The dad who got Britain’s fathers braiding hair over a pint

Mathew Lewis-Carter found the first year of fatherhood harder than anyone had warned him. Bonding with his baby daughter did not come as naturally as everyone seemed to promise, and like a lot of dads, he mostly kept that to himself. Rather than sit with the loneliness, he and his husband Lawrence Price, who together host the UK podcast The Secret Life of Dads, decided to do something about it.

The idea was disarmingly simple. In early 2026, in a room above the Lucky Saint pub in central London, they ran the first Pints and Ponytails: a handful of dads, a few beers, some practice mannequin heads, and stylists from a group called Braid Maidens teaching them to plait, bun and tie their daughters' hair. The hairstyles were the hook. The real point was getting fathers talking, face to face, about the parts of parenting nobody prepares you for.

The first night drew about ten dads. The second drew thirty-five, and a video of grown men gently practising French braids over pints went round the world, racking up roughly fifteen million views. What might have been a one-off became a movement. They have since added Periods and Ponytails, bringing in menstrual-health experts so dads can learn to handle that conversation too, rather than leaving it to someone else.

There is something quietly radical in it. Two dads decided that the strong, manly thing was to learn the small skills their daughters need, and to admit out loud that fatherhood had been hard. A great many men needed to hear that, and they turned up in their thousands.

It is also the closest thing we have seen to girl.dad happening in real life, which is exactly why we are proud to point you toward it.

We celebrate Mathew Lewis-Carter, and Lawrence beside him, for making it ordinary for a dad to pick up a hairbrush and ask for help.

Who is Mathew Lewis-Carter?

Mathew Lewis-Carter is one of the girl dads celebrated on girl.dad, based in London, England. The short version: He turned his own hard first year into a place where thousands of dads feel less alone.

What kind of story is this?

girl.dad files it under Community, published 1 June 2026.