Celebrating Being Naturally You – My Curlfest Adventure!

Since the start of CurlyGirlCollective’s annual festival, Curlfest, I knew I had to put it on my summer “to-do” checklist. After coming across so many amazing visuals from the event throughout the years and seeing its growth, I was set on paying a visit to the ultimate natural hair utopia right in NY.

Curlfest is the world’s (only) largest natural hair festival held in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, NY. Kicking off 5 years ago, their debut had roughly 1,000 attendees and two sponsors. This year, about 25,000+ curl friends were in attendance and partnered with many well-known brands including Target and Shea Moisture. During their Breakfast Club Interview, CurlyGirlCollective described the festival as a celebration for natural hair with a energy you won’t find anywhere else.

They were absolutely right! Coils and kinks of all hair textures and different lengths and colors took over Prospect Park with electrifying energy. It was truly a beautiful sight to see.

Do you see all of this melanin magic?! As people from all over travel for this annual event, here are a few ways to prepare for Curlfest.

How to Get the “Golden” Ticket

This year, the festival sold tickets with swag bags and a limited number of free ones but it was free.99 for everyone!

Prospect Park is a free, public park nor did they have anyone scanning tickets. I assume tickets were available for an estimate of the crowd. I wish I would have known, a lot of my friends wanted to come but didn’t since they weren’t able to secure tickets. This also made it quite difficult for those who purchased tickets that came with Curlfest swag bags to retrieve them due to the crowds. I would recommend that they ship the swag bags to their recipients in advance, which may be more efficient and assist with crowd control from past festivals I’ve attended.

Connect with Your Curl Friends First

If you make plans to meet up with your curl friends at the festival, make sure you select a meeting location at least a few blocks away from the park. Like many huge festivals, cell phone service was down for my friends and I the whole time we were at the event. It would have been impossible for us to find each other inside. If you have a hotspot handy, make sure you bring it with you to this event (major key).

Dress Bold, Be You!

This is the event to be bold and daring, wear that loud color you never wore before or try that hairstyle you keep going back and forth about. Step outside your comfort zone and put on that print you brought when it caught your eye but has yet to leave your closet waiting for the “right time” – this is it!

My favorite part about Curlfest was the fashion and hairstyles. I was in awe with the many beautiful and inspiring styles I came across, even took some snapshots for future hair inspiration.

My girls came to slay!


Here are a few more looks and moments that captured my attention while there. Happy I was able to find them on Instagram because my pictures didn’t do them justice.

 

 

Love this pic – depicts energy that was there perfectly. Met some new curl friends and we even got down to Beyoncé’s “Get My Bodied” together lol.

Navigating through the Activities

Curlfest and their partners hosted interactive activities and discussions such as games and beauty & haircare talks for attendees to enjoy. Shea Moisture provided haircare on site while the DJs kept the vibes high with a dance-off for the mass to enjoy.

Although, from my experience, if you aren’t there maybe a hour or so earlier before the start of the event, you’re not participating in any activities. The lines were so long and I personally don’t have time for that lol. There was even a line to take a picture with the #Curlfest sign that was at least a 45 minute wait.

I just had to try another angle but I got my picture, even though it took some shots (and waiting after those in line to get theirs) after the first attempt above lol.

However, I did get to enjoy the many art displays and live painting installations that took place all throughout the event. Vendors had great, stunning artwork available to purchase.


Beautiful! That is just a glimpse of what I was able to capture, there was so talented artists sharing their natural hair journey through their artwork.

Along with activity lines, the food truck lines were crazy as well. I would recommend for you and your crew to prepare a picnic for the day. Pack food, snacks and drinks you will need to keep you going through the day along with a blanket to spread out (major key). Again, Prospect Park is a free, public park and allows you to bring all the food you like onto the grounds.

Congrats to CurlyGirlCollective on their 5th Anniversary of Curlfest!

 

I’m happy I finally got the chance to make the natural girl pilgrimage by visiting Curlfest this year! It was a great event and so much fun meeting new radiant curl friends. I would definitely suggest experiencing this festival at least once. The energy is unmatched with thousands of people peacefully celebrating and admiring natural hair and the journey that comes with it. Are you making your way there next year?

Have you attended Curlfest? If so, what did you think? Let me know!

 

Yours in Adventure,

P.S. I’ve been all over the place – can’t sit still during the summer but I will get back to exploring the District more. My list of places just keeps getting longer.

 

 

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