My Plastic Universe
Connect with Life in Plastic: My Plastic Universe
  • Home
  • My Plastic Musings
  • Tutorials & Projects
  • Life in Plastic Photoblog
  • Master of the Universe
  • Favorite Doll Sites

The Longest Hair Ever!

9/16/2015

3 Comments

 
Jewel Hair Mermaid Barbie®
There's a common story heard from adult male doll collectors like myself. It's about the doll that got away. As a young boy, I had to admire Barbie doll from a safe distance because of social norms that dictated what kind of toys were appropriate for a boy. Barbie was considered inappropriate, of course. I only got to play with Barbie when I was at a friend's house, or when my younger cousin wasn't playing with hers. 
During that time, I was also going through a huge mermaid phase. I was so into mermaids; from Disney's Ariel to the darker mermaids of lore. Many of my drawings and sketches had mermaids as a subject, from when I was about 6 years old until I was 10 or so. So when Jewel Hair Mermaid Barbie was released in 1995--I was 10 years old--this doll was the fulfillment of my childhood fantasies. I was captivated. She was a mermaid who could become human when you removed her "tail", and she had "the longest hair ever"! It even said so on the box. Every time I saw the commercial on TV, I pined for her.

20 years later, I'm an adult male who is an avid Barbie® doll collector. Years into collecting dolls made for adult collectors--dolls with incredible fashions and accessories, dolls with sophisticated looks and fabulous face paint--I still wanted Jewel Hair Mermaid Barbie®. Maybe it's her long, long hair. For an 11.5-inch doll, approximately 16 inches of hair is quite long. In fact, I'm not surprised to hear that many kids (and a few adults) would get the hair tangled so easily. I decided to look for her online, and through the miracle of Amazon.com, I can now enjoy my very own Jewel Hair Mermaid Barbie®.
I got a NRFB Jewel Hair Mermaid Barbie® in nearly perfect condition, and savored the act of liberating her from that pink box. Her face paint and Superstar face mold are typical of the era. This is the Barbie® face that I fell in love with. To me, as a child, this was THE Barbie® face. Though I now prefer other face sculpts (Mbili, Goddess, and Steffie, to name a few) and I enjoy having a variety of sculpts in my collection, the Superstar mold was the ubiquitous face of Barbie® in my formative years, so it has a special place in my heart. 
Her fashion is in great condition. It does look very "play line", understandably, since the golden top and skirt with shimmery holographic print was made to appeal to children. The closures are made with velcro, which is anathema to many collectors due to the serious damage it can inflict on some fabrics. I love that the end of the tail is removable, revealing what appears to be just a long, tight skirt, which she wears with golden heels. The doll also came with shimmering holographic stars, which could be attached to the hair with velcro. I'm ditching the stars (they look juvenile), but the rest is a keeper. Though she's not the jewel of my collection, Jewel Hair Mermaid Barbie® is a dream come true. If only my 10-year-old self could see me now.
3 Comments
Lindsay
10/4/2015 09:33:18 am

I think I have her! I saved a bunch of dolls from when my daughter (who's now 22) was a kid, and this looks very familiar. I definitely have parts of the outfit and more than one really long haired dolls from that time period. All of my dolls are play line (at least for now), I basically just started "collecting" a few years ago, then took a break due to space issues in the house, now I'm getting back into it. Anyway, I'll have to pull out the clothes bins and see if I can put this one back together.

Reply
JohnM
10/6/2015 12:08:14 am

i had her a when i was a boy, , as many other barbies ,fashion and accessories ,i guess iwas one of the lucky ones whose parents were liberal for that time(1980s/90s) when i left home i had a few 100 stored in my mothers garage, got misplaced

Reply
Dana
5/25/2017 11:53:17 am

I actually have all three of these barbies. I remember throwing a tantrum that year at my 6th birthday (only because mum has photos and still laughs about it today) because I wanted the barbie dream house but instead I got the three mermaid dolls and a barbie pool for them that actually held water my argument was what good is a pool with no house and are you all stupid mermaids swim in the ocean not a pool. Haha and yup at 27 I still have them boxed . ARE THEY WORTH ANYTHING TODAY?
😘

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    About the Webmaster

    My name is Jared.  I began collecting dolls in 2011.  It all started with Barbie® Basics Model No 16 Collection 002 for me. Soon after that, I started photographing my dolls, editing the images and sharing my work on my Tumblr photoblog, Life in Plastic. "Playing" with dolls has inspired me to learn to sew, paint with acrylics, re-root doll hair, practice my bead craft, among other things...My collecting hobby turned into a passion for creating art in different media!

    Fashion Doll Top 100 websites

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    November 2019
    November 2018
    March 2018
    December 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    September 2014
    August 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013

    Contributing Authors

    Viktor Zavadsky
    ​Colleen Kelly

    Categories

    All
    Adèle Makéda
    Alexander Mcqueen
    Angel Kent
    Barbie
    Barbie Boy
    Barbie Convention
    Barbie Extra
    Barbie Fashion Model Collection
    Barbie Totally Throwback Tour
    BFMC
    Bill Greening
    Black Label
    Carlyle Nuera
    Collecting Advice
    Conventions
    David Buttry
    Designer
    Dia De Muertos Barbie
    Display
    Doll Collecting
    Doll Couture
    Doll Room
    Doll Shows
    Dracula
    Elton John
    Exhibits
    Fantasy
    Fashion
    Fashion Royalty
    Film Review
    Fine Art
    Flight Of Fashion
    Giveaway
    Gold Label
    Halloween
    Haunted Beauty
    Hoang Anh Khoi
    Integrity Toys
    Japan Barbie Convention
    Jeremy Scott
    Jessy Ayala
    Judy Choi
    Legendary Convention
    Licensed Merchandise
    Lunar New Year
    Made To Move
    Madrid Barbie Convention
    Makeup
    Marvel Studios' Black Widow
    Mattel
    Model Muse
    Moschino
    Nadja Rhymes
    Nashville
    Nick Corporon
    Nosferatu
    Nostalgic
    Nuface
    Organizing
    Pivotal
    Play Line
    Pop Culture
    Poppy Parker
    Pür X Barbie
    Review
    Robert Best
    Scarlett Johansson
    Shero
    Silkstone
    Superstar
    Swimsuit
    The Barbie Look
    Thoughts
    Tokidoki
    Totally Hair Barbie
    True Blood
    Unboxing
    Vampires
    Vintage
    Yara Shahidi
    Youtube
    YouTube Shorts

    RSS Feed

Mandatory Credit © 2016 My Plastic Universe / Jared P. / iamken85

For any and all usage in print, online, or other media, please contact the administrator prior to use.