With thanks to a generous museum donor, Robin H. Wyatt, I was able to join more than 850 collectors who came together at the 2025 National Barbie Doll Collectors Convention held in Louisville, Kentucky. The theme for the event was ICON Barbie: A Fashion Original. While at the convention, I presented on The Strong’s Barbie collection. My presentation highlighted Barbie dolls from the 1960s through the 1990s who reflect the criteria of National Toy Hall of Fame inductees: icon-status, longevity, discovery, and innovation (Barbie was inducted in 1998). The first quality, innovation, is one of the most compelling aspects of Barbie’s story. While Barbie has had some bad hair days, the creatives at Mattel have always understood the importance of hair play and some of Barbie’s styles are certainly iconic.
In the early days of Barbie, Mattel sought the most ingenious and motivated candidates from the world of fashion to create a product that they considered near perfection. The first Barbie came with poodle curls and a ponytail with a hard curl at the end as styled by Larry Germaine from Universal Studios. It was not long before she got a new ‘do. In the 1960s, the hair product and wig industry was swinging. French designer Hubert de Givenchy began to style runway models with wigs, Vidal Sasson shaped bold geometric cuts, and Alexandre de Paris fueled a desire for fantasy hairstyles. It was reported that half a million American women wore wigs on occasion in 1962, and Barbie Fashion Queen joined the scene with three wigs in 1963. Mattel followed with Barbie’s Wig Wardrobe, which included a sculptured head and high-fashion wigs in three styles, including side-part, pageboy, and bubble-on-bubble. The interchangeable wigs provided kids with three dolls in one. Mattel also introduced Barbie’s Color ‘n Curl and Color Magic Barbie.
In the 1970s, Mattel tasked staff with creating a doll with easy to curl hair. Ralph Dunn, a chemical engineer at the company, came up with a wire system to style the doll’s hair. He asked Jean Ann Burger, a pivotal stylist for Barbie, to root the wire in a doll’s head. The results were terrifying. The team decided to root one wire and one yarn of hair together and the new style held a perfect curl. Color wire existed, but Mattel had to special order a blonde color to be used for what become Quick Curl Barbie. An advertisement for the doll read “curl their hair instantly, easily with no wetting, no setting or waiting.” The decade also ushered in Growin’ Pretty Hair.
Barbie’s hairstyles continued to reflect the trends coming out of beauty parlors across the country. The 1980s brought Kanekalon hair fiber that was used to create the frosted hair of Golden Dreams Barbie. Her hair was the envy of all kids spritzing their hair with Sun-In and drinking Hi-C by the pool. Super Hair Barbie came with a “magic” styling barrette and Twirly Curls Barbie had a Twirly Curler brush (my advice to all children is do not use this device on your own hair). The decade also brought Beach Blast Barbie with hair that changed color when exposed to sunlight. Mattel designer Kitty Black Perkins helped to create a short, curly hairstyle for the first Black Barbie.
In 1992, The New York Times published an article about a new Barbie boutique at F.A.O. Schwarz and the toy store’s special platinum blonde Madison Avenue Barbie. Cara Greenberg wrote “the store’s downstairs area has been given over to one of America’s most popular icons—the big-haired, wasp-waisted, flounced-to-kill Barbie doll—and all her accoutrements.” That same year, Mattel released Totally Hair Barbie. Mattel designer Carol Spencer suggested that Barbie have an over-the-top mane that would be the doll’s starring feature. Was Barbie channeling Eve in the Garden of Eden or singer Crystal Gayle? Spencer dressed Barbie in a vibrant minidress inspired by Emilio Pucci. Totally Hair Barbie was the first Barbie to have a television advertisement in four years. The ad featured a song that many remember whether they want to or not: “totally hot, totally cool, totally hair Barbie.” She was followed by Magical Hair Mermaid Barbie, which used thermal sensitivity to change the doll’s hair. When put in cold water, Mermaid Barbie’s pink hair turned purple. Like Totally Hair Barbie, Hollywood Hair Deluxe Barbie came with hair that nearly touched her toes. She also came with stencils and hairspray to style her tresses.
While I did not have a chance to address it here, Barbie’s friends and family also sparked innovations in hair play (including Ken with flocked hairstyles and Mod Hair Ken). Today, Mattel touts that Barbie is available in 97 hairstyles, including dolls with no hair. As someone with curly hair that tangles easily and is as unpredictable as a Magic 8 Ball, I never spent much time playing with Barbie’s hair. I do have deep admiration for the designers who used their talents to bring innovative hair play to the toy aisles and to the adults who gather once a year to celebrate their favorite dolls. Through Robin’s support, I will have additional opportunities to learn about innovation in the doll world, and I will continue to share these stories with you. Robin is a member of the Woodbury Society, along with doll expert Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and their planned giving commitments ensure the long-term future of work to preserve and share the history and cultural impact of dolls.
