{"id":22377,"date":"2024-08-20T03:43:25","date_gmt":"2024-08-20T07:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/multi.nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/?p=22377"},"modified":"2025-02-13T09:40:26","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T14:40:26","slug":"curlfest-2024-embracing-black-hair-beauty-and-cultural-pride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/curlfest-2024-embracing-black-hair-beauty-and-cultural-pride\/","title":{"rendered":"CURLFEST 2024: Embracing Black Hair, Beauty, and Cultural Pride"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Brianna Robles<\/a><\/p>\n

Hundreds of people gathered on a misty Saturday in Prospect Park to celebrate Black natural hair and beauty at\u00a0CURLFEST\u2019s<\/a>\u00a010th Anniversary.<\/p>\n

After briefly relocating to Randall\u2019s Island in 2023, the festival made a triumphant return to Brooklyn, where it first began in 2014. In collaboration with\u00a0BRIC\u2019s \u201cCelebrate Brooklyn”<\/a>\u00a0attendees 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.<\/p>\n

\"friends-at-curlfest\"<\/p>\n

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\u00a0Curly Girl Collective<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

When guests entered the park, they instantly became part of a community known as “curlfriends,” a term coined for the festival\u2019s participants. However, CURLFEST is about more than just sharing the latest natural hair care tips. As\u00a0Higgins noted, it\u2019s a safe space where Black people can come together, celebrate their culture, and proudly display their Black joy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s the beauty of CURLFEST, ” Higgins told BK Reader. \u201cThat’s the reason why it feels like magic: Because we started with the commonality of hair, but it grew to be so much more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow 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.”<\/p>\n

Curlfest is also a breeding place for Black joy. As the crowd danced and sang to popular tunes mixed by DJ\u00a0Sounds of Reality<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0DJ Adapta<\/a>, you couldn\u2019t help but take part in the signature swag surf. Members of the legendary\u00a0Divine Nine\u00a0<\/a>fraternities and sororities also made a visit to the event after a call out from the festival\u2019s host.<\/p>\n

Some of Brooklyn\u2019s favorite businesses were also in attendance including\u00a0Brooklyn Tea<\/a>,\u00a0Da Spot NYC\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a02 Girls & a Cookshop<\/a>. 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\u00a0Brooklyn United<\/a>\u00a0drumline.<\/p>\n

\"curlfest-friends\"
Marie Cataudella and Nyree Brown are all smiles as they wait in line at CURLFEST<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Marie Cataudella<\/a>, who had been natural for almost three\u00a0years, said she found a sisterhood in the natural hair community when her friend\u00a0Nyree Brown<\/a>\u00a0introduced her to the magic of what her hair could do.<\/p>\n

Cataudella had gotten tired of conforming to mainstream media\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

As families and friends posed for pictures\u00a0in front of the CURLFEST sign or wrote the reason why they loved their hair in chalk, you couldn\u2019t help but feel the love, the support and the natural joy\u00a0its founders\u00a0have\u00a0fostered over the past 10 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Brianna Robles Hundreds of people gathered on a misty Saturday in Prospect Park to celebrate Black natural hair and beauty at\u00a0CURLFEST\u2019s\u00a010th Anniversary. After briefly relocating to Randall\u2019s Island in 2023, the festival made a triumphant return to Brooklyn, where it first began in 2014. In collaboration with\u00a0BRIC\u2019s \u201cCelebrate Brooklyn”\u00a0attendees from the tri-state area and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5904,"featured_media":22378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,524,2863],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-brooklyn-events","category-lifestyle"],"yoast_head":"\nCURLFEST 2024: Embracing Black Hair, Beauty, and Cultural Pride - Brooklyn News and Events<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/curlfest-2024-embracing-black-hair-beauty-and-cultural-pride\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CURLFEST 2024: Embracing Black Hair, Beauty, and Cultural Pride\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By: Brianna Robles Hundreds of people gathered on a misty Saturday in Prospect Park to celebrate Black natural hair and beauty at\u00a0CURLFEST\u2019s\u00a010th Anniversary. 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