Recently, here at Mari the Studio, we had one of our usual clients come for an appointment to get her hair done. She had just turned 13 and instead of her usual haircut, she had decided to put bright colors in her hair, asking for pink and purple. We accepted this fun challenge, but soon realized the reason for her sudden request - she had been diagnosed with a rare illness and was going to be losing all her hair in three weeks time. No doubt this was devastating to a teenager, but she left the salon with not only a lovely lavender ombre, but also with incredible bravery and strength.
Our client is a bit too old to play with Barbie’s but we think she will appreciate the message that Mattel is sending out with their new release of a hairless doll. Yes, Barbie is getting a friend that will be bald and beautiful and come with different wigs, scarves and accessories for "a traditional fashion play experience" says Mattel spokesman Alan Hilowitz. This Barbie doll will not be released to traditional retail stores as decided by Mattel, but rather donated to children’s hospitals and other foundations for children with hair loss diseases such as alopecia.
The idea for a hairless Barbie began with a social media campaign on Facebook called “Beautiful and Bald Barbie! Let's see if we can get it made” started by Jane Bingham and her friend Rebecca Sypin. Both Bingham herself and Sypin’s daughter had been affected by hair loss due to cancer, and wanted young girls going through the same to be able to look up to someone. The campaign took off to Bingham and Sypin’s surprise, gaining media coverage and over 158,00 “Likes”. Sypin believes this was because their message was positive, explaining their goal wasn’t to demand or boycott anything, but to raise awareness.
Message received ladies. Bald is bold and beautiful! And hooray for Mattel for realizing it as well! We can’t wait to see the final product.
Cheers!
Mari the Studio
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