On The Up: Napier hairstyling workshop aiming to bond dads and daughters

Willa Simpson, 4, gets her hair braided. Photo / Supplied

Napier woman Courtney Cook remembers when her dad used to braid her hair before bed as, so it would be wavy for school the next day.

“While he did my hair, it was a chance to talk about the day and anything on my mind, and it opened a great space of communication between us that we still have now.

“I felt loved that he took the time to learn how to do it.”

The EIT Hairdressing tutor of seven years and mum of two wants to enable that experience for others.

She has created a Daddy Daughter Hairstyling workshop, with the first session to be held on April 26.

Napier EIT hairdressing tutor Courtney Cook (left) teaches Shaun Simpson how to do his 4-year-old daughter Willa Simpson's hair. Photo / Supplied

Cook said giving dads the skills created a space where they could bond with their daughters over something the girls enjoyed.

“Daughters need to have that, it sets up their foundational values and their self-respect and all of that deeper stuff behind it.”

Cook said the $40, two-and a-half-hour workshop involved eight dads with daughters aged 4 to 10 years old.

She planned to teach three styles incorporating ponytails, braids and buns.

It will be held at the EIT Hair Salon on Dickens St in Napier.

It was likely each dad would have a varying skillset, so Cook said she was open to adapting the styles to suit the duos.

Courtney Cook is running the first of what she hopes will be many Daddy and Daughter hairstyling workshops in Napier on April 26.

She provided booklets for the girls, about self-confidence and words of affirmation, and activities to do with their dads outside the workshop.

“Doing hair is just one way they can feel like a princess and feel pretty cool.”

Cook said she would provide brushes, combs, clips, bows, hair ties, and Wella shampoo and conditioner to take home.

“I don’t think that dads understand the significance of their role in a daughter’s life ... they are the first man that a daughter is going to love.”

Cook said she had expected the interest to come from mums, signing their partners up, but it was the dads who had got in touch.

“One of them said, ‘I can do a bad ponytail really well’, and I love that.

“A lot of dads want to learn, a lot of the responses and emails I have had since I put it out there has been ‘I really want to learn and get some skills’, and it’s awesome to see dads are keen for that.

“They all seem so keen and open-minded.”

Cook said if the workshop went well, she planned to do it once a month, and was open to teaching mums.

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and loves sharing stories about farming and rural communities.