Is this authentic?

My mom brought me a voodoo doll from New Orleans. I'm not sure if it's just a souvenir or not, but the person who gave it to my mom said she got it from an authentic voodoo shop.

http://imgur.com/L0pQc

It has a spun yarn head, as well as a veil or long hair. It seems to have arms and legs, and it has a dress from multicolored string.

The story goes, if you put the hair of your victim on it, whatever you do to the doll will eventually happen to the victim either literally or symbolically. If you make good things happen to the doll, same thing.

Since I don't believe in hurting things, I won't be using it. I just like odd little things like this.

Anywho, my main question, is the doll authentic?

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The thing about Voodoo "dolls" is, that it isn't the doll that has to be authentic, it all depends on the practitioner. You can use an action figure as your voodoo doll, even a barbie doll if you want but just make clear in your mind that it is an "authentic" doll. The magick is not in the doll, it's in the mind. Voodoo dolls is a sort of sympathetic magick. Sympathetic not meaning "Feeling sorry" but meaning "Something closely relevant to a person" or you imitate what is going to happen in order for it to happen. You can use any doll as a voodoo doll, it has everything to do with the mind. The Doll is the representation of the person you are influencing, The person's medium (Hair, Nail clippings, etc) is the accurate representation of that person (so you don't cast a spell on someone else, and only affect the person you are casting the voodoo doll with) and the necessary Conjurations or orations or spellwork is what determines the person's fate. In short, it is a form of "role play" of the person where you pull the strings. So, the question is not really if the doll is authentic or not, but is the practitioner prepared to perform it.

You don't have to use voodoo dolls to hurt people,here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZWsV1QJPu8 the video i linked to talks about voodoo dolls and what you can use them for.

Poppets are very old and used in many cultures, the first were string dolls in Asia, but it is believed clay ones and ones made of other organic materials are even older and just haven't lasted for people to find them and date them. A very popular kind is made from dried plant material and bound into the form of a figure using string.

They can be used for many many things including but not limited to protection, healing, and absorbing illness/injury from the afflicted, malicious magick directed toward the individual, and negative energy that could effect them. Cursing through them is the more known way merely because it is portrayed in countless fiction books and movies.

Candle magick, when the candle is declared signifying the individual by carving their name into it, adding a photo under it, etc is a form of this sympathetic magick that is much more popular but is used in a similar fashion with the difference that the energy is released through the flame instead of being focused like a battery for magick as it is with a poppet.

As with anything, it is best to make your own. Simplistic poppets have no defining features, however Vodun priestesses and priests have made poppets into a true art form, going so far as to add clothing and other details that mirror the individual or are symbolic of the use.