“Black women are dope simply put… and our hairstyles take on many forms…” Those were the words of Curlfest‘s Chief Executive Officer, Charisse Higgins.
Afros, box braids, cornrows, pigtails, sunflowers, curls and shades of vibrant melanin filled Randall’s Island Park in New York City on Saturday. The Curly Girl Collective’s resurgence of Curlfest was in full swing as women and men of all ages came out with the expectation of enjoying an event that diversified the beauty standard, and put people of color with coily hair at the forefront.
In case you are unaware Curlfest was started by the Curly Girl Collective and is an annual event that celebrates the beauty and diversity of natural black hair. The Curly Girl Collective is a group of five women who execute events that put natural black hair at the center of the conversation. Following the pandemic two of the founders have moved of the state but remain connected to the mission.
The event began in 2010 between friends as an email thread then expanded into an NYC based meetup for newly natural black women to exchange hair products, hairstyle ideas and to share hair care tips in a Brooklyn apartment. The year 2014 marked the first of many curly girl festivals, which took place annually at Prospect Park in Brooklyn until Covid 19 halted this unique hair experience. In 2020 the founders of the Curly Girl Collective held a virtual event but the event has fully returned in person this year in a new location, Randall’s Island Park.
After a three-year hiatus the natural hair festival is back and the Creative Director, Melody Henderson believes Curlfest fills a void in the black community, “So much of what we do is a reflection of our community…There was this constant feeling of when we can come back…We knew we needed to come back and we knew our community needed us to come back…Since then we’ve been on this mission. It’s been a challenging one to come back…The bounce back is the team because it really speaks to the resilience to us a people…”
The sight on Saturday was breathtaking, mother and daughter duos were scattered throughout the park, young men and women visually ingesting the clear message- Your hair is beautiful the way it naturally grows out of your scalp, with no alterations necessary. Your hair is diverse and can transform. Yes, we are all different but different is beautiful. – At least that was the message I received.
Curlfest’s Operations Director, Simone Mair feels like the advancements in the natural hair community are worthy of acknowledgement but there’s still progress that needs to be made. “We have an isle but we want five isles, we want ten isles, we want the store. I don’t think it stops here I think we want to take a pause to acknowledge the progress that has been made… Curlfest is not about creating boxes it’s about expanding them. We are here to make sure that everyone feels included. Progress is made when you see a young girl who sees herself in all of use. Progress Is made when they come and see five women on the stage that say we created this for you and they’re inspired to do the same,” Simone Mair.
Charisse explained during their pre-event press conference that at the root of the inception of this event was the need for a sense of community among newly natural women, “The five of us started Curly Girl Collective and the reason we started it was because of community…” Charisse went on to explain an all too familiar internal contest black women often experience before starting a new job, “When we start a new job, how should we look? Should our hair be slick, but now we’re like we’re going to rock our fro…now we have the community and we have the support but back in 2010 we didn’t have that.”
Not only is this festival visually compelling, but the intentional push to support black owned businesses of all sizes was evident. The festival has always been intentional about uplifting black businesses and their founders. This year’s Curlfest incorporated established black owned businesses from the fashion and beauty space along with emerging ones. There was a part of the park that was set aside specifically for emerging businesses in their vendor marketplace.
The ladies mentioned they’re ready to take the festival on the road and will eventually expand to other states, countries and continents, Charisse shared, “I would say Africa. I would love to touch a continent; I would just like to be around our beautiful people.”
Notables were in attendance such as celebrity stylist, June Ambrose,Power 105.1 DJ Sussone on the ones and twos, Tamron Hall moderated the empowerment stage discussion and many more gathered in unison over the belief that natural black hair is beautiful.
As far as how you and I can support Curlfest and the mission of the Curly Girl Collective, Melody gave an all-encompassing response, “Being able to let other communities understand the bigger… We’re still five black women owned, still entrepreneurs, still forging towards this greater mission that we have…think of anything you want to scale… my ask would be to think about the things you love in life, the things that helped to change society, think about the things you wish you had when you were younger and if you put a filter on that what would you do to advance it. That’s what we would ask of you. “
No Comments