Genesis Reyes, a four-year-old from Long Island, said she could not dress like a princess anymore because she had lost all her hair.
After Reyes went through chemotherapy treatments for cancer, her mother contacted the Mattell Corporation and got them to create a bald Barbie doll designed specifically for her daughter, The New York Daily News reported.
Inspired by this story, Jane Bingham from New Jersey and Beckie Sypin from California decided to make a Facebook group dedicated to having more bald Barbie dolls made for young girls undergoing chemotherapy and medical conditions that cause hair loss, including alopecia and trichotillomania.
The Facebook group is called “Beautiful and Bald Barbie,” and it has more than 122,000 likes, which has been steadily increasing daily.
According to Bingham, 95 to 98 percent of people who liked the Facebook page have been completely responsive and supportive to their Facebook campaign.
Accounting freshman Palmer Means thinks the bald Barbie campaign is a good idea.
“[A bald Barbie doll] is harmless if they’re not perpetuating it as a cancer patient,” Means said.
Bingham and Sypin’s Facebook has garnered national media attention from networks such as NBC, MSNBC and CBS.
Bingham said that the movement has brought awareness across the world that women can be beautiful without hair.
“Hair does not define beauty,” Bingham said. “In society, we’re presented with the movie stars and the models. Nothing has changed. It has only gotten worse.”
Mary Cox, biology freshman, agreed that Barbie dolls are viewed as the ideal form of beauty today.
“A woman’s beauty shouldn’t depend on hair,” Cox said.
Connie Boudreaux, University alumna and marketing associate for Cancer Services of Greater Baton Rouge, said the doll would be a great success among children fighting cancer.
“Hair is the first outward sign of cancer diagnosis. [Patients] may not feel quite normal,” Boudreaux said.
Cancer Services of Greater Baton Rouge serves 10 parish areas around Baton Rouge with free services ranging from financial assistance to emotional support for those with cancer.
On a loan system, Cancer Services gave 230 wigs to clients in need of assistance last year. The wigs give clients a sense of normalcy while living in a society that idolizes beauty, according to Boudreaux.
From Boudreaux’s experiences while working at Cancer Services, she said that seeing clients fight against cancer changed her perception of beauty.
Steven Latiolais, business administration sophomore, said, “I think it would be a good idea for younger girls to see as being acceptable. The dolls would represent the girls as well.” 
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Contact Raylea Barrow at [email protected].