This morning, somewhere across Merseyside and beyond, dozens of daughters headed to school with plaits sleeker than the day before
14:00, 09 Jul 2026
Pints & Ponytails held at Deco Lounge on Bold Street with 25 dads showing up
The first question of the evening wasn’t about pints or ponytails. Instead it was about what everyone’s mornings looked like before the school run. “Has anyone here had any tears or tantrums first thing in the morning?” Matt Carter asked the crowd.
One hand immediately shot up from a dad who, rather ironically, had a head full of enviable curls. The room erupted with laughter. He wasn’t talking about his daughter. He was talking about himself. It was an ice-breaker, almost every dad in the room could relate to, as 25 men gathered upstairs at Bold Street’s bohemian Deco Lounge for an event helping fathers tackle one of parenting’s stressful rituals – doing their daughters’ hair.
Pints & Ponytails, founded by best friends Matt Carter and Lawrence Price, has become a nationwide phenomenon. What began as a simple idea has exploded in popularity, with a viral video from one of their London sessions reaching more than 24 million views.
Now they’re taking the workshops around the country, bringing dads together in a relaxed pub setting where they teach everything from ponytails to plaits while conversations naturally drift towards fatherhood, confidence and mental wellbeing. There was plenty of laughter throughout as styling heads were lined up across long tables. Brushes, combs and brightly coloured hairbands sat alongside pints as the evening’s essential equipment.
Mat Carter and Lawrence Price from Pints & Ponytails
The basics came first: ponytails, pigtails and bunches. Then came the French plait. The room, which moments earlier had been buzzing with conversation, falls almost silent as dozens of dads concentrate intently on weaving three sections of hair together.
Some even stood up, convinced it gave them an extra ounce of focus. Every now and then someone would hold up their mannequin head for approval. The organisers joked they’d already visited Manchester, with Lawrence, equal parts teasing and justifying, claiming anyone struggling could blame the dads from the other side of the M62 for deliberately leaving knots in the hair the night before.
Not everyone mastered the technique immediately. “We were flying through them until we got to the plaits,” Lawrence added. After around 20 minutes of determined effort, one dad finally inspected his handiwork before declaring: “We will take it for the first time, it’s s****, but we’ll take it.”
Among the dads, I overheard Nick Allen claim he had a slight advantage. It was a comment I would later bring up with him. The 40-year-old from Chester had already learned how to plait – just not hair.
While carefully sectioning blonde hair with a fine-tooth comb, he said: “This is my first time really struggling. I’ve done plaits before; my daughter, Darcey, swims a lot, so I had to learn to avoid her crying her eyes out with knots. I originally trained as a pastry chef, where I learned how to plait bread and obviously pastry. So, I’ve known the technique since I was around 17.
Nick Allen (left),and Matthew Phillipson at Pints & Ponytails.
“I had strict instructions to learn how to do Rumi, from K-Pop Demon Hunters, hairstyle, but I have a feeling it isn’t going to go well. It might be a bit above my skill level this evening, but we will find out tomorrow morning before school.
“I normally do the school runs, so hair usually falls into my responsibilities. Mornings are always mad in the house – getting up, getting ready and getting out the door on time. Every now and then, I work away in London, and so I’ve been trying to go to an event down there. But they sell out so quickly. Then I saw they were finally going around the country. As soon as the tickets became available, I rushed to book them.”
While Nick didn’t leave taking bookings for wedding updos, he did look noticeably more confident than when he arrived. The same could be said for David Diskin, who was sitting just two people away.
The 45-year-old civil engineer, originally from Galway but now living in Manchester, was there to learn for his daughter, Maeve. The six-year-old has mixed-race hair, something David is hoping to get to grips with.
He said: “My mornings can often be a bit rushed. My daughter’s hair is very curly, very tight curls, so it can be tricky. She often asks me to do plaits and other styles, but I’m more of a one-style person. I just can’t do them, so she will often leave her hair as it is naturally or put it in a single ponytail. After this, I’m hoping to go for something else, something more advanced.
David Diskin at Pints & Ponytails, learning for his six-year-old daughter
“She doesn’t know I’m here, so it will be a surprise, hopefully, when she sees the standard of the hair next time. I’m going to show her the pictures from tonight and take it from there. She’s a tough customer, but hopefully I can get the thumbs up from her.
“Her hair needs a lot of looking after, especially in this weather. There’s so much upkeep to do on a regular basis – there’s moisture and oils, it’s stuff you don’t really think about until you have to do it yourself. So hopefully with learning that and the skills here tonight, we will be making steps forward.”
For Matt, those moments are exactly why he and Lawrence decided to launch the project. The pair, who also host The Secret Life of Dads podcast, created the workshops to help fathers build confidence while taking some of the pressure off hectic family mornings. It’s an event that clearly resonates, as it selling out in minutes.
He said: “There’s always a nervous energy in the room when the dads first come in, it’s quite palpable but once we start the hairstyles and explain it all, they get more and more locked in.
The dads focus on nailing the art of the plait
“It’s amazing to see a group of dads show up this way for their daughters. Dads are spending twice as much time with their kids now compared to generations before and they want to take some of that emotional weight off at home. They want to show up and for some reason Pints & Ponytails does that for the dads.
“Lawrence and I started this as curious dads looking to learn the skill, so to see the demand for it has been crazy. A lot of the dads have travelled here and so it’s amazing to see that type of response. It’s a huge responsibility but we feel excited about it all – we feel the sky is the limit. More tours and bigger events on a global scale. We want this to reach as many dads as possible.”
By the end of the evening the plaits weren’t perfect, but that was never really the point. With a little more confidence under their belts, the dads headed home ready to face the next school run, while Matthew and Lawrence moved on to their next stop, helping fathers one ponytail at a time.