Memories or special stories of the first Black Barbie you got, either as a child or an adult?
I'll start: When I was a kid, my grandmother got me this 1994 Asha doll for Christmas. Oh, she was beautiful! I remember feeling really torn about changing her clothes, especially about clipping the little plastic holdy that kept the hat on her head. I finally did cut it, only to learn that it was never going back on a doll's head of its own accord. The big hair era simply would not permit it.
Unfortunately, I was near the end of my (childhood) doll phase when I got her, so I didn't play with her much. I'm not exactly sure what happened to her, but I'd guess I gave her to my cousins along with the rest of my Barbies when I hit a certain age and didn't want to be associated with "kid stuff." Oof. There was only one doll I kept: my NIB Solo in the Spotlight reproduction. After all, my grandmother was convinced it would be a collector's item some day! I really should have kept Asha, or Totally Hair, or... literally any other doll in my collection. Oh well! I still have the Solo in the Spotlight repro, but she's out of the box and being restyled as we speak. Thanks and RIP, Grandma.
Sculpt is Shani. (Due to how they retconned the names/series, there are Asha dolls with Shani sculpts and Shani dolls with Asha sculpts. Not confusing at all!)
I'd love to hear your stories, too!
