Pints and Ponytails!

A social opportunity for dads

By Anna Powell

Recently, a 'Pints and Ponytails' event was organised by Theresa Tierney in the Roundhill Pub to create an opportunity for dads in the local area to socialise and to learn how to do their daughter's hair.

Barber Ciarán O’Sullivan of Kiwi Cuts, who has hosted various workshops across the country, described Pints and Ponytails as a class geared towards dads across Ireland:

“It’s a class showing dads the basics of how to do their daughter's hair and bringing a community of dads together as well to further their skills and their bond with their daughter,” he said, pointing out how it could also be described as a modern men’s shed.

“It was a great night, it was an opportunity for men in the area to mix and get to know each other,” reflected organiser of the event, Theresa Tierney, as to how the event was enjoyed by dads from the locality.

“Generationally, dads might not have done the hair back in the day. Whereas now, there is more of a dual responsibility or dual ownership of tasks, and parenting and rearing the children,” she expressed. “They said that they had learnt a lot and that they had really enjoyed it,” she said.

Pints and Ponytails Workshop

After the concept was suggested to Ciarán by a client after he saw the concept taking place in the UK, Ciarán, a barber from Cork, decided to run these classes for dads and has since hosted workshops across Ireland.

“I’ve 12 classes done so far,” he shared, pointing out how these workshops have taken place in Cork, Kerry, Fermanagh, Limerick, Dublin and Tipperary.

As part of this workshop, participants get to learn various new hairstyles along with other dads in a relaxed and social environment:

“It’s an hour and a half workshop. I demonstrate nine different hairstyles, then the dads get hands on, and they all work with mannequins,” explained Ciarán, pointing out how he has also pre-recorded all of the hairstyles so that dads can revisit the styles after the event.

“You get dads from all different skill levels,” he said.

Need to tackle social isolation

As an active community member, Theresa contacted Ciarán about the possibility of hosting a workshop in her community.

“It was something different for men to learn to do their daughters hair,” she said, pointing out the importance of people in rural communities having an opportunity to socialise.

“Unless you are involved in sport, you might not get the opportunity to meet other dads. It was just to provide another opportunity for lads to mix,” she said.

“There is a lot done nowadays for preventing social isolation, but there’s an awful long way to go, and there’s just different cohorts of the community that just need a bit of a push to get back out there and to mix and to just try different things,” she said, pointing out a frightening survey statistic that found Ireland to be the loneliest country in Europe. Theresa expressed her gratitude to Pat Sheehy of the Roundhill pub in in Ballintinoe, Carrigatoher, for supporting this event for those in the community.

An opportunity to meet other dads

This idea behind the needs for social opportunities in communities for dads was echoed by Ciarán.

“The ultimate goal is to bring a community together, but also dads wanting to learn and willing to learn to benefit the bond with their daughter,” expressed Ciarán as to what the core aim is behind these workshops.

“It can be a bit off putting at the start for the dads, wondering what’s going on, but then once they get into it and see other dads there trying to do their best, there’s definitely proudness amongst the group as well,” he reflected as to how participants react to the event.