The list of challenges parents face is long and sometimes frightening. Even when two fully engaged parents are part of the equation. For single parents, some of the hurdles they need to jump are daunting.
This might be particularly true for dads with little girls. If she’s inclined to be a tomboy and he’s inclined to encourage that, it might be a bit easier. If she’s his little princess and he wants her to look the role, he’s going to need to work with that.
This is the case for single father Greg Wickherst of Pueblo, Colorado. Izzy is his little princess. And while he had a handle on most things, he came to a hurdle he knew he couldn’t clear on his own.
In an incredible show of humility, he asked for a leg up.
It All Began with a Ponytail
Wickherst, who is divorced, worked in the admissions office at a local college. When Izzy was two and a half, he decided that simply cutting her bangs once in a while wasn’t good enough.
In an interview with USA Today’s All the Moms, he shared,
“I didn’t want to keep cutting her bangs and be a tom boy forever. I wanted to be a more involved parent, and she wanted to be a girly-girl.”
So in a move that might understandably be uncomfortable for many men, he put his daughter’s needs and wants first and did something about it.
One day, while on his lunch break, he paid a visit to the college’s cosmetology department. And from a group of the students, he got a crash course on how to style the hair of a little princess.
And wow, did he learn.
On Instagram, he began to share pictures of the work he had done on Izzy’s hair. And we’re not talking about a simple pull the hair back in an elastic and be done. No, he learned how to do some very intricate work.
His Course Was Set
With a taste for thrilling his little girl with her new hairstyles, Wickherst forged on. He began spending a lot of his lunch breaks with the cosmetology students, and they were happy to become his teachers.
He didn’t let the odd looks he got from his colleagues or the clients at the school’s salon deter him. This was about his daughter.
And it didn’t take long for him to realize that despite their complicated look, many of the hair designs he was learning were brilliant in their simplicity. He says,
“It blew my mind how easy it was to do a bun. I thought that it was something super special, like really intricate, especially the one where you don’t finish pulling the ponytail. I thought, Oh my god, that’s so pretty for something that’s so simple…I don’t think many guys know that it’s that simple.”
So Much More than just Hair
Wickherst came to some very important realizations.
He shared his thoughts on the matter with Insider.
“It’s not about being perfect. It’s not about perfection. It’s about being present. Doing your daughter’s hair is not a competition. It’s really just to make her feel confident, make her feel proud. And really a way to help bond with your kids.”
The Hair Dad
Now officially known as The Hair Dad, Wickherst, who ironically began shaving his head when he was 24, has an Instagram page with 22.1k followers, as well as a YouTube channel with 14.4k subscribers. He also has his own website, TheHairDad.com, where you can read his story, find tutorials, and more.
He’s happy to share what he has learned and hopes other fathers take advantage of this unique opportunity to build an everlasting bond with their daughters, just as he has. And learn, as he says, that,
“Love is in the Hair.”
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
