CURLFEST Pics + My Love Your Hair Curl Chat Recap By JENELL B STEWART

On Sunday I attended the best summer event ever. For the 3rd year in a row, the Curly Girl Collective produced CurlFest in my old hometown

BROOKLYN!  It was a lovely day in Prospect Park, the sun was hot and the hair was even hotter.  So many of my curl friends and blogger friends were out there browning in the sun.

There was great music, vendors, photographers, food trucks, ice cream carts and THOUSANDS of Naturals, men and children! In fact, I’m sure there was at least 1 million people out there.

I was honored to have been invited for the 2nd time to host a picnic CurlChat to a group of curl friends.  The overall message of my chat was Love Your Hair in partnership with Dove Hair’s commitment to creating a world where beauty is a source of confidence not anxiety.  During my chat we touched on topics about hair in the workplace and in the media.  Through research, Dove found that 86% of women believe media and society put a lot of pressure on them to have hair that looks a certain way – and of course they do, look at what they’re being served. Several of the women at my curl chat shared stories of negative experiences with coworkers commenting that they preferred their natural hair when straightened versus in a twist out.  A mother shared a heart wrenching story of her daughter who has been natural her whole life, wanting to relax her hair due to peer pressure in high school. It’s no wonder that Dove Hair discovered through their research that 3 in 4 women believe they would have greater self-confidence if they didn’t feel that they were being judged by their hair.  Dove Hair believes it’s time to STOP telling women what they are supposed to do with their hair.

By the end of my curl chat I had the entire area chanting “Love Your Hair! Love Your Hair! Love Your Hair!  It was a special moment of community bonding and unity as we shared our personal stories.   Ultimately, this is why I love CurlFest so much and #LoveYourHair is my new favorite hashtag! (More pics from the chat!)

If there’s any reason that you didn’t know about this event be sure to follow CurlyGirlCollective right now for updates!

Source: kinkycurlycoilme