How beating hair loss brought joy

A HAIR replacement company has gone viral on social media for life-changing transformation videos showing the emotional reactions of their hundreds of customers.

Robert Wood, a hairstylist and the creative director at Novo Cabelo from Durham, started the company to break down the stigmas around men and women wearing hair replacement systems.

Mr Wood, 40, felt that the cosmetics industry lacked education surrounding hair replacement systems and decided to found Novo Cabelo.

Novo Cabelo – meaning “new hair” in Portuguese – was founded in 2019 by Rob and his friend and international award-winning barber Sam Wall.

In 2021, Rob began sharing his work on the social media platforms YouTube, Instagram and TikTok to show how important having hair is to a person suffering from hair loss. Novo Cabelo’s transformations have now received millions of views across the platforms.

The footage features four of his clients who took part in his blind reaction series, meaning they did not see themselves until the hair was fully fitted and styled.

Filmed at Hidden Heights Studio in Gateshead, the videos tell the clients’ experience with hair loss, show how Rob preps the heads and fits the hair, and ends with their reaction to their new look.

He said: “The videos give people the human connection.

“I just love how my followers support the people in the video – I have a real community of good people.

The online experience has well exceeded his expectations: his combined following of over 90,000 users has grown the business incredibly.