Totally Hairtastic

As a kid, I only wanted to have birthday parties for the presents. No, seriously. I couldn't care less about hanging out with the other kids or hugging Billy Bob at Showbiz Pizza.

On a couple of occasions, I "got sick" after the cake and presents, thereby forcing my parents to send all the kids home, leaving me with the gifties. (Shhh, don't tell my parents about that.)

On one birthday, a girl in my class named Kim gave me Totally Hair Barbie. She debuted in 1992, so I must have been around 11 at the time.

According to Mattel, Totally Hair Baribe is the best-selling Barbie doll ever. She features hair from the top of her head to her toes. She also came with styling gel that one could use on her oversized bangs.

Other long-haired dolls since Totally Hair have tried and failed to gain the same popularity. What was the great appeal of this doll? Certainly, it was fun to play with all that hair. But was it more fun than the hair of other dolls? I'm not sure about that. And I never used the styling goop on her because it was sticky and kind of gross.

Mattel appears to be taking another stab at the appeal of extra-long hair with Barbie Hairtastic Printables. The doll comes with hair extensions that can be sent through an ink-jet printer to have different designs printed on to them. The hair can be clipped to kids' heads or Barbie's.

Read about it here and here.

This seems like a better technology fit for Barbie than Video Girl Barbie. Hairtastic is interactive without being creepy.