young black girls. According to Byrd, "If a child is constantly looking at images, dolls, television, books and magazines- and only seeing beauty as something to someone with non-ethnic features and long straight hair- then they are going to assume that this is what beauty is.” Black Girls Unite therefore seeks to put black beauty in a positive light while increasing the self-confidence of black children around the world. Below are more examples of Karen Byrd’s beautiful creations.