With a hairbrush in one hand and a craft beer in the other, Curtis Einarson takes a seat behind a mannequin head with long, vibrant pink and blue hair.
The father of three young girls is one of a dozen dads sitting in the corner of Sookram’s Brewing Co., in Winnipeg on a recent Wednesday evening. The goal is for them to upgrade their limited hairstyling skills.
“Average at best. I can do a ponytail, I think OK. Maybe ask (my daughters),” Einarson said when describing his prior proficiency in styling girls’ hair.
A post on the social media site Reddit led Einarson to the Beers and Braids event.
The concept was introduced in Manitoba’s capital earlier this year by makeup artist Ren Cherlet, who came across the idea after seeing a similar event on social media called Pints and Ponytails in England.
The two-hour hair classes are designed for dads or father figures to learn how to do hairstyles, including ponytails, ballet buns and braids. Each class happens at a brewery and the ticket price includes one beverage.
Cherlet, a self-described dance and sports mom, said she saw single dads in her circle struggle to do their daughters’ hair for extracurricular activities, and moms who just needed a break.
After hosting her first Beers and Braids in March, her inbox flooded with men asking when the next class would be.
“It’s really phenomenal. It’s taken off,” she said.
“It’s such a necessity for dads to be able to kind of come together collectively for a common ground, get out together, have a beer, and then go home and practise what they learned.”
It can be easy to fall into more traditional gender roles, she said, but “it’s important for the roles to change and be fluid.”
Einarson has been trying to nail down doing his daughters’ hair for years. His three girls are ages six, eight and 10.
They generally ask for ponytails, he said. It’s the pigtails — twin ponytails or braids on opposite sides of the head — that he hoped to ace in the class.
“I want to be better at it for them,” he said,
For even the most-skilled stylist, doing someone else’s hair can pose a challenge.
That’s why Cherlet keeps the class size capped at about 20. She has participants go over styles once they feel like they have mastered them. For those who need a little extra guidance, Cherlet or her assistant offer one-on-one help.
It’s all about making sure dads don’t walk away defeated.
She said some come in a bit trepidatious, but “you can kind of see throughout the evening that their confidence is just building and building.”
Caleb Doerksen said doing hair for his three daughters was a big learning curve.
The time crunch in the morning before school didn’t help, and his daughters — ages three, six and eight — would be quick with salty remarks.
“They’ll let you know pretty quick if you’re pulling too hard or if there’s knots,” Doerksen said with a laugh.
“I tried a bun the other day. That didn’t work very good. I just called it a fun bun. She wasn’t thrilled.”
Doerksen said his goal in the class was to learn the intricate fishtail braid, a style that mimics the look of scales on a fish’s tail.
By the end, he was creating his own style of braid on the mannequin.
Some join the class with dads they know, while others, like Einarson, show up alone and walk away with a new friends.
Cherlet said the classes provide opportunity for not only fathers to create bonding moments with their daughters but for men to hang with others trying to master a ballet bun or high ponytail.
Einarson and two other fathers sitting at the same table exchanged tips throughout the night.
“It’s a lot of fun. I’m really proud of myself so far,” Einarson said. “(I’m) meeting some new friends here and just having a good time.”
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