Happy Birthday, Barbie! Still Looking Good After What We've Put You Through
March 9 is beloved Barbie’s birthday and to celebrate the fabled figurine turning 55 — side note: damn girl, lookin’ good — we put out a call to our Facebook fans to share their most poignant memories of playing with the plastic doll. Some of your recollections were sweet; others crafty; and many involved soapy love stories (sometimes Barbie couldn't resist a man in uniform, choosing G.I. Joe over Ken). Many of you revealed that the iconic toy played an important role in crafting future career choices, which include fashion designer, tattoo artist, hair stylist, masseuses, architect, archaeologists, and cinematographer, while several divulged some disturbing sociopathic-like tendencies (often involving dismemberment). All in all, it’s safe to say that, when it comes to Barbie, we’re all in the same boat (or, more fittingly, the same Barbie cruise ship): Everyone’s a little wacky. And we all loved our Barbies.
Share your favorite Barbie memories on our Facebook page or sound off in the comments!
Nicole Oleary: My brothers asked for Barbies one year for Christmas and my parents asked why. They said because G.I. Joe needed someone when they came home from war.
Karen Edwards: I used to wrap them up in yarn, "mummifying" them and then buried them in the back yard. After about three days i would go dig them up and pretend that they had come back to life as mummies and they would terrorize the rest of the Barbie village.
Meredith Berman Ellis: I cut one open to see what was inside. My family thought I was crazy. I'm now a bioarchaeologist (aka forensic anthropologist). We can consider it early career practice.
Helena Fortner: I am a hair stylist/colorist now, but I knew the first time I cut Barbie's hair that that was what I wanted to do. And my cutting skills have come a long way.
Casey Jo Carlisle: I used to draw tattoos on them, cut their hair into mohawks, dye it with koolaid, and give them nose/lip rings. I had hundreds of girl Barbies and one Ken, so most of my dolls were lesbians.
Chardaé Jones: I tried to flat iron her hair with a laundry iron & her hair melted all over the iron. I spent a good deal of time trying to clean the iron so my mother wouldn't kill me.
Amy M Nail Druschke: My oldest sister didn't have a Ken for awhile so she stood a really ugly stuffed hamster on his hind legs and painted a face on his belly and poor Barbie the beauty had to date that beast.
Ashley Anderson: I watched too many soap operas so my Barbies were always getting murdered and coming back to life! My barrettes were the funeral flowers lol.
Ginger Geri Patterson: We disassembled her body and buried her in different places in the front yard. I know it sounds demented but that's what my cousin and I did. Lol I swear I'm a perfectly normal human being that lives a fairly boring life.
Stephanie Marie: I find it hard to believe that nobody here ever made their Barbies get it on. You're either lying or in denial!
Tina Lynn Threatt Reed: My younger sister would pull my Barbie's head, arms, and legs off and feed it to her toy t-rex
Jennifer Mair Anguiano: She caught Ken (whom she married, obviously) two timing her with none other than the young Skipper!
Andrea Harper: I cut her hair but I got too close to Barbie's head and slit her scalp. I found my mom's red nail polish and painted her new wound red. Now she was danger action Barbie.
Stacey Schermer: I didn't have a Ken doll at one time, but I had Michael Jackson. He showed up at their wedding wearing the Thriller red leather suit, and one glove of course. Lol...
Crystal Schwantes-Proulx: Skipper needed a man so we cut off the feet of New Kids on the Block dolls. That way they would have boyfriends their own size.
Anna Bowles: Tie shoe laces around their waists and hang them from the ceiling fan. Turn it on high and LOOK MOM WONDER WOMAN!!
Carolina Marchán: Once, I wanted to change the look on my Barbie, and used water to wipe off the makeup; it didn't come off. Second time, I used mom's makeup remover wipes, nothing. Finally, I used nail polish remover... realized my barbie looked awful without makeup and when I found out i could not undo what i had done... i chopped off its head! haahha! the end!
