# Day-count self-test — rebuild sheet

A 15-second, no-dialogue hair-oil result video: one locked high-angle shot of an older man's bowed head on a deck, a day counter climbing DAY 1 → DAY 150 while the hair fills in, ending on the jar held to camera. By stella.quinn.hair — 13,491,264 views, 41,992 likes.

**Why it works** — The frame never changes, so the hair is the only variable in the shot and the viewer measures the change themselves instead of being told about it. The day counter converts five near-identical stills into a timeline, and because a second person's hand is doing the applying and checking, it reads as a daughter documenting her dad rather than a brand making a claim.

**The beats**

| Time | What happens | On-screen text |
|---|---|---|
| 1.21s | High angle down onto the man's bowed head, seated outdoors on a wooden deck. Bald crown, thin grey hair at the sides. A second person's hand reaches in from the left and rests flat on the crown. The jar stands on the deck table behind, label to camera. | DAY 1 |
| 3.64s | Same framing. A hand holds the jar up into the top of frame, lid off, about to scoop. Patchy dark growth now visible on the crown. | DAY 30 |
| 6.06s | Same framing. Jar back on the table; the hand smooths flat across the crown, fingers spread. Dark stubble across the top. | DAY 30 |
| 8.49s | Same framing. Hand rests on the crown; coverage fuller and darker, hairline further forward. | DAY 90 |
| 10.92s | Same framing. Fingers rake up through a full head of thick dark hair. | DAY 150 |
| 13.34s | Same framing, hand off the head. The jar is held up to camera, label filling the top of frame and readable, the finished hair directly below it. | none — the label carries the frame |

Two beats both read **DAY 30**; that is what the frames show, not a typo on my part. The stills do not show whether the camera was on a tripod or a steady handheld hold — framing is consistent enough across all six that either is possible. I also can't tell from stills whether there are cuts, speed ramps or a sound bed; the contact sheet only proves the framing and the text.

**What carries the value** — The scalp. Not the product, not the person, not a line of copy: the same head in the same frame with more hair on it each beat, indexed by a number. The jar's job is only to be present in every shot so the viewer credits it, and to be legible once at the end.

**Shoot it**
- **Camera:** one position, locked, and you must not lose it — high angle looking down onto the crown, subject seated with head bowed so the top of the head fills the middle of frame and the face is present but not performing. Mark the chair and the camera position with tape on day 1; every later session shoots from the same marks.
- **Same everything, every session:** same seat, same time of day, same deck or spot, same shirt colour family, product jar in the same place on the table with the label to camera. The whole mechanic dies if the background changes between beats.
- **Light:** flat outdoor daylight, overcast or open shade. No direct sun — hard shadows across a scalp will fake growth or hide it, and either one makes the sheet worthless.
- **Wardrobe:** plain crew-neck tee, no pattern, no logo. Nothing that pulls the eye off the top of the head.
- **Hands:** a second person applies and checks. Hands only, no faces of the applier, no talking. Same hand entering from the same side each time.
- **Text:** white bold all-caps day counter, identical size and position in the top third. Only the number changes. Drop it entirely on the final product shot.
- **The real cost:** this format is 150 days of shooting, not an afternoon. Nothing else about it is hard.

**Or generate it**

Honest note first: you cannot generate the result and stay truthful — a generated before/after is a fabricated claim about a product. Use the generation below only to pre-visualise the framing and lock the shot before you shoot day 1 for real.

```
vertical 9:16 phone photograph, high angle looking down onto the top of {SUBJECT}'s bowed head, {SUBJECT} seated outdoors on a wooden deck in a plain crew-neck t-shirt, a second person's hand reaching in from the left and resting flat on the crown, {PRODUCT} standing upright on the deck table behind with its label facing camera, potted plants and a patio chair soft in the background, flat overcast daylight, no retouching, phone-camera look, no on-screen text
```

**Motion:** camera held completely still at that high angle — only the hand moves across the crown; every later beat comes off this same seed frame so the deck, the plants, the jar's position and the head angle match exactly.

**Text overlay:** `DAY {n}` — white bold all-caps, same size and same position in the top third every beat; the number is the only thing that ever changes, and the final beat drops the text so the product label carries the frame alone.

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