Single Dad Shatters Stereotypes About Hairstyling

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Del Sandeen

Del Sandeen is a writer, blogger, editor and social media coordinator. From 2009-2017, she was the Black Hair Expert at About.com. After wearing relaxed hair for 19 years, she big-chopped in 2000 and hasn't looked back. She lives in Northeast Florida with her family, where the humidity tries to mess with her hair, but she loves it anyway. Connect with her at toni & alice.

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Single Dad Shatters Stereotypes About Hairstyling

Screengrab from thegrio.com

While styling little girls’ (and boys’) hair has long been a mother’s domain, dads shouldn’t fear the comb! One single dad in Huntsville, Alabama is showing other fathers how hairstyling is done — a class at a time.

What This Dad Is Doing

Darious Bland has been a single father for seven years, and instead of shying away from styling his daughter’s hair, he’s taking up comb, brush and grooming tools and teaching other men to do the same. He admits that when he began caring for his little girl’s hair, he “didn’t know how to do a basic ponytail,” but now he’s learning how to flat twist and create Bantu knots. His next goal: learning to braid.

Hairstyling isn’t just for women to do, although moms, grandmothers and aunties are usually the ones who take on hair care duties. Caring for a child’s hair does much more than give her a cute style. It leads to stronger bonds because it’s a nurturing process to sit a girl or boy down and carefully create a hairstyle for them. It’s a loving gesture that many men don’t take part in. Sometimes they’re unwilling to, but other times, they’re unable to. Bland is seeking to shatter stereotypes about men taking on styling duties for their daughters.

Can Daddy Do My Hair?

He wants to give back, so in May, he held a workshop for other dads in the area. He details that the men who attended learned about more than just hair; they gained an understanding of the frustrations that moms can sometimes go through during the styling process. Anyone who’s ever had to deal with a tenderheaded child knows what he means!

He also has a Facebook page titled Can Daddy Do My Hair? where dads can ask questions and get advice related to hair care for their little girls. It’s truly inspiring to read the positive messages that people have left in response to the movement he’s trying to create.

Yes, men can style their daughters’ hair, too, and forge a closer relationship in the process.

Author: Del Sandeen

“Changing attitudes about natural hair” is what we do at Natural Haircare News. Through informative articles, podcasts and videos, we go beyond just sharing the latest advice and tips on kinky, curly, wavy haircare – We shake things up and focus on the realities of wearing our hair natural.