Doyin Richards regularly does his two daughters’ hair.
Three years ago, Doyin thought it would be fun to take a picture of him doing his oldest daughter’s hair and send it to his wife. So he set up a timer and took a photo.
He also shared it on Facebook.
And then it went viral:
Doyin was surprised by the reaction to it. He was taken aback by how many people thought it was amazing that a dad would take the time to learn how to brush and style a girl’s hair.
To anyone who is a parent of daughters, doing their hair is not necessarily an impressive feat, Doyin says. It’s just part of doing your job as a parent.
Ever since that photo went viral though, he’s been on a mission to normalize the idea of involved fathers.
As much as he loves celebrating dads who are involved in the day-to-day parenting of their kids, he hopes that eventually a day will come when the sight of a dad doing his daughter’s hair isn’t so shocking that it needs to be celebrated and applauded.
“We should celebrate these men. We have to normalize fatherhood,” he explains. “My mission is for people to see my viral picture and be like, ‘It’s not a big deal.’“
Dads aren’t babysitters. They are parents. It shouldn’t be weird to see them doing the things that parents do.
