By Jasmaine Payne

LAST Sunday, the Promenade Gardens was transformed into a haven for the ‘naturals’, the ‘transitioners’, the ‘big choppers’ and the beauty enthusiasts of Guyana.And if any of those terms ever gave you pause, hopefully you had the privilege of attending the first ever Curlfest Guyana Natural Hair Expo for clarity on what they mean.

Either way, after months of anticipation, Curlfest certainly delivered on its promise of being a one of a kind event, and seeing its massive success, coordinators Tamika Henry and Denisha Victor plan to make the Expo an annual event.

“This is our first year, so we wanted to cover the basics,” Tamika said. “But I know we will grow from this, and going forward we will be mixing it up, maybe using different themes and other ideas.”

The event attracted hundreds of people and featured an array of activities that spanned throughout the day, including a lecture on the chemistry of natural hair by Organic Chemist, Dr. Keisha Holder, makeup tutorials by Renee Chester, exercise demonstrations by Joshua Singh of Fit-Rex, a mini Zumba class by Noshavya King of Genesis Fitness Express and Head wrap demonstrations by Mwanza Glenn.

More than the attendance, the coordinators were also floored by the response from entrepreneurs who tapped into the opportunity of marketing their businesses. Local businesses were dispersed throughout the venue displaying hair and beauty products, accessories and clothing.

“The event really created an opportunity for young entrepreneurs to showcase their businesses and can even inspire others to get into business. It is a great marketing opportunity and our vendors were able to see that,” Tamika said.

Among the highlights of the event was a ‘Big Chop’ challenge, during which one brave young woman chose to cut her hair off in public. In the natural community, the big chop is seen not only as an act of bravery, but a bold step that defies the norms of society, which have largely purported that a woman’s hair is her beauty. The big chop therefore symbolises a woman’s choice to detach herself from those expectations and go back to her roots- pun intended.

Young Isanella Patoir was the lucky subject of the Big Chop challenge, and after having her hair stylishly chopped in front of a cheering crowd, she was also given a multi-coloured dye job and makeover to boot. Isanella was chosen from a Facebook competition held by Curlfest Guyana.

“I think we have done something for women who have straightened hair so that they can see that it’s okay to come over to the natural side and that they will have that support with products and how to style it and so on,” Denisha said.

The final attraction of the evening came in the form of a hair show which featured the work of several natural hair salons. The event, which was decorated with performances from local artistes, aimed at showcasing the creativity and versatility of natural hair. However, the show fell short of patrons’ expectations in terms of variety and showmanship, but this was no fault of the coordinators, as it spoke more to the need for the participating salons to up their game for future events.

Nevertheless, it’s safe to say that Curlfest has been given the nod of approval by the locals. Moreover, the mixed constituency of attendants showed that even an activity which highlights one culture cannot escape the mixed culture of people that make up our country. And this in itself is testimony to the beauty of the multi-cultural land we call home.