By admin 
For many young girls, back-to-school season is a prime time to test out new hairdos and styles for the upcoming year. Though this is often a bonding experience between moms and daughters, a Sacramento salon is working to bring dads into the fold.
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Strands Aveda Salon, based in East Sacramento, partnered with Nitty’s Cider to host “Pints and Ponies,” a family event teaching dads how to style their daughters’ hair while moms got to sit back and get pampered ahead of a busy return to the school year.
On a sweltering Monday evening, more than a dozen families packed into the Nitty’s Cider tasting room on Folsom Boulevard. Tentative hands passed strands of hair over one another, and hairspray flew into the air as dads tried out a variety of classic and trendy styles.
“This is a great core memory for you and your daughter,” said Strands Aveda salon manager and hairstylist Keri Crabtree to a dad while he French braided his daughter’s hair. “This isn’t about perfection, this is about tools and learning.”
Crabtree and her team were inspired to host the learning session after seeing a similar event held in the United Kingdom earlier this year, which quickly went viral on TikTok.
“It was like, so sweet to have these dads and daughters to have these memories and also teaching them a new skill,” Crabtree said. “Dads are just really stepping it up and are just such amazing creatures.”
For only $15 per family, dads received one-on-one haircare education and a pint of cider or beer from Nitty’s, while daughters got a goodie bag with hair products and moms received an extra treat.
Hair braiding 101
Armed with a glass of cold liquid courage and an arsenal of hair elastics and barrettes, dads paired up with one of Strands Aveda’s stylists to learn their daughter’s hairstyle of choice.
Some started simple, with a single three-strand braid, while others were ready to try out advanced techniques like double French braids and trendy bubble braids.
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Every stylist started from square one, teaching the proper way to brush long hair — in small downward strokes starting from the bottom and working upward to avoid tangles — and protect sensitive scalps against sun exposure, before getting into the mechanics of braiding.
“There’s a difference between watching a YouTube video and doing hands-on instruction,” said Sean Cox, who expanded on his existing braiding skills to learn French braiding on his 9-year-old daughter, Malakai Cox. “She has really long hair that she likes to style, but sometimes I feel like I fall short in that knowledge. It’s kind of cool that there’s (an event) like this, and it’s also local.”
After finishing his handiwork, Cox said he couldn’t wait to get home and redo the complex style for practice.
While stylists worked with dads, Crabtree’s husband, a masseuse, offered moms complimentary shoulder massages in the adjacent room.
“I love it, I’m excited (for a massage)” said Kelsey Cox, Sean’s wife. “Then, I don’t have to do hair every day, he can do it.”
The inaugural Pints and Ponies session welcomed 18 dads and their daughters, ranging from toddlers to tweens, and Crabtree said she’s hoping to continue the events as a series.
“We would love to collab with Nitty’s Cider and other people in our community and do more fun things, like maybe a Halloween (styles event),” Crabtree said. “Or at schools, I know sometimes they’ll have fun hair days, and like teach dads how to do that too. Give moms a break.”
At the end of the educational session, Malakai Cox said her dad did a good job with the neat, star barrette-laden French plait, but she had a few pointers and set new goals for the rookie braider.
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“He likes pulling,” Malakai Cox said. Next up? “Bubble braids.”