Goleta dads – In Goleta, a sold-out “Pints and Ponytails” style night at Captain Fatty’s Brewery turned stiff, unsure dads into hands-on hair-braiding learners—starting with beer and ending with a community that says fatherhood can feel isolating.
For a few minutes on a late May Friday night. the room inside Captain Fatty’s Brewery in Goleta went quiet in a way that felt almost deliberate—nothing like the usual clamor. Fifteen men gathered. drinking beer. sizing up a challenge that most of them admitted they’d never truly practiced: combing and braiding their kids’ hair.
Austin Nieves, a Pasadena native who moved to Santa Barbara in April 2025, stepped in with the simplest kind of icebreaker—he handed out beers. Within minutes, the men began chatting, then something unexpected happened: they started braiding hair.
The May 22 event—Goleta’s version of the viral U.K.-inspired “Pints and Ponytails” night—was sold out. The concept pairs expert hairstylists with fathers who are uninitiated or intimidated, using salon-style head mannequins in a setting for “bros.”
“When the first guys got there, they were stiff,” Nieves said. “Then after that first beer, they went from sitting around the edge of the bar to jumping right into learning and giving it a shot.”
The fathers in the room ranged in age from 30 to 60, and the work quickly turned from awkward to curious. After a friendly competition, Chi Jou “Belle” Lin selected the winning mannequin during the May 22 meetup.
The gathering was one of several father functions by the Santa Barbara Dads group, which Nieves founded last spring. For Nieves, the point wasn’t just learning technique. It was the feeling of being seen while figuring it out.
Nieves said his wife, when they had their son, Hudson, now 3 years old, was pulled into at least five mom groups and classes that offered help, advice, friendship, and training. As a first-time father, he said he only had his brothers—men who already had children—to turn to.
That idea echoes findings from research that has described the emotional cost of fatherhood. In 2006, researchers Chris Knoester and David J. Eggebeen wrote in the “Journal of Family Issues” that fatherhood leads to “declines in feelings of well-being and participation in social activities. ” as fathers spend less time with friends.
Clinical psychologists Hillary Halpern and Maureen Perry-Jenkins documented that the shift from single life to fatherhood often comes as a “roller coaster of emotions.” And researchers from Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute found in a 2021 study that fathers might need help “during their transition to fatherhood.”.
That 2021 research also pointed to father groups as one answer. noting that most men “were mostly satisfied with participating in father groups” and described that they positively impacted their relationship with their partner and child. The same work tied increased contact to improved “self-confidence and family equality and decreased their loneliness.”.
Nieves said he felt that change in his own circle right after his son was born. His leisure time and priorities shifted sharply, and conversations updated accordingly.
“They were talking about all this crazy fun or TV shows and I was talking about my son being able to lift his head,” Nieves said. “That’s when I knew I had to branch out.”
Before the Santa Barbara chapter. Nieves started the Orange County Dads club in October 2023 while he was living in Costa Mesa with his wife. Katie. His group met at coffee shops, beer halls, and the zoo. It hosted holiday hootenannies and even offered CPR classes. It also spawned a Whittier-area chapter.
Strictly a fathers club, Nieves said it grew partly because wives and partners shared his social media posts with their husbands.
For Mikhail Alfon, founder of Blue Light Media, it meant showing up with his son, Santos, at multiple Orange County meetups.
“This is our first child and obviously life changes a lot,” Alfon said in a social media post. “Finding peers and friends that are in the same stage of life is great.”
The social ease he found ran into a common problem when Nieves and his family moved. After purchasing a home in Santa Barbara, he said he established a Santa Barbara-based dads group within a month. Their first meetup was in May 2025, and the group has made a point of gathering once a month.
Austin Jones, a Santa Barbara-based real estate agent and investor, found Nieves through Instagram.
“I’m a husband, a dad and businessman, and it ends up being a lot of hats but very little support, at times,” Jones said. “It’s nice to find people in the trenches with you.”
Jones said he also joined in because he was already facing the everyday reality that drove the event: hair-care needs for his 2 ½-year-old daughter, Noa, and her textured, curly locks. He’d struggled enough that Pints and Ponytails sounded like an answer.
“In a short while, Jones had gained enough confidence in whipping his mannequin’s hair into a ponytail that he vowed to try with his daughter soon,” the event organizers described.
“I was only pretty good at putting on a headband before this,” Jones quipped.
The mannequins and the hour of instruction came from Santa Barbara cosmetologist Chi Jou “Belle” Lin, who offers area mobile services.
Lin said she saw the social media post and that people reached out to her to teach the class.
“I had to help,” Lin said.
Lin said the mannequins she brought varied in hair length and type. from straight to coily. and she aimed to replicate young children’s hair as closely as possible. She also taught fathers basic hair-care techniques, including shampooing, detangling, checking for lice, and how to tie ponytails and braids.
Even if the fathers started out reticent, Lin said they became active participants, asking questions about creating a neat French braid, what to do about tangled ponytails, and how to deal with frightened children.
“I was really impressed with the dads and their skills and the real-life questions,” Lin said. “Not all men have the courage to ask questions.”
Lin said she has personal experience at home, with her 2 ½-year-old daughter, Lotus.
For Nieves, the formula for bringing new dads in and keeping them coming back is simplicity.
“If you open the door, the fathers will follow because everyone can use some help,” Nieves said. “But they just need to know it exists and they’re not alone.”
The lessons didn’t stay inside the brewery. Days after the Goleta get-together, Santa Barbara dad Eric Drachman became a familiar figure at his daughter Noa’s preschool, where she is soon to be 3.
Drachman said the teachers recognized him when the event videos were posted.
“They would ask my daughter, ‘Who did your hair?’” Drachman said.
The answer, he said, landed hardest in the moment he cared about most: when Noa asks him to fix her hair.
“She asks occasionally,” he said. “It‘s such a fun dynamic we have.”
Goleta dads Pints and Ponytails Captain Fatty’s Brewery Austin Nieves hair braiding fatherhood support Santa Barbara Dads
So like… beer turned into hair lessons? weird but ok lol.
I don’t know, I thought these “pints and ponytails” things were just an excuse to drink with dudes. But if dads are actually learning their kids’ hair, good for them. Still seems like something that could’ve been at a salon instead of a brewery.
Wait, are they literally braiding while drinking? Like isn’t that how you get in trouble, beer + hair + hands all over? My brother tried braids once and it turned into a mess, so I get the “stiff dads” part. Also I’m not trying to shame anyone but why not just watch one YouTube video instead of a whole event.
This is actually kind of sweet? Fatherhood can feel lonely, especially if you don’t have family around. I’m just confused that it says they started with beer—like, I hope nobody was too drunk to do it right. Also Goleta is always doing something “sold out” so I’m not surprised it filled up. Wish more dads would jump in on everyday stuff like braiding without making it a whole viral night though.