Ashley Head is the founder and CEO of Curls Poppin’ hair products and dolls.
The idea of making a doll came to him while he was living in the Dominican Republic. He said the dolls he saw there moved him into action.
“I said, "You know what? This is narcissistic, but what if I made a doll of myself and sold it in the Dominican Republic?’”
So Head sent for samples. When they arrived, they had blue eyes. He said the company told him the brown eyes he requested simply wouldn’t look good.
With that disappointment, Head tabled the idea until 2018, when he was able to create his first doll, Olivia, a dark-skinned girl with two Afro puffs, wearing a Curls Poppin’ shirt, black heels and a leather skirt.
That first doll gave him the confidence to keep going.
“Sky's the limit. If I can make a doll that people actually feel is beautiful and is brown and has big curly hair, I can go on to make male dolls,” Head said.
The dolls eventually got licenses to be sold at historically Black colleges, including Spelman College and Morehouse College, Head said.
Now, Head is expanding the line with Men of Culture, a collection of male dolls featuring people of color. He described it as the first all-male doll line of its kind.
“So I feel that it's necessary in 2026 that someone finally take the reins and create a doll line that the world can appreciate, not just Black people but people of all colors,” Head said. “We are a disruption to the doll market and that we are creating boy dolls for the world.”
The dolls are based on real people. The first is Emmanuel Rodriguez, whose likeness has been turned into a doll named Manny.
Head was Rodriguez’s teacher in the Dominican Republic. The two stayed in touch, and Rodriguez became one of the first models for the Curls Poppin’ hair line.
Rodriguez said Head came to him with the doll already finished, adorned with his tattoos and hairstyle.
“It'd be like having the next best friend. It was like I had a toy when I was younger,” Rodriguez said. “You're friends with your toys and now I have somebody that looks like me, so I'm carrying you everywhere. You're going everywhere with me.”
For Rodriguez, having a doll in his likeness is also about representation. He said it gives young people something he didn’t have growing up.
“There were certain parts where growing up you're like, ‘Oh, I'm scared to say I'm this because I might be judged this way.’ But I'm a doll now. You can be anywhere you want and anybody you want to be. So, it's pretty amazing and it gives me a lot of confidence to say where I'm from and this is who I am.”
Head said he wants Men of Culture to show his sons that they can follow their own dreams.
“It's showing that you can do anything you want to do. And don't look to the left or to the right on anybody's opinion. I'm a Black man making dolls,” Head said. “So, if they ever have a vision, no matter what it is, don't even come to me or your mother. Follow that vision, see it all the way through and see what happens because if you do, magic can happen.”
The line will include 12 dolls, with the first release planned for December. The dolls also come with fashion accessories and a lifetime warranty.
Manny the doll is currently available for presale at Curls Poppin’ Dolls.
