Olympic Gymnast Gabby Douglas Gets a Hollywood Makeover

This story first appeared in the Aug. 23-Sept. 5 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

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Clearly all that Olympic hair flak went to Gabby Douglas' head.

The gold medal-winning gymnast isn't waiting for Wheaties dollars to roll in before embarking on a makeover. She recently had her hair styled into long waves by Ted Gibson, then tweeted a photo of the new look, which certainly was the talk of Twitter and the beauty world after the post. This was clearly in response to some in the black community thinking she was representing her race in the Olympics with "unkempt hair" -- meaning, the look she donned while competing: a ballerina-style ponytail pulled tight from the head that was a little on the wispy side.

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There was much commentary in every direction as to whether this was a fair assessment or criticism. Some said Douglas shouldn't have been thinking too much about her hair as she flew through the air with the greatest of ease and won the gold for her country. Not only that -- the unkempt ponytail look has been a high-fashion look for top models for years and years and shows up in fashion shoots and editorials all the time. 

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After she took to twittering about her newly finessed hairstyle, Douglas and her mother recently were spotted shopping in the shoe and cosmetic departments at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, then the Louis Vuitton shop-in-shop. Interesting because Mom filed for bankruptcy protection in January in Virginia. The balance beam seems to have suddenly more than balanced the checkbook.