Many of the beauty standards across nations in Southeast Asia have origins in colonization and imperialism.

Over the years I thought to myself This can’t be it, says Menon.

With ManeHeaven SG, the two hope to inspire the next generation of empowered curly hair women in Singapore.

a collage of portraits of three southasian women with curly hair on a dark red background

Courtesy subjects. Design by Channing Smith

Since theCurly Girls Philippines Facebookgroup was initially founded in 2018, the group has grown to over 66,000 members.

Those members most frequently share product recommendations and before and after photos once they’ve tried the CG Method.

I am trying to raise the overall confidence of Papuan women via#savepapuancurls."

selfie of a southeast asian woman with long curly hair pulled back into a side ponytail

Courtesy subject

[They would say] we will look prettier," says Sembor.

“I just had to be brave enough to take the lead in building it.”

During that time she would receive conflicting messages surrounding her sudden hair texture change.

portrait of two young southeast asian women wearing baseball caps and holding coffee cups

Courtesy subjects

But through her own journey, she has since come to see that there is power in the community.

Social media is changing this conversation tremendously."

selfie of a southeast asian woman with curly hair wearing glasses and pink lipstick

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portrait of a southeast asian woman with curly hair in a field looking back over her shoulder into the camera

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portrait of Rosie Chuong a CambodianAmerican branding and marketing consultant with long curly hair smiling into the camera

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