Black Mother Of Two Creates Her Own Doll As Inspiration To Her Daughters

As we go through this natural hair journey we often try to remember that our growth and acceptance of our hair is just as difficult for our little girls as well.

As much as we see them daily and talk with them and hope that our good values rub off on them they are faced with so much on their own, whether at school or at church or any social setting they might be in.

It is important as moms to find creative ways to give our girls the tools they need to be confident and strong and ‘ok’ with who they are as individuals.

I do not know if you heard the story of a 27yr old mom of two who created a gorgeous brown doll whose hair was so versatile and natural, it could do twist outs, braid outs, wash and go’s and any other style she would create in her own daughters hair.

Angelica Sweeting said she wanted to create the doll when she realized that the market for dolls in the stores did not look like her girls.

To be fair we have seen some growth in the market where small businesses are starting to create dolls that look like little brown girls but still in the big box stores they just aren’t available.

Ms. Sweeting admitted that her girls had a collection of dolls all of which were fair skinned with glossy long hair and by age 3 her eldest child little Sophia wanted to know why her hair was not long and straight like the dolls she had.

‘My daughter Sophia was not happy with her kinks and curls because of the doll I was putting in her hands every day,’ Ms Sweeting told Buzzfeed.

‘Sophia wanted long straight hair, and she even started expressing a strong dislike for her facial features and skin tone.

‘At first, my husband and I considered burning every doll [Sophia] ever owned. But that wasn’t the answer and we didn’t want to shut her out from the world.’

So what do you do when you see your daughter getting the wrong idea about who she is and realizing she does not have something she can relate to? Well you make something; you create something that she can love, appreciate and identify with.

And just like that the Angelica doll was born:

When she created the doll it was a hit with both her daughters and she saw how confident they were and knew she had something that many young girls would love.

With that said mom decided it was time to make more so she started a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to create more of what she called the Angelica Doll.

The campaign did very well, women all over social media spread the word using the hashtag #Iamnaturallyperfect which created awareness and Ms. Sweeting was able to raise over $40,000.00 so far which is well over her goal of $25,000.oo.

“As I began to develop the Angelica Doll and give serious thought to the things I wanted to do for young girls, I realized that I had been influenced by society’s standard of beauty for as long as I could remember,’ she wrote on her Kickstarter page.

‘I want this to happen earlier, not only for my daughters but for your daughter, your niece, your sister, and for all young girls around the world. I want this to happen for all the young girls who never felt pretty enough because of their kinks, curls, wider noses or fuller lips.

‘Beauty comes in so many colors and The Angelica Doll was created to help open the eyes of young girls to the complete spectrum of beauty.’

‘Our girls need to see a reflection of their own unique beauty,’ Ms Sweeting added.

‘It’s time for our young girls to have a new standard.’

Well we agree wholeheartedly, a new standard needs to be set and while we can create the dolls the challenge is getting them in the big box stores where all girls can have access to them easily.

This isn’t a slight against the Etsy stores that have been creating and promoting dolls in the last couple of years, but since little girls are already going to Walmart, Target and Toys’R’ us it would help if they could see touch and feel the dolls and get the immediate satisfaction that they would get with another toy not purchased online.

I suppose this will come in time, but for now I am loving Angelica especially when I read the goals Ms. Sweeting had for future dolls.

She talks about ensuring that the facial features reflect little brown girls, full lips, full nose and gorgeous cheek bones. I love that the dolls have curly natural hair that can be wanded, put in bantu knots, twisted and braided.

In addition to that her goal is to create dolls that have interesting career paths such as  engineers, journalists, software developers, all of which our girls should be exposed to pretty early. I do not know about you but we are pretty excited and we cannot wait until Angelica hits the streets!