Girl Hair Style

One of the toughest things for me to learn as a new stay at home dad was (and still is) hair styling.  Hair products don't make my job any easier.  Those large hair ties, bows and clips don't stay attached to the angel-hair thinness found on my daughter's scalp.  The only thing that works are these teeny, tiny, rubber bands.

I figure I should get another week out of these

These things are smaller than dimes.  How do they expect me to get my fat man-hand sausage-fingers into these?  They come in packages of about 500 which is nice, because you break at least four or five of them trying to get them wrapped around a bushel of hair and the ones that don't break are only good for one use.

If you're a new dad trying to figure out how to do your daughter's hair don't fret.  Save yourself the trouble of trying to figure out French braids, ponytails, and pigtails, there is only one girl hair style you need to know.  I call it "The Deb".

Her mom goes to college. Probably not beauty college.

It's not a ponytail and only half a set of pigtails.  Like the magical Liger (part lion and part tiger) this hair style combines two of the easiest possible ways to get your hair did - without the problems found in either.

The problem with ponytails is that, for the longest time, my daughter's hair wasn't long enough to put it all back in a pony.  When it finally did get long enough earlier this summer, she decided to take a pair of safety scissors and cut a large chunk of hair so that even if I did manage to yank all of it back into a librarian's knot, it was still going to look weird.

Then there's pigtails.  The problem with pigtails is that you have to get them both placed at approximately the same height and angle as each other.  This is nearly impossible for any respectable man to carry out.  I don't really want to put that much time into hair.  I have more important things to do, like eating bacon.  My first attempt wasn't too bad, unless you get points taken away for having one tail higher than the other and one closer to the front of her head, in which case, it was a complete disaster.

So maybe the part isn't exactly down the middle. And maybe one tail is a little higher and closer to her forehead, it won't look that bad when she looks up right?

Wrong!

I don't want to waste time on a hair-do that is going to take three or four tries to get right.  Dudes should not put that much thought into hair whether it be their kids' style or their own mop.  I only brush my hair twice a week: once for my night out, a.k.a. "My Part-Time Job", and again on Sunday for church.  And by brush I mean running a watery hand through my hair.  In between those days, it's either my lucky hat or a sad attempt at pulling off Jimmy Fallon bed-head.

It takes him two hours to get his hair looking that messy.

I've never really had to do my daughter's hair before.  Last year she was in the morning Pre-K class and my wife was able to do Leah's hair before she left for work.  Now that my daughter is in the afternoon class it's my turn.  My wife could still do her hair in the morning, but by the time her bus arrives she will have completely wallowed out of whatever hair-ties, hair-clips, or berets that once adorned her pretty little nugget.

When it comes to doing the hair of a pre-k girl, one isn't worried about how it looks.  Well, okay, maybe mom is worried about how it looks, but Dad is more worried about keeping hair out of the face so that his uncoordinated 3 year-old can run around the playground.  I love kissing boo-boos as much as the next Dad, but I don't want my lack of hair-doing skills causing them.

So grab a hunk of hair, pull it to one side, and rubber band the crap out of it.  Ta-da.  It's the Deb.  I should also mention that one of my favorite things about Pre-K is that kids are allowed to wear hats to school.

Now she's ready for school.