A safe and supportive place for those who have just transitioned to their natural hair and those who have had it for years.
On a foggy Saturday, hundreds of people gathered in Prospect Park to celebrate natural hair and Black beauty at the 10th anniversary of CURLFEST.
After a brief move to Randall’s Island in 2023, the festival made a triumphant return to Brooklyn, where it first took place in 2014. In collaboration with BRIC’s “Celebrate Brooklyn,” attendees from the tri-state area and beyond showcased their curls, kinky twists, afros and braids while enjoying food, shopping at local Black vendors and showing off 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 make up the Curly Girl Collective.
What started as a simple email thread to support a friend in their transition to natural hair has, a decade later, evolved into a festival that attracts participants from as far away as London, UK.
As guests entered the park, they immediately became part of a community called “Curlfriends,” a term coined for those attending the festival. But CURLFEST is about more than just sharing the latest natural hair care tips. As Higgins noted, it’s a safe space for Black people to come together, celebrate their culture, and proudly display their Black joy.
“That’s the beauty of CURLFEST,” Higgins told BK Reader. “That’s why it feels so magical: Because we started with the commonality of hair, but it’s become so much more.”
“Now it’s also evolved into a celebration of black beauty. It’s been a celebration of black joy and a celebration of demanding that our community, people who look like us, have a voice and a space in the mainstream.”
Curlfest is also a breeding ground for black joie de vivre. As the crowd danced and sang along to popular tunes mixed by DJ Sounds of Reality and DJ Adapta, one couldn’t help but participate in the signature swag surf. Members of the legendary Divine Nine fraternity also attended the event after being called out by the festival organizer.
Some of Brooklyn’s most popular shops were also in attendance, including Brooklyn Tea, Da Spot NYC, and 2 Girls & a Cookshop. Guests lined up to purchase popular items such as tea, dashikis, headscarves, and other clothing items. Curlfriends were also treated to a special performance by the Brooklyn United Drumline.
CURLFEST attracts visitors of all ages, from those who have just transitioned to their natural hair to those who have been wearing their natural hairstyle for years.
Marie Cataudella, who has been wearing her natural hair for nearly three years, said she found a sisterhood in the natural hair community when her friend Nyree Brown introduced her to the magic of her hair.
Cataudella was tired of conforming to mainstream media beauty ideals, she said, and when her hair started thinning, she decided to stop using hair straighteners, a procedure that uses chemicals to straighten hair follicles, permanently altering them.
Brown added that she felt alone with her natural hair in the ’70s, which is why places like CURLFEST, where representation is present, are much more important to her today.
As families and friends posed for photos in front of the CURLFEST sign or wrote in chalk the reason they loved their hair, you couldn’t help but feel the love, support and natural joy the founders have fostered over the past 10 years.
