Our founder Dominique went to the CurlyTreats Festival in London – the UK’s largest natural hair festival of its kind.
Natural Hair Week Re-brands CurlyTreats Festival
CurlyTreats Festival started as Natural Hair Week in 2013 and was rebranded by one of the most celebrated natural hair and beauty entrepreneurs in the UK, Shirvina Best. Shirvina successfully brings together her years of experience to women and girls who are interested in black hair and beauty. Girl boss, Shirvina also won the Influencer of the Year Award at the Black Beauty and Fashion Awards (BBFA) earlier this year.
The festival is the largest event of its kind. It boasts a room full of exhibitors, interactive live workshops, live features and expert speakers. Since it began the event sells out every year in London and this year was no different.
CurlyTreats Offers Opportunity To Support Independent Brands
CurlyTreats offers an opportunity to purchase products and services from some of the independent business that celebrates African and Caribbean culture. It is like the Etsy of culture offline, in one safe space.
Clothing and accessories
I brought Hello Tee, a brand ‘making unapologetically true statements one tee at a time’. I also couldn?t resist an Ankara ? Pandora style bracelet from House of Ohene bracelet.
Beauty
As usual, I stocked up on my Pure Goodness natural soap and shea butter cream. You can shop online and also find them in Diverse Gifts in Brixton, London. Although I went searching for mascara, I ended up purchasing a foundation from award-winning ColorBlend Makeup (N11)
Hair care and hair accessories
During the cold winter months, after returning from sunny Nevis, my hair was always hidden under Knots head wraps. At CurlyTreats, I discovered Eze satin lined head wraps?and purchased some waist beads. The satin helps to protect the edges and eliminate dry hair. I also got speaking with mumpreneur Demi, founder of Heritage Collections who started selling head wraps as a stylish way to protect her hair whilst studying and being a busy mother.
As my short afro is long enough to braid, I brought Root2Tip leave-in conditioner to keep my hair moist. Root2Tip also have a hair care range specifically for children. Lastly, I stocked up on raw organic shea butter from Byooti – an online afro hair retailer.
Although they sold out, I am looking forward to getting my hands on the Curly Kinky Coily mist spray bottle. This spray bottle spritzes the hair rather than drenches it in water.
Toys and gifts
Described by Afro Hair & Beauty Live as one of the African brands challenging beauty standards. I brought the?small vanilla scented doll with afro hair as a gift. The doll has affectionately been named ‘Bombi‘ by her beautiful new owner. Also, I couldn?t resist these ankara?African print children?s hair accessories at the BrushStroke stand. As it?s birthday season in my family, representative cards were on my shopping list so I brought my teen goddaughter a card by Nicola Lespeare with an image of an Afro hair girl.
*Use the code hairpopp to get a 10% discount across the entire Sibahle doll website.
The energy from The Melanin Team added to the beautiful atmosphere of CurlyTreats Festival. I brought a mobile holder. However, they have a selection of apparel that is hard to choose from without buying the whole rail.
Marketplaces are a great way to shop and meet the independent brand owners. Many of them who turn their side hustle into brands, or provide representative products by exhibitors are brands that people know and love.
Why do you go to hair events?
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Some well-known UK independent hair care brands were exhibiting, such as Afrocenchix, Almocado, Bourn Beautiful Naturals, Flora & Curl, Nylah, Your Hair Journey and online hair care retailers such as Byooti. They were exhibiting alongside chains?that provide natural hair products such as, As I Am, Cantu, Revlon Realistic and Keracare.
CurlyTreats Awards and Workshops
Queens Jay and Tri from Curlture won the CurlyTreats Award for Best Influencers. They were supporting Palmers and also participated in a workshop. BBFA award-winning brand Afrocenchix were also on the panel discussion. As I Am, were giving educational demonstrations from members of the audience throughout the day on the main stage.
Bloggers at CurlyTreats
As usual, it was nice to meet up with blog sister Saabirah Lawrence who was working on the Moor Hair stand. Moor Hair is an online hair care retailer. I got chatting with UK Curly Girl and Your Hair Journey ambassador Rekayla Curl. Shannon (UK Curly Girl), in collaboration with TreasureTress, is hosting a brunch in Birmingham very soon. So, watch this space. It was nice to meet vlogger Ebony Natural Curls who is a big fan of the award-winning Nylah Naturals.
Check out the?CurlyTreats Festival Awards Birmingham Hair Care Brand NYLAH?here.
CurlyTreats Festival is back on?Saturday 27 July 2019.?You can book tickets here.?Why do you attend hair events? Tell us why in our short survey?
Hair Popp special offers:
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- Get 25% off tickets to Shades of Beauty Live on 24 and 25 August 2018 using discount code: ?hairpopp25?.
- Bourn Beautiful Naturals ? 10% off your first order using ?CROWN?.
- Flora & Curl ? 10% off using ?hairpopp?.
- Sibahle doll collection?- use the code hairpopp to get a 10% discount across the entire website.
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