A groovy decade fueled the idea of hairy minifigures

Picture this: Billund, Denmark, 1976. Everyone has sideburns for some reason. The LEGO Group tinkers with its minifigure prototype, and the design team lands on an inspired idea: giving the minifigures actual hair! It... well, it flopped. Look, we tried it, it didn’t work, we moved on. Here’s a deep dive into what could have been. (Don’t worry, we had a lot of hair jokes planned, but we cut them all out).

We planned a whole range of styles, and it was the most Seventies thing ever

The Ringo

The original mop top

The Farrah

Angelic waves

The Barbra

A haircut was born

The Ziggy

Rocking the glam

It wasn’t just a haircut. It was a lifestyle.

You should’ve seen the hair care accessories we came up with for you and your minifigures to groom your groove.

We focus-grouped it ...with mixed reviews

Actual quotes from the kids in Focus Group Session 5, April 1st, 1976.

“Nah, fam.”

“Is it a paintbrush? A paintbrush with allergies?”

“Mine has dandruff.”

“When is NINJAGO® coming out?”

Did you know...?

Because of the LEGO Group’s decades-long commitment to sustainability, the prototype minifigures were made with the natural hair of the people of Billund, which was gathered from the floor of the local hair salon at the end of the day.

Secret consultations with social stakeholders led to pushback from the ever-powerful Danish Bald Men’s Association, putting a further dampen on the project.

The proud founder of the hair project, designer Vittig Hed, code-named it ‘Project Hair’. He probably had to comb through a lot of names to come up with that one...

Side note: Due to the project’s fate, all the scientists involved later sought out their true passion in other (more hairy) parts of the world. One reported she was thrilled counting sheep in Iceland.