The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2021–2022
Takara Belmont replays a widow's memories in Hair Album with puppets made of real hair
Pandemic-hit salons needed pride back, so Takara Belmont animated a widow's memories with stop-motion puppets built from the hair being cut away.
Takara Belmont · Hakuhodo · Taiyo Kikaku
What it had to solve
Takara Belmont wanted to empower the people working in hairdressing salons, who were losing customers to the pandemic. The idea was to associate hair with everyday memories and show hairdressers the one power they alone hold: the ability to bring someone back to life through their hair.
How it works
When the pandemic emptied salons of customers, the people who work in them lost more than income: they lost the sense that their craft mattered. Takara Belmont, which makes the equipment salons run on, set out with Hakuhodo to create a film that would empower hairdressers.
The answer treated hair as the archive of a life. Hair Album opens with an old woman in a salon; as the hairdresser cuts her hair and it falls to the floor, the strands assemble into her younger self and the husband she lost years ago. Stop-motion puppets made from hair re-enact the memorable moments the couple shared.
The film expresses just how cathartic a trip to the hairdresser can be. Through the widow's story, in which she is gently pushed to carry on by the memory of her dearly departed husband, Hakuhodo and Taiyo Kikaku hoped to turn hairdressers on to the ability they alone have — to bring someone back to life through their hair.
The craft was recognised far beyond Japan: Hair Album took a D&AD 2022 Yellow Pencil in Animation, an ADFEST Silver and Spikes Asia Bronze in Film Craft, a One Asia Creative Awards Gold and CICLOPE Asia's Best Animation.
Why it lands
- The medium is the argument: puppets made from the client's own material prove that hair carries memory, which is exactly the message salons needed.
- The film makes the hairdresser the hero who brings a widow back to life, giving salon staff pride instead of a product pitch.
- Grief and letting go are staged as an ordinary haircut, making an everyday service feel emotionally indispensable.
- A universal story wrapped in unmistakable craft let one small film travel through Japan's award season and onto the global circuit.
What it did
The film won a D&AD 2022 Yellow Pencil (Craft: Animation), an ADFEST Silver (Film Craft) and a Spikes Asia Bronze in 2022, plus a One Asia Creative Awards Gold and CICLOPE Asia's Best Animation in 2021 — a run that put a single salon visit on the world's craft stage.
What you can take
When an audience is demoralised, don't sell at them — dramatise their own value: use the material of their craft as the medium, so every viewer feels the skill being celebrated on screen.
Since then
Hair Album ran the awards circuit for two years: One Asia Creative Awards Gold and CICLOPE Asia Best Animation in 2021, then ADFEST Silver (Film Craft), Spikes Asia Bronze (Film Craft) and the D&AD 2022 Yellow Pencil (Craft: Animation). For Takara Belmont and its agencies, the film became the flagship proof that a brand-commissioned short could dignify a craft — and the work remains in D&AD's awards archive under Animation, where its hair-puppet technique is the story.
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