It started with two braids at the park, and one surprised comment.
After weeks of practice, Strider Patton finally managed double French braids in his toddler’s brown hair. He got her dressed and took her to the park, where a woman soon approached his daughter and said, “Your hair looks just wonderful. Did your mommy do those braids?”
Patton said his daughter answered right away.
“And my daughter, without skipping a beat, just points at me and says, ‘Dad braids.’ And that woman’s jaw hit the ground,” Patton told USA Today. “Then that lady said something that changed everything. She said, ‘You could teach my husband a thing or two.’”
That interaction led Patton, 41, to start posting videos of his morning hair-braiding routine with his daughter on social media in 2024. He said the videos “took off immediately.”
Divorced dads, stay-at-home dads, widowed dads and other fathers who wanted to do more at home began thanking him, he said.
“I really tapped into something.”
Patton said dads from all over have reached out for advice, and some are now meeting in person for hair tutorials. In one recent video from an event called “Pints & Ponytails,” more than 30 fathers sat with beer cans and mannequin heads and learned how to braid hair. The TikTok was posted on March 8 and got more than 6.6 million views in three days.
The reaction online was enthusiastic.
“I love this generation of dads,” one user commented.
“This is SO important! Thank you dads!” another user wrote. “Your daughters will be so so grateful and will LOVE this.”
The response lines up with broader changes in fatherhood. A 2023 survey from Pew Research Center found 85 percent of fathers said being a parent is the most or one of the most important aspects of who they are. Another Pew survey found fathers spend triple the amount of time on child care than dads did in 1965.
Patton said dads learning to do their daughters’ hair shows how fatherhood has changed from previous generations and reflects what homes and families look like now.
“It’s like, if only one of us was able to change diapers, that wouldn’t make any sense at all,” he said. “We’ve got to be able to help out in every way.”
He said many people see doing a child’s hair as part of the morning routine, but he wants dads, parents and caregivers to think about it differently. For him, it can be a chance to connect.
“This is all about presence over perfection. It doesn’t matter what the hair looks like,” he said. “All they care about is that you’re together. And if you’re making it fun and playful, then she’s going to have fun.”
Patton said the time he spends doing his daughter’s hair has also changed him. In the mornings, they listen to stories together, talk about what she is doing at school, or sit quietly while she eats breakfast.
He said those moments have taught him about listening and being more open emotionally.
“It’s really taught me a lot about what it means to be a dad. An engaged dad,” he said. “And how to really, kind of, deepen my own emotional intelligence because I want to grow that for her and for my family, because that’s something us guys aren’t really taught.”
📸 credit: Stryder Patton
