Hair in the shower drain does not usually make it onto city streets. K18 enlarged it to the size of a car and set it rolling through Manhattan. The installation, named Tumblehair, is approximately three metres tall, made from a mixture of real human and synthetic hair, and has travelled through Midtown, the West Village, Chinatown and the Seaport over the past few days. According to the brand’s calculations, its size represents the 167 billion hairs that New York’s 8.5 million residents lose to shedding every day.
The project was created by Uncommon Creative Studio New York, which developed Tumblehair to introduce the FutureIQ Biomimetic Hair Longevity Serum. K18’s new product is designed to reduce shedding and the appearance of grey hair, while strengthening the scalp’s barrier function.
Instead of approaching hair loss with a serious tone and a series of clinical figures, the agency turned one of those figures into a physical object that does not immediately tell passers-by what it is advertising. The ball carries no prominent logo, so photographs and videos of the unusual sight began circulating on social media before it was revealed who was behind it. Some users initially assumed the content had been created using artificial intelligence.
Creative directors Lauren Cooper and Cara Johnson say they wanted to open a conversation about hair shedding without making fun of the people who experience it. The starting point for the idea was trial data showing that, after 90 days of consistent use, FutureIQ can help users retain up to 19,000 more hairs. That number was difficult to visualise in a conventional advertisement, so the team connected it to the broader picture of daily hair shedding across the entire city.
Tumblehair belongs to a format that Uncommon calls narrative objects, physical objects capable of conveying a story through a single recognisable image. The installation’s deliberate lack of explanation was an important part of its function: passers-by were first meant to stop in front of the enormous hairball, photograph it and send it to someone, and only then discover the product behind it.
Its production required research, engineering solutions, testing and the work of production partners Pro Mobile Marketing and Uncommon Makers. The campaign was extended beyond the streets through OOH advertising and social media content, while influencers received miniature versions of Tumblehair instead of standard PR packages.
The giant ball’s journey ends today, August 12, outside Sephora in New York’s Meatpacking District. The K18 Hair Longevity Lab is open there from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., offering visitors scalp analyses, recommendations from K18’s education team and product demonstrations. During the project’s development, the team also took care of one considerably less technical detail: it hired a witch on Etsy to cast a spell for good weather ahead of the ball’s first appearance.
