To celebrate Father’s Day, I held the first ever Daddy Daughter Hair Class and Tea Party. It’s a bit ironic that I teach classes for other dads to do hair, as I have been shaving my head since I was 24 years old. There’s a reason I know so much about hair though. She’s a 6-year-old girl named Izzy.
Four years ago I was pretty clueless about doing hair. I couldn’t even manage a good ponytail. My daughter Izzy’s hair was growing out to where it was becoming too long to just part. I didn’t want to just have her be a tomboy with bangs simply because I was a single father. I even attempted the trick with the vacuum cleaner to put her hair in a ponytail, but that ended up as another failed attempt. The rubber band got sucked up the nozzle and made the vacuum scream, instilling fear and terror into my little princess. I had to do something.
I worked as an admissions rep at a local trade school that teaches cosmetology. I enlisted the help of a student to teach me the basics. I went home and practiced braids, buns, and ponytails.
I found that doing her hair was a great way for us to bond. I would practice a style while we would sing the ABC’s. She would count to me while learning a new hairdo. We would talk about our day as I put in a bedtime braid. I learned that doing her hair was way more than just keeping it out of her face or making her look pretty. I was connecting with her and showing her I wanted to be there for her, even though I had no hair of my own.
After several months, I got pretty good at her hair. Good enough, in fact, that a viral story spread around the world about how I made these special styles with my daughter. I was invited to demonstrate my knowledge on the Rachel Ray Show. I was asked by hundreds of people to do tutorials, so I started a Facebook page that is now called The Hair Dad. Over the years, videos by and about me have reached over 100 million views.
Being thankful for the support, I began teaching free classes in my community. I wanted to show other dads how to do the styles I learned. I also wanted to let them know parenting is not about being perfect, it’s about being present. Just like a hairstyle doesn’t need to have a perfect part line or matching elastics, when you mess up as a parent, most times things can be fixed. The more you practice at getting better, the better you become.
That brings us to the tea party. Every Father’s Day, I like to include another kid friendly business into my class. Last year, I held a class at a local theme park. When I was done teaching class, the kids and dads rode the rides for free. This year, I wanted to do something cute. Out of all of the activities dads and daughters can do together, I thought that a tea party would be adorable. So I found a location and made a plan. I posted on Facebook to advertise the class. Within five hours, the class was booked!
Not only were there a lot of dads that wanted to attend, there were many in the community that wanted to volunteer. Without my own planning, this ended up being a large community event. Women dressed as princesses to take photos with the girls. There was a balloon animal maker. A woman even dressed up like she was from the steampunk era and held a dueling tea contest. A photographer took photos at a greatly reduced price, while a videographer documented the occasion. Word got out about the event and a local news station covered it, while the story also made the front page of the local newspaper.
The biggest thing I wanted the dads to get out of this event was to just be present. I have learned from so many that their fondest memories of their childhood wasn’t the expensive gifts, or the best looking clothes. It was the time spent together. Time spent either doing projects, going fishing, sitting on the front porch talking, going for drives, doing fun activities like tea parties or pizza night at home. Spending time enjoying each other’s company is really the greatest gift we have in this life. Try to do it as often as possible.
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Photos provided by the author.