Despite an ever-growing global movement to embrace curly and coily hair, terms like messy, unprofessional, or unruly are still often associated with textures other than straight. In many places across Southeast Asia, this negative view of curly hair is often showcased through microaggressions, explains Ewuradwoa Ahwoi, a natural hair vlogger based in Malaysia and the founder of Malaysian beauty brand Made by Radw. "Most salons here in Malaysia and most hairstylists are not well versed in curly hair," she says. "As such, the solution they almost always offer clients is for clients to straighten their hair to make it 'more manageable and pretty.'"
As a result, many people with curly hair have instead turned to digital content creators for care tips and styling inspiration. Ahwoi came to Malaysia from her home country of Ghana 10 years ago; soon after, she started creating content to help others embrace their "God-given" natural hair. "[On my Instagram page and YouTube channel], I've received messages from people in Malaysia and abroad thanking me for what I do, saying through my posts, they are encouraged to also embrace all parts of themselves, particularly their hair and skin tone," she says.
Prior to laying her roots down in Malaysia, the beauty vlogger and now entrepreneur struggled with self-acceptance in regards to her appearance. In 2015, inspired by her struggle to find products that worked on her skin and hair, she launched Made By Radw. The brand offers a selection of products that address the skin-care needs of all skin types and the hair-care needs of anyone with curly hair textures. In time, she dreams of expanding Made By Radw to permanently fill the gap for those that are commonly left out of Malaysia's beauty industry and beyond.
Many of the beauty standards across nations in Southeast Asia have origins in colonization and imperialism. European colonizers of Southeast Asian nations have imported with them westernized standards of beauty centered around "ideals" like white skin, narrow facial features, and straight hair. This has led many women across the region to attempt to assimilate to these standards of beauty by trying to tame their curly tresses through methods such as heat manipulation or chemical straightening.
Though a large majority of toxic beauty standards spread across Southeast Asia today can be attributed to European influence, it can also be argued that some ideals are indigenous to various cultures. For instance, the centuries-old Malay folklore "Dayang Senandung" is about a Malaysian princess whose "curse" of having Black skin is lifted by the end of the story after her prince decides he'll marry her despite her skin tone.
On top of these centuries of discrimination, western media meccas like Hollywood have long shown Asian women as a monolith, leaving little room to showcase the wide variety of women from across the continent. If an Asian women is cast, she's usually of East Asian descent, with lighter complexions, smaller features, and looser hair textures. This action sublimely erases other Asian women who have dark skin tones, wider features, and curly hair textures.
And so, it's fallen to women like Ahwoi to slowly become a guiding force in helping to reshape some of the negative perceptions surrounding curly hair within Southeast Asia. Like for so many historically marginalized communities, the internet has become a place for people with more textured hair to gather, swap stories, and share recommendations. Over the past several years a host of online communities have all launched with the goal of uplifting and educating women in Southeast Asia on the beauty of having curly hair. Allure spoke with six founders of these communities about why the negative views of curly hair persist in the Southeast Asian community and the importance of building their platforms.
Source: Allure Magazine
https://www.allure.com/story/southeast-asian-curly-hair-communities