Hundreds of people gathered on a misty Saturday in Prospect Park to celebrate Black natural hair and beauty at CURLFEST’s 10th Anniversary.
After briefly relocating to Randall’s Island in 2023, the festival made a triumphant return to Brooklyn, where it first began in 2014. In collaboration with BRIC’s “Celebrate Brooklyn" attendees from the tri-state area and beyond showcased their locs, kinky twists, afros, and braids, while enjoying food, shopping with local Black-owned vendors, and flaunting their stylish outfits.
CURLFEST was founded by a group of friends-turned-business partners: Tracey Coleman, Melody Henderson, Charisse Higgins, Gia Lowe, and Simone Mair, who together form the Curly Girl Collective.
What started as a simple email thread to support a friend transitioning to natural hair has, a decade later, blossomed into a festival drawing participants from as far as London, UK
When guests entered the park, they instantly became part of a community known as "curlfriends," a term coined for the festival’s participants. However, CURLFEST is about more than just sharing the latest natural hair care tips. As Higgins noted, it’s a safe space where Black people can come together, celebrate their culture, and proudly display their Black joy.
“That's the beauty of CURLFEST, " Higgins told BK Reader. “That's the reason why it feels like magic: Because we started with the commonality of hair, but it grew to be so much more.”
“Now it's evolved to also be a celebration of Black beauty. It's been a celebration of Black joy, and it's been a celebration of demanding that our community, people that look like us, have voices and spaces in mainstream."
Curlfest is also a breeding place for Black joy. As the crowd danced and sang to popular tunes mixed by DJ Sounds of Reality and DJ Adapta, you couldn’t help but take part in the signature swag surf. Members of the legendary Divine Nine fraternities and sororities also made a visit to the event after a call out from the festival’s host.
Some of Brooklyn’s favorite businesses were also in attendance including Brooklyn Tea, Da Spot NYC and 2 Girls & a Cookshop. Guests stood in line to buy some popular items including tea, dashikis, headwraps and other clothing items. Curlfriends were also gifted with a special performance by the Brooklyn United drumline.
CURLFEST attracts visitors young and old including those who have just transitioned to wearing their natural hair, to those who have been natural for years.
Marie Cataudella, who had been natural for almost three years, said she found a sisterhood in the natural hair community when her friend Nyree Brown introduced her to the magic of what her hair could do.
Cataudella had gotten tired of conforming to mainstream media’s beauty standards, she said. After her hair became thin she decided to stop using relaxers, a process of permanently altering the hair follicle by straightening the hair through the use of chemicals.
Brown added, she felt alone growing up in the 70s with her natural hair, so places like CURLFEST where representation is present matters much more to her now.
As families and friends posed for pictures in front of the CURLFEST sign or wrote the reason why they loved their hair in chalk, you couldn’t help but feel the love, the support and the natural joy its founders have fostered over the past 10 years.
