As we celebrate Fathers’ Day let’s hear it for dads who are showing up for classes to learn how to braid their daughters’ hair. In a recent Washington Post story hair braiding classes for men were spotlighted in Cleveland, Ohio and in St. Albans in England. And, I’m hoping the idea will catch on.

Traditionally it is women who are taught the “sacred” and sometimes intricate art of hair braiding, but times they are changing and modern families are seemingly less locked into gender specific family roles.

Tieya Richards, a hairstylist in Cleveland, has held multiple classes for fathers since 2019. She says she knew many single fathers who have custody of their children and they wanted to learn how to manage their daughters’ hair.
Across the pond in Great Britain, Annie’s Waugh, the owner of the Braid Mavens salon she wasn’t initially sure the men would turn up for the hair tutorials, but the dads were “enthusiastic learners.” Now she says she has a waiting list for the classes.

Often when we talk about family matters there is much attention paid to the concept that the relationship between fathers and their sons are critically important. And, they certainly are. But the relationships between fathers and their daughters are also super important. How is a young woman to gauge how she is to be treated by a prospective boyfriend? And, dad can certainly be more than a breadwinner and a protector.

Hopefully a girl’s father or a positive father figure is her model.
The bonding between father and daughter while dad is plaiting or struggling to put her hair into a ponytail can be a very, very special time to be long cherished.

Karen Warrington has had a decades long career as a broadcast journalist, communications professional, performing artist, and documentary filmmaker. She has traveled extensively throughout Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. She is committed to being a voice for the African Diaspora.