About Dad Hair Hero

Made by a dad in Dublin who couldn't do his daughter's hair, for every other dad in the same spot.

Where it came from

I'm a dad in Dublin with a young daughter, and I couldn't do her hair. Not a ponytail, not a plait, nothing that would hold. So I built Dad Hair Hero to learn it myself, one step at a time, the way I'd want it explained: what my hands should be doing, and how to tell when it's right.

I'm by no means an expert on hair. What I've done is gather as much as my experience and research could pull together, and package it in a way I'd find useful myself. This project is a gift to my present and future self. It's also something I hope my daughter will look back on with pride: something her daddy did to make her day a little better, and our relationship a little stronger.

How the steps are written

Every step in the app is written to one standard: positioned against things you can feel with your hands, one action per step, and a check at the end of it. There are five rules, and the free styles on this site are those steps word for word.

• The hand is named only when it matters: when both hands are doing different jobs, or left and right change the result.
• Everything is positioned against landmarks you can feel: ears, crown, nape, hairline. Never against an imagined picture.
• Every step ends with something you can see or feel to know it is done: a comb that passes in one stroke, a bundle with no loose strands in front of the ears.
• One action per step. A repeated cycle, like crossing right then left, is described once with how many times to repeat it.
• What to do when it goes wrong lives in Fix It, not in the step, so the steps describe the right path only.

The pictures

The pictures of hairstyles in the app and on this site are illustrations of a mannequin head. None of them is a photograph of a child. The one real photograph on this site is the one above, of my daughter and me, and she is a silhouette in it.

What the app does with what you tell it

Nothing leaves it for Dad Hair Hero. There is no account, no sign-up, no analytics, no advertising and no crash reporting, and no code in the app that reports what you do. Her name, hair type and age, your progress, and the photos and notes in the diary are stored on your phone. Your phone's own backup (iCloud, or Android backup) includes them, like any other app's data, in your own Apple or Google account.

The Kit is the one place anything can be bought. Its Buy links are affiliate links and say so before you tap. The screen a child uses to pick her own style has no links, no shop and no record of what she tapped beyond the one style she chose. Beyond the Ponytail is a one-time purchase through the App Store or Google Play; the app asks the store for the price and whether you own it, and nothing more.

The app is for adults and is listed that way. It will never be submitted to a children's category. The privacy policy says the same in full.

Who it is for

Dads, and anyone else who does a girl's hair in the morning without having been taught. The tone is plain and direct: no jokes at your expense, and no congratulations for turning up. The app is in UK or US English, whichever you choose, and this site is in both.

Get in touch

hello@dadhairhero.com. A step that didn't work, a style you want, a picture that is wrong: all of it is read.

This page is the About page of dadhairhero.com. Guides on this site are by Martin, and the steps in them are the ones in the app.