- April 17, 2024
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"Bring this piece of hair across, then do the same on the other side."
Philippe Morgese slowly looped his daughter's hair back and forth to form a braid as Alex Kolozvary watched then began imitating the movements to braid his own daughter's blond hair.
Soon, both Morgese's daughter, Emma, and Kolozvary's daughter, Charlotte, had a single braid styled into their hair. The braiding was part of an hour-long hair tutorial put on by Morgese and Emma to teacher parents, like Kolozvary, how to braid their children's hair and form a closer relationship.
On Saturday, March 17, at the Port Orange YMCA, Morgese was giving instructions on a simple French braid. It's just one of many hairstyles he'd mastered while raising his daughter as a single dad. What started out as an at-home routine with Emma has turned into a national program called Daddy Daughter Hair Factory.
Morgese offers the free classes to teach brushing, detangling, maintenance and different hair styles while also encouraging strong father-laugher relationships.
Morgese said that when his daughter was younger, especially before kindergarten, he would have trouble helping her with her hair. He started learning about hair upkeep and hairstyles, starting with the basics, such as brushing from bottom to top.
"Once I started learning simple tips and tricks throughout the years it just made life a lot easier," Morgese said. "Braiding before bed would prevent tangles in the morning. It would turn our 20 to 15 minutes of pain in the morning into an easy minute-and-go."
Morgese said that even the hairstyles that didn't turn out how he wanted made his daughter happy because they were spending time together.
Eventually, Emma started looking up different hairstyles on the Internet for her dad to try.
"I've always been really close with him, but this brought us closer together," Emma said. "It's really fun."
When Emma would go to school, Morgese would get compliments on her hair from other people. Morgese said there were many times when he faced doubt about how he was doing as a parents and hearing the words, "you're doing great" gave him the encouragement he needed.
Then, in 2015, Morgese launched DDHF to help other parents facing the same situation he had. The program took off and, since then, there have been 55 classes and now there are 23 instructors within DDHF. Last year, the program became a non-profit.
And Morgese sticks to his motto: "it's not about the braid, it's about the bond."
For some single fathers, like Kolozvary, the classes aren't just a one-time thing, it's a continual way to learn and spend time together.
"We've come a couple times," Kolozvary said. "It's a nice way to spend time with my daughter and learn some new hair tricks."
When it comes to the future of DDHF, Morgese said he doesn't have a set plan. For now though, he wants to keep the classes free and not limit what is being taught. Most of all, he wants to keep encouraging the parent-child relationship.
"It's not about how the hairstyle turns out, it's about spending that time together and building that connection," Morgese said. "Because it makes a difference."
