BOWDOINHAM

Many a dad has found themselves staring down at an unruly tangle of hair only to find they lack some basic skills that can keep their daughter from yelping in pain.

To show up at day care or school with an embarrassing do that lacks the finesse of a more practiced hand just doesn’t make it.

As part of its parenting series, the Bowdoinham Public Library offered “Dads Do Hair” to “up your dad-game with basic hair skills and styles.”

The inspiration came from a popular Facebook post about Philippe Morgese, a single dad who had to learn to style daughter Emma’s hair out of necessity. After teaching himself increasingly intricate hair styles, he started getting inquires from other fathers and decided to hold a father-daughter hair class to pass on what he’d learned. He tells fathers to watch how their involvement affects their daughters.

Doing their hair is still a very small part of raising a daughter, Morgese says.

“Everything about it is trying to build up her confidence. Trying to teach her how a man should be in her life. It’s just about being involved and this is just another way to get involved,” Morgese says in the video.

Professional stylist Becky Buck of Bowdoinham taught the class, which drew four dads.

She demonstrated how a spray can help get tangles out of hair and recommended dads use a brush with knobs at the end of the bristles — a wet styling brush — for damp and wet hair. Start brushing from the bottom and work your way up, she advised.

Then she showed the dads how to make a proper ponytail with no bumps, a three-strand braid, and how to remove a hair tie without causing pain and anguish.

Kevin Hanscom of Brunswick brought his twin 5-year-old daughters Evelyn and Caraline.

“I want to be an involved dad and hair it seems is a big part of girls getting ready in the morning,” Hanscom said. He learned about the class after telling members of the staff at his daughters’ day care in Topsham that he wished he had some basic hair skills.

“I don’t have a lot,” he said.

Now equipped with some basics, “It’s terrific, I hope there’s more like this,” he said at the end of the class. “I just wish they hadn’t cut each other’s hair with safety scissors. That’s why it’s so short, so we had to cut it back quite a bit.”

“I was doing braids the best I could, doing their hair the best I could,” before the impromptu haircuts six weeks ago, Hanscom said.

Dave Asmussen of Bowdoinham brought his 3-year-old daughter Eleanor, who has a head of curly blond locks.

Asmussen heard about the class through the library. His wife works full time in Portland and he stays home with Eleanor and runs the farm.

“There’s a lot of hair there, so we’ve tried to use a little detangler on it,” he said. The best he can usually do is put in some clips to help keep the hair out of her face, so he came Sunday hoping to get some tips from a pro. Hair styles is something he doesn’t usually give much thought to.

A French braid in the near future perhaps?

“That would be marvelous,” he said.

Two classes remain in the parenting series starting at 6:30 p.m. at Bowdoinham Public Library. Thursday is “Parenting your Anxious Child” with Dr. Elizabeth Kubic and May 12 is a “Beyond ‘Just Say No’” panel discussion with information on physical, social and global consequences of recreational drug use.

dmoore@timesrecord.com