This fall, method is taking over New York with French celebrity hair and fashion artist Charlie Le Mindu — best known for turning hair into couture, performance, and pure spectacle. Together they’ve unleashed the Hair Monsters: larger-than-life creations, made with real hair, each embodying the personality of a method haircare shampoo and conditioner — repairing island mist, vibrant mindful matcha, volumizing pure peace, and moisturizing simply nourish.
It’s all part of The Shift, method’s newest haircare campaign, which celebrates the overlooked hair moment — that instant when confidence clicks, and transformation begins. Nearly all Gen Z and Millennials (98%) say hair is crucial to confidence, and 9 in 10 say they feel a clear emotional shift once their hair washing and styling ritual is complete*. These aren’t acts of vanity but rituals of readiness: buns tightened before a big meeting, edges smoothed before stepping out, fingers run through freshly styled hair. Each small gesture unlocks a powerful emotional shift, turning routine into ritual and self-expression.
Fresh off their Coachella debut and already spotted everywhere from subway memes to the front rows of Fashion Week, the Hair Monsters are now heading to New York’s Grand Central Station. On September 22, the landmark hub will transform into a multi-sensory salon, inviting New Yorkers to pause mid-commute, play, and experience the confidence of a truly great hair day.
Ahead of the takeover, PAPER sat down with Le Mindu to talk about his collaboration with method, why hair is never just hair, and the transformations that happen when surreal beauty collides with the city’s daily grind.
method haircare’s Hair Monsters at Batsheva’s SS26 presentation during NYFW
What does your process look like when you’re designing with method’s haircare products?
I always start by testing what the product can actually do — how it moves hair, how it behaves. I’m not interested in just matching the color of a bottle; the hair has to stay alive in the costume.
What excited me about method is that they design the same way — making products that look great and also really work. The formulas aren’t just imaginative, they’re actually good for hair, which meant I could push the designs further to bring that through.
The palette also pushed me out of my comfort zone. My work is usually intense, even dark, but these pastels and brighter tones felt joyful. It was a transformation for me too — suddenly I was designing with colors I’d never touched before!
Can you give an example of how the product affected the design?
The product really led the design. With Mindful Matcha shampoo and conditioner, the hair had so much life it refused to stay straight — it kept springing back into waves. The formula is all about vibrancy, so instead of forcing it, we embraced that energy with matcha green and built the costume around movement. It was a transformation in itself: the product decided the shape, not me.
Was there one that felt like a completely new challenge for you?
The Pure Peace volumizing shampoo was a game changer. Usually, I have to engineer extra structure into my designs to get volume, and most volumizing products leave hair dry. This one was different — it gave the hair real lift without compromising its health. It meant I could use less hair but still achieve big, bold shapes. It was effortless volume, which felt like its own kind of genius.
method haircare’s Hair Monsters at Batsheva’s SS26 presentation during NYFW
Have you seen the Hair Monsters out in the world?
The first time I saw them was at Coachella in April — they brought this burst of joy that caught people off guard. Since then, they’ve been spotted on the New York subway, turning commutes into something surreal, and even sat front row at Fashion Week, which was wild. Wherever they go, the Hair Monsters transform the space around them and remind people how powerful and expressive hair can be.
What do you think it will be like to see the Hair Monsters in Grand Central?
Grand Central is such a fast, functional space — people rushing, trains moving, everyone on autopilot. Dropping the Hair Monsters into that environment will completely transform it. The way the extensions move, especially when dancers wear them, is almost dreamlike. People stop, stare, and get pulled out of their routine. That’s what I love most — creating a moment where beauty and self-expression disrupt the mundane.
Coachella must have been a totally different crowd.
Yes — at Coachella, people expected the unexpected. Everyone was already in a playful, expressive mood, so the Hair Monsters just amplified that energy. Grand Central will be fascinating because no one is expecting them there. The surprise is bigger, and that’s where transformation really happens — when you catch people off guard and give them a moment of beauty in the middle of their everyday routine.
method haircare’s Hair Monsters at Batsheva’s SS26 presentation during NYFW
The campaign is about “the shift” — that moment when your hair transforms how you feel. What’s your personal relationship to that?
For me, the shift is real. When your hair feels right, everything changes — the way you move, the way you show up, the way you carry yourself. I see it every time I work with someone: there’s this instant when the styling is finished and suddenly they feel stronger, more confident, more themselves. That’s the transformation I live for, whether it’s a model backstage or someone rushing through Grand Central. Hair isn’t just hair — it’s identity, it’s confidence, it’s power.
And when you’re doing someone else’s hair, what do you notice about that shift?
You can see it in their whole body. There’s this moment when the hair is finished - they sit a little taller, their face softens, their energy changes. It’s subtle but powerful. Stylists are like witnesses to this transformation; we get to see that exact second when someone feels ready to step into the world as their fullest self. That’s the shift!
method haircare’s Hair Monsters at Batsheva’s SS26 presentation during NYFW
How did you start combining hairstyling with fashion and sculpture?
I started cutting hair when I was 13, but everything changed when I moved to Berlin at 15. Many of my clients there were vegan, and they asked me to create clothing out of human hair. It was unconventional, but it worked and it opened my eyes to hair as a material beyond the head.
From there I designed costumes for ballet, then fashion shows in London, and eventually began mixing hair with flowers and sculpture. Now I’m even experimenting with painting using hair. For me, hair has always been about transformation — it’s alive, expressive, and endlessly inspiring.
Do you feel like there are limits?
For me, there are no limits — hair can always be pushed into new forms. But when I went to school, we only learned on white hair, which was a problem. I had to teach myself how to work with Black and Asian textures, even traveling to Japan to learn different techniques.
Today, it’s refreshing to see education and products becoming more inclusive. That’s also why working with method feels right — their products are designed for all hair types, so the idea of transformation isn’t limited to a few people, it’s something everyone can experience.
It sounds like you had a fun time with this experience!
Yes! method is such a fun brand — happy, fresh, and different. They gave me real freedom, which is rare. Other collaborations can feel restrictive, but with method I could be extreme, playful, even ridiculous at times. I joked to myself, “Charlie, get out of your depressed goth mode!” It was a transformation for me too — stepping out of darkness into something colorful and joyful.
*method products and Manifest commissioned Atomik Research to conduct an online survey of 1,005 Gen Z and Millennial respondents throughout the United States in September 2025. Respondents ranged in age from 15 to 36 years old and indicated being interested in beauty, hair care and/or self care.
Photography: Olivier Jakowski and Daniela Spector
This article is a collaboration between method and PAPER.From Your Site Articles
