Curlfest 2018 Celebrated Natural Hair Afro Braids Locs

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Photographed by Laurise McMillian.

In 2014, five friends launched the Curly Girl Collective, a marketing group that has led the natural hair revolution in challenging the status quo, celebrating Black women, and bringing much needed representation to spaces that have been lacking it.

Every year, the group's mission comes to life through CurlFest, a natural hair festival in Brooklyn, NY complete with food, music, games, and shopping galore — imagine Coachella meets AfroPunk, sprinkled with a generous dash of Essence Fest.

As you can probably expect, 30,000 attendees showed up and showed out with coils, twists, locs, braids, and more that celebrate the beauty of natural hair. We were there at Prospect Park to capture all the Black Girl Magic — which you'll definitely want to check out, ahead.

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