Brains and Beauty Malia and Khari

Name: Malia and Khari

Made by and When: Brains and Beauty Dolls; released in 2017 and 2018, respectively

Material: Artist-doll-type vinyl heads, arms, legs, and breastplates; their cloth mid torsos house their removable voice boxes in a zippered back compartment. Malia has a medium brown complexion; Khari’s complexion is lighter.

Marks: (On the heads) Brains Beauty

Height: 18 inches

Hair, Eyes, Mouths: Malia has a black human-hair wig styled in loose curls. Khari has a loose Afro wig. Both have brown stationary eyes and closed mouths.

Clothes: Malia is casually dressed in a white dress with a pink heart in the center of the bodice.  The skirt of the dress has pink polka dots.  She wears a light blue brushed denim jacket that has three-quarter length cuffed sleeves.  A pair of chestnut faux suede UGG-style boots complete her fashion. Khari wears an African-print dress with Roman-style yellow sandals. 

Other: These 18-inch talking dolls, sold separately, speak 20 different phrases. The human-hair wigs can be washed, combed, and styled. Malia has pierced ears; Khari does not.  The dolls are jointed at the head, shoulders, and upper legs. The heads can be rotated in different realistic-appearing positions.

Slideshow (Use the right or left arrow to view the slideshow).

Brains and Beauty dolls were designed by an African American woman to encourage young girls to empower themselves and one another. Read more about this doll line here, and view a video of Niya Dorsey, the creator, explaining the concept of Brains and Beauty Dolls.

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Published by DeeBeeGee

Doll collector, historian, co-founder of the first e-zine devoted to collecting black dolls; author of black-doll reference books, doll blogs, and doll magazine articles.

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