On Saturday, July 21st 2018, an estimated 25,000 people from all over the world had traveled to Prospect Park in Brooklyn to attend one of the biggest curly hair festivals in the world – CurlFest. It has always been on my bucket list to attend Curlfest, and this year, I was one of those thousands of people who was in attendance.

In the article below, I will give you my review of Curlfest 2018. I will talk about what I liked, what I disliked, and if I will be coming back to the festival next year.

First things first – What is Curlfest?

Curlfest is a curly hair festival that occurs annually in Brooklyn NY. The festival is orchestrated by a group known as The Curly Girl Collective, a group devoted to empowering those with natural hair.

This event is open to anybody who wants to attend. I saw people of all ages, races, genders, hair types, etc at the festival.

There were many different things to do, so it was impossible to get bored. Many different hair vendors such as Shea Moisture, As I Am, DevaCurl, Camille Rose, etc came and were either offering free products or discounts on their products (the average was about 15% off).

Curlfest had four different types of tickets you can choose from – General Admission, Silver Tickets, Gold Tickets, and Platinum tickets. My original plan was to purchase General admission tickets, however they sold out within minutes. So I was only able to snatch a Silver ticket which cost $25 bucks and included a goodie bag (I will talk about this in more details below).

Hair & Outfit

Looking at previous pictures of Curl Fest, I saw that this is the type of event where people either dressed up to a T, or just wore comfy clothings. I aimed for something in the middle.

To counter that though, this was the first time ever that I was going to wear my hair curly. Yup, very adventurous and risky of me. I was really nervous because I didn’t know how it was going to turn out. But it came out alright and I got a LOT of compliments, which really made me happy and, ya know, a bit proud of myself. I used a combination of Shea Moisture’s Curl and Style Milk, NOW Sweet Almond Oil, and a TINY bit of Ecostyler Black Castor Oil and Flaxseed Gel. Then I put it in braids and slept overnight. Then in the morning I used a blowdryer to elongate my hair since the shrinkage was REAL (hence the bit of frizz).

Sadly I didn’t get a chance to get a picture of my full ‘fit :(. But I wore this romper from Showpo along with these (really) comfortable shoes from Urbanog. I absolutely loved the way it looked. However I was so caught up in festivities that I didn’t get a full body picture, which I regret.

Getting into the venue = a hassle.

First things first – if you are attending CurlFest in the future and want to make the most of it, arrive early. Not at 2. Not at 1. But possibly at around 11:45.

In my situation, I got to Prospect Park at around 1:30. This is when I realized that my phone has very bad connection in Prospect Park, so it was hard to get a hold of my friend. At first I was going to wait for her, until I saw how long the silver pass line was……

So I immediately jumped to the back of the line, and my friend met up with me at around 2:00, lol.

However, we did not get into the actual festival until around 3:30pm. No exaggeration – it took that long. What really bothered me about this is that those who had General Admission (free) tickets got in much earlier than those with Silver ($25) tickets. Then once we finally got to the front of the entrance, I finally understood why it took so long – there were only about 10 or so volunteers checking tickets. Not only that, but internet connection was pretty spotty around this area (I have T-Mobile) and they were scanning tickets from people’s phones. I’m really hoping this is something Curlfest can readjust in the future. I’m not a very impatient person, but I like using my time wisely, especially when rain was in the forecast for the day.

However, here are a few pictures of what Silver pass holders had received – a tote bag, a tumbler, and a blanket to picnic with. I found it cute!

Curlfest was PACKED.

Once we arrived into the festival, the whole lawn was CROWDED with people. At certain points, I was pretty much shoulder to shoulder with others.

I was absolutely amazed by how positive and diverse the crowd was! People were either jamming to the music, resting and having a picnic, or just talking to others.

Each vendor booth had a couple of things going on. You had the opportunity to meet different influencers/celebrities (I saw that Jewejewebee and Broderick Hunter), grab free samples, get your hair redone, take pictures, buy products on a discount, and more. The lines were very long so my friend and I only stood on one line to get a sample from Shea Moisture (a huge tote bag with a sample of conditioner).

There was also a lady walking around with an Icee cart. We couldn’t resist the temptation and ended up getting a small cup for about $2.

The VIP Section seemed like a festival within a festival.

There was a VIP section at Curlfest that was only open to Platinum ticket holders. For about $50, you receive a goodie bag PLUS beauty products, access to the Chill Zone, and 15% off vendor products.

If you cannot read the sign, it says that they were offering the following services:

• Massage Services
• Complimentary Henna
• Complimentary Frozen Treats
• Complimentary Water
• Complimentary Charging Stations

Now, would I say you should definitely get the Platinum ticket for these services? That depends on you. However, after standing outside and walking around a lot, my friend and I did get thirsty quickly. I did bring a water bottle with me, however I finished it all up while waiting on line. Also, my phone died during Curlfest and I didn’t bring my portable charger with me, so it would’ve been great to charge my phone somewhere (UPDATE: Apparently there was a charging station right by the food trucks? However I did not even know about it nor see it). In the future, I do see myself buying a Platinum ticket, just to get the full experience.

The stage section was HYPE.

At around 4:30, the sky was starting to get more dark, so my friend and I were making our way to the entrance. But then, we heard that DJ Stakz was coming on the set at that moment, so we decided to stay. And I am so glad that we did because it was HYPE. He was mainly playing Soca music, but also played a few hit R&B and old school tunes as well. It was very crowded in front of the stage, but people were still dancing nevertheless.

 

So what was my overall opinion?

Would I be returning to Curlfest next year? Absolutely! However, I now know better to do certain things differently.

Advice for next year:

• To those that organize Curlfest – Pleaseeeee make an app for Curlfest next year! An app would be great for attendees so that they can see what is currently going on, the time and location of different panels, a map of the venue so we can see where everything is located, etc. My friend and I were disappointed to find out that some of our favorite Influencers were there and we didn’t get to see them. Those same people were announced the day of or during the festival.
• For those looking forward to attend in the future – arrive early, do the vendors first, and then grab food and sample giveaways, because things got sold out FAST. Also, the wifi/phone connection in Prospect Park is very spotty so try to meet up with friends outside the park.