Despite making history, accomplishing a goal that she and her family sacrificed and dreamed about for years by winning two gold medals at the 2012 Olympics in London and becoming the new face of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Gabby Douglas still has haters. People aren’t attacking her gymnastics skills, (It’s not like they can, anyway. This young lady has ridiculous talent!). Instead they’re bashing her hair. *Insert multiple eyerolls and head shakes*
My amazing friend/blogging god-mother/one of the most talented, hard-working people that I know Jessica from the Glamazons blog AKA (my home away from home) wrote “An Open Letter To Gabby Douglas’ Hair Critics,” that is worthy of applause.
A couple of my favorite excerpts from her letter are:
“Gabby is more than just hair. She is a World Champion. She is a team player who seems kind and wise beyond her years. She is a dedicated and determined athlete who worked hard to become one of the best gymnasts on the planet.”
“There’s a message in all this for you and I want you to listen very carefully to it: It’s not Gabby’s hair that needs fixing. It’s your value system.”
Read the entire letter, here.
I wasn’t on Twitter during the women’s team finals, but I was talking to a good friend of mine who’s as equally obsessed with gymnastics as I am and he said that his timeline was full of mean, snarky and just plain hateful comments about Gabby Douglas’ hair. My first thought was, seriously? This girl has sacrificed most of her youth working hard to triumph and accomplish her dreams (which she did by winning the gold, and all you can think about was her hair?!) Annoying and just plain foolish, right?
Gabby shared her thoughts on the ridiculous hair-bashing too, saying:
“I don’t know where this is coming from. What’s wrong with my hair? I’m like, ‘I just made history and people are focused on my hair?’ It can be bald or short, it doesn’t matter about (my) hair. Nothing is going to change. I’m going to wear my hair like this during beam and bar finals. You might as well just stop talking about it. I don’t think people should be worried about that. We’re all champions and we’re all winners. I just say that it’s kind of, a stupid and crazy thought to think about my hair.”
While I want to go on a rant and tell these people with nothing better to do other than bash a 16-year old who has made history and become an overnight household name based off her talents and sett, gentle spirit, where to go, but that’s another post for a different blog. Cue India Arie’s song “I Am Not My Hair.”
Did you witness some of the Twitter hate that Gabby received while she was making history proving that she’s the the best gymnast in the world? Please, share your thoughts.
Ciao Bellas,
