How It Started
Best friends Matthew Carter, 37, and Lawrence Price, 42, launched Pints and Ponytails in February 2025 at the Lucky Saint pub in Marylebone. The first event had just 10 dads learning on mannequins with hair specialists Braid Maidens. Since then, tickets selling for £35 (including a free beer) sell out within 10 minutes, with inquiries from fathers in Mumbai and Los Angeles.
Fathers Opening Up
Mat, a dad of one with another child on the way, said: “I dropped my daughter off at school, and her hair was an absolute mess, it looked like she had been dragged through a bush backwards. I wanted to get a group of dads together in a pub to learn how to plait and do our daughters' hair. The dads started opening up and talking about their challenges with fatherhood.” He added that dads now spend twice as much time with children as previous generations and want to take emotional weight off mothers.
Antidote to the Manosphere
The events have attracted negative attention from influencers like Andrew Tate. Mat said: “His version of masculinity is a dying form of masculinity and is something that we don’t align ourselves to. It is all ego and misogyny.” Lawrence, a dad of two, said: “People have said that we are the antidote to the manosphere. We feel like it is a huge responsibility we hold now to guide the ship in the right direction.”
Creating Safe Spaces
Both founders suffered from post-natal depression and anxiety, leading them to start a podcast, The Secret Life of Dads. Mat said: “At a time where boys are being labelled toxic before they have even entered the world, and there is this notion that men don’t talk, I think it is just completely false. We have found that dads can talk; they just need a safe space to do it.” Lawrence added: “In hindsight, we weren’t as prepared for fatherhood as we could have been. There seems to be a lot of information and guidance out there for mums, but not so much in the dads' space.”
Future Plans
The pair now host the tutorials themselves and plan to expand across the UK. Mat said: “It is a traditionally feminine task as well, so we are breaking down old stereotypes. We are still learning and we are not perfect parents but we are trying to be just slightly better for the next generation.”
