{"id":14620,"date":"2019-10-20T20:04:27","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T00:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/?p=14620"},"modified":"2019-10-18T16:35:18","modified_gmt":"2019-10-18T20:35:18","slug":"braids-buns-and-bobby-pins-meet-the-dads-learning-how-to-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/?p=14620","title":{"rendered":"Braids, Buns and Bobby Pins: Meet the Dads Learning How to Style"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

On a Tuesday evening earlier this month, a collection of dads and their daughters filed in to T.C. Williams High School\u2019s Cosmetology classroom.<\/p>\n

The girls, aged between seven and 12-years-old, giggled when they discussed their fathers\u2019 hair styling skills \u2014 or lack thereof.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t believe he has never done a braid in his life,\u201d said Malia Weinmann of her dad, Aileo. \u201cNever? Really?\u201d she asked him again as he shook his head.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But that has all changed thanks to a partnership between the city and school division that resulted in the Daddy\/Daughter Hair Lesson.<\/p>\n

Not only do the fathers and daughters benefit but our Cosmetology students, under the eye of teacher Nikki Dowdell, get real life salon experience.<\/p>\n

In front of a styling station and assisted by student Paige Murchison, Malia\u2019s father tried to grasp the basics of a French braid.<\/p>\n

But her short wavy hair proved challenging and kept slipping through his fingers. It\u2019s fair to say he had difficulty mastering the technique.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t stop letting go of this one strand,\u201d he told Paige, who was one of six T.C. students helping out that evening. \u201cI can\u2019t let go of it, right?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

When Malia, a student at George Washington Middle School, was younger her locks were a little easier to manage, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was long and it was easy to put in a ponytail. Then she shaved it off and donated it and now this is as long as it\u2019s been for a while. Her hair is curly so it\u2019s wash and go most of the time but I\u2019d love to be able to do a little braid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Standing nearby in military fatigues was Lt Col Dean Scaletta, an engineer in the U.S. Army who brought his two daughters along: Alessandra, age nine, and Briana, seven.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It was my wife who suggested that we should come along to this class. It\u2019s nice to spend some time with my daughters and learn how to do something more than a ponytail.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIt \u2018s normally a rush when we are getting them out the door in the morning and we just tie their hair back but it would be nice to be able to do something a bit more special for when we go out at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it turned out, he was a natural at styling and picked up braiding his daughters\u2019 long dark hair like it was second nature.<\/p>\n

Mount Vernon Community School student Miriam Perez-Lopez, age seven, was the youngest in class.<\/p>\n

She wanted her father, Dan, to learn how to style her hair in a high bun. \u201cThat\u2019s my favorite hairstyle,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Perez-Lopez said, \u201cMy wife always does Miriam\u2019s hair. So given that I know so little, anything I learn would be helpful.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great idea for a class and fun that the high school students can be involved, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a bit of tutoring on back-combing and the use of bobby pins, he had perfected an elegant bun and Miriam was impressed.<\/p>\n

The idea to bring the class to the Alexandrian community came from Julie Miles, City of Alexandria recreation manager.<\/p>\n

She connected with Dowdell and in 2018, the class was awarded Best New Program by the Virginia Recreation and Park Society.<\/p>\n

For Dowdell, herself a T.C. graduate, it is a labor of love. She said she wants to expand the class perhaps to include some basic nail and make-up skills.<\/p>\n

Currently, the sessions run just twice a year \u2014 once in the fall and once in the spring \u2014 but everybody involved would like to see more dates added.<\/p>\n

She said, \u201cI\u2019m a daddy\u2019s girl and it warms my heart to see fathers and daughters spending quality time together. They will never forget it.”<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd our students really enjoy it, too. They get to take charge and work with clients and see the look on their faces when they are happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The class is aimed at dads with daughters aged 5-14 years old and costs $19 with the majority of the fee going back into the Cosmetology department at T.C. Williams High School.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the next session by registering thorough the City of Alexandria website<\/a> or in person at the Registration & Reservation Office located at the Lee Center at 1108 Jefferson St.<\/p>\n

For more information please contact Julie Miles at julie.miles@alexandriava.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ACPS and the City’s Department of Recreation, Parks & Cultural Activities have teamed up to bring an award-winning father-daughter class that also helps our students get real life skills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":14622,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acps","category-achs"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-01 15:23:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14620"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14782,"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14620\/revisions\/14782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}