# Day-count self-test — rebuild sheet

A man films his own hairline in his bathroom under escalating day labels — Day 1 → Day 14 → Day 30 → Day 90 — then holds up the oil as "The secret". 15.26s · 3,442,777 views · 83,991 likes · @hairylinorganics.

**Why it works**

The framing never changes — same bowed head, same bathroom, same distance — so the day number on screen is the only variable and the hairline change reads instantly without a single word being spoken. The product is withheld until the last beat, which turns the whole video into a question the final frame answers.

**The beats**

| Time | What happens | On-screen text |
|---|---|---|
| 1.22s | High angle down on his bowed head, one hand pulling the front hair back; thinned temple and visible scalp fill the frame. Black tee, bathroom behind. | Day 1 |
| 3.66s | Same room, same tee. Head bowed, one hand holding hair back, the other squeezing a glass dropper onto the hairline. | Day 14 |
| 6.1s | Head bowed in the same crop, fingers holding the front back, wet sheen on the temple. Denser edge than beat 1. | Day 14 |
| 8.55s | Same framing, wardrobe now a beige tee. Hand sweeps the front hair up; hairline fuller and further forward. | Day 30 |
| 10.99s | Beige ribbed polo, hand flat on top of the head sweeping back. Hairline full, fresh fade. Slightly wider, upright rather than bowed. | Day 90 |
| 13.43s | He turns to camera for the first time, holding a dark dropper bottle labelled "Hair Activator Oil" up at chest height so the label reads. | The secret 😎 |

Note: two consecutive beats both read "Day 14" — one is the application, one is the inspection. That is what the frames show; it is not an error in the sheet.

**What carries the value**

The hairline in a repeated identical crop. Not the product, not the face, not a claim — the fact that six frames are shot from the same position means the viewer has nothing to compare except the thing being sold. The wardrobe changing between day labels (black tee → beige tee → beige polo) is the cheapest possible proof that real time passed, and it's doing more work than any caption could.

**Shoot it**

- **Camera:** propped, not handheld. In the Day 14 application beat both of his hands are in frame, so the phone is on a stand or a shelf. Set it once, high, angled down at head height, and do not move it for any beat — the whole format collapses if the framing drifts. Mark the floor.
- **Framing:** subject bows his head toward the lens so the scalp and hairline fill the upper third. Face is incidental — mouth and chin only, no eye contact until the final beat.
- **Light:** bright, even, indoor. No fixture visible in frame, no hard shadow across the scalp. Whatever light you pick has to be the same on every shooting day, or the change reads as lighting instead of result.
- **Room:** one real bathroom, same one every time, with the same background elements visible (door, mirror edge, towel, counter). Don't tidy it between days.
- **Wardrobe:** change the shirt at each day label. Plain solid tees, no logos. This is the format's time-stamp.
- **Performance:** none. No dialogue, no expression, no acting. Hands and a head.
- **The honest constraint:** this format needs a genuine change over a real 90 days. There is no shooting trick that makes it — you schedule six sessions, not one. Everything else here is cheap; that part isn't.

**Or generate it**

Image prompt for the opening beat — the one that sets the crop every other beat repeats:

```
vertical 9:16 phone photograph, high angle looking down at {SUBJECT} with head
bowed toward the camera, one hand pulling the front hair back off the hairline
so the scalp and temple fill the upper third of the frame, plain dark t-shirt,
real domestic bathroom behind — white panel door, edge of a mirror, a dark towel
on a rail, countertop just visible — bright even indoor light with no visible
fixture, phone-camera look, slight grain, no retouching of skin or scalp, no
on-screen text
```

**Motion:** camera propped and effectively static at head height above the subject — only his hands and head move, no zoom, no push, and every beat is framed from the same position so the hairline is the only thing that changes. Generate every beat from the same seed frame so the room and the crop match exactly.

**Text overlay:** `Day {n}` → `Day {n}` → `Day {n}` → `The secret {emoji}` — bold yellow sans with a black outline, top-centre, identical position and size in every beat. The number is the only word that changes until the final card.

**Reference:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DaBFmyHAVCm/
