If ever you need to find the physical personification of the term black girl magic, look no further than Curlfest.
Trust us. We know because we were there. Aspire was onsite at Candler Park for the festival’s debut in a new city – none other, than right here in Atlanta.
This celebration of hair was created by Curly Girl Collective – a group of five women who went from chatting in an email group for recently-natural sistas, to meeting face-to-face in a Brooklyn apartment to swap products, share hair stories and exchange styling tips. They soon realized that this needed to be done on a much larger scale.
That scale has surpassed their wildest dreams in what is now the festival’s fifth year, and the first time that they have expanded to another area outside of New York.
“A need for help” is what the Curly Girl Collective says created the festival, which is exactly what they provided for festival-goers. Not only could attendees visit various booths around the park to shop and learn the ins and outs of their hair texture, but brands like Kinkistry also offered styling services on the spot.
Rounding out the festival were panels on various topics such as how to fight against hair discrimination in society, and a VIP island where ticketholders could lounge with their current friends and meet new ones while taking a breather from the Hotlanta sun. There were also amazing female DJs spinning music for festival-goers to dance to on the Curlfest lawn.
It’s an event that founders believe “resonate so much because it’s about representation.” Curlfest is a highly-anticipated festival that uplifts and empowers all black women all, no matter the texture of their hair. It’s the event that our younger selves needed when society tried to shame us into adopting their definition of beauty, and it’s for future generations to know and see that they are beautiful, no matter what walk of life they come from.
We can’t wait to see how the Curly Girl Collective continues to take over the world, one curl at a time!
