How anti-Asian hate inspired a skincare brand

“My motivation for Muihood was to combat the wave of anti-Asian hate witnessed over the last few years in the UK,” says Charlotte Yau, who founded the ever-growing skincare brand. It was in the thick of the pandemic in 2020, where Covid-related hate crimes towards East and South East Asian people spiked every time the lockdowns eased. Just six months after the UK’s first Covid case, there had been 395 anti-Asian attacks in London alone.

Charlotte was in the marketing industry until the waves of anti-Asian attacks spurred her to create Muihood. “I was motivated to celebrate and reconnect with my Chinese heritage and rituals that brought me closer to appreciating my roots,” she did this through rediscovering traditional Chinese medicine.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) had always been a part of Charlotte’s life, although she had to learn to grow into it. “Ironically, I largely rejected my dad’s TCM teachings when I was younger. I hated it when he told me to eat food as medicine, pressed on my acupressure points to relieve nausea or forced me to drink bitter herbal teas,” she says. “But now that I’m older, I’ve learned to appreciate and have revisited the ancient wisdom into my daily routine to help my body feel its best.”  

“Other Western skincare companies are also releasing products with Chinese herbal ingredients,” says Charlotte. “But they fail to authentically provide historical context to the practice and the origin. A lot of them are Westernised interpretations with diluted TCM references that are based on stereotypes and social buzz trends.” Whereas Muihood aims to educate and help people better understand a part of Chinese culture through skincare. Its debut cleansing balm, cleverly called the Good Chi, introduces a blend of Chinese ingredients like soybean oil, goji berries and ginseng root, which promotes collagen production and helps with blood circulation. 

Starting out as solely online, Muihood hit a milestone in February 2023 when it got picked up by Liberty, London. But it has not been the easiest journey; there were a lot of challenges building a brand during the pandemic. “My experience was more in branding, so there were many operational skill gaps in my repertoire and mistakes when I launched,” says Charlotte. “For me, it was navigating supply chain issues and working with various manufacturers. It was painful at the time. They were all great lessons to have sooner than later!” 

With a name like Muihood, which originates from ‘Mui’, the Cantonese word for sister, Charlotte wanted to create not only an all-encompassing skincare brand with TCM components but also build a supportive community of women and beauty lovers. Muihood donates 10% of its profits to GirlDreamer, a community and space where women of colour are supported in their professional and personal development. 

“From the very start, I’ve always wanted to create more space for representation in the skincare industry,” says Charlotte in an interview for The Gallyry. “It’s important to me that we represent individuals that might have grown up cast as a minority and ‘not enough’ (because I know the feeling and it sucks!) and start shining light to celebrate all women of colour for being beautiful and strong. We are here for the conscious sisterhood.”

With TCM-infused beauty products becoming a growing industry in the West, Muihood is just one of the many brands that are paving the way for a more inclusive approach when it comes to skincare. If you’re looking to explore what the TCM beauty and skincare industry has to offer, the answer is pretty simple: Go straight to the source and choose brands created by TCM experts who have personal connections to Chinese culture and you’ll be good to go.

Picture: Muihood