Just months ago, Needohs were a relatively niche stress toy, but now it’s nearly impossible to scroll through social media without seeing it, and even more impossible to get your hands on one. 

NeeDohs were first released in 2017 by Schylling Inc, a company who designs and makes toys. Since then, they have expanded to having over 50+ unique designs worldwide, the “Groovy Glob” being their very first NeeDoh to be officially launched to the public. 

NeeDohs are these simple, squishy stress toys that are filled with a hard, dough-like material that you can squeeze, stretch, and squish over and over. They come in different colors and shapes, but the whole point of them is to provide calmness and fun to people.

While they weren’t so popular after their initial launch,  in 2019 they gained small popularity after a TikTok trend arose. 

The trend mainly spotlighted pop-its and other stress toys, not quite yet giving all the attention to NeeDohs. 

At that time I got my hands on the Groovy Glob Globs (which are small versions of a Groovy glob that comes in packs of 6) back in 2020 at an American Eagle that was located in a mall while shopping. I loved and took care of them, but I was only able to easily get them because there wasn’t really any demand for them at the time.

I had completely forgotten about NeeDohs after the pop-it trend left in early 2022, but I started noticing NeeDohs again when a couple random videos popped up on my TikTok feed. 

At first I didn’t really think much of it since it just reminded me that I used to have some back in 2020, which was kind of funny since no one cared about them back then. 

Seeing those videos made me want to get one again since it heavily reminded me of the memories I had made with my last ones. As the days went by, I started noticing that it wasn’t just one or two videos anymore, rather my feed started getting filled with them. 

Everytime I opened TikTok, there were more NeeDoh videos showing different types, textures, and those satisfying squeezes that made it hard to scroll. 

The more I saw them the more it felt like they were suddenly everywhere, and it kind of pushed me to actually want one again instead of just having the thought of buying it. 

I decided to check stores I knew would have them and to my surprise I couldn’t find any, I had gone to multiple stores and yet had no luck finding them. As I kept seeing more and more videos, it became clear to me that NeeDohs weren’t just randomly showing up, they were becoming a trend.

At the same time, the demand started to rise quickly. What used to be something you could easily find in stores turned into something that was harder to get your hands on. 

Certain types and colors would sell out like the nice cream cone, and their original design the ice cube, which were considered to be more rare than others. 

As the trend became more and more popular, people started to actively look for them, which only made the demand higher. 

Kids, teens, and parents started camping early in the mornings outside stores like Five Below, Target, Walmart, and any store that supplied them just to get their hands on them. It was interesting to see how something so simple can suddenly feel rare just because more people want it at the same time. 

I have heavily noticed that when something becomes popular nowadays, scalpers have a way of draining the fun out of anything whether it’s concert tickets, trendy products, or collectibles, in this case it’s NeeDohs, which makes it even more impossible now to get your hands on one. 

Scalpers will camp out even earlier in the mornings or even days before stores opened just to take all of them and resell them two or three times the original price. 

What should’ve been something exciting that came back turned into something frustrating and unfair, especially for people who genuinely care about NeeDohs.  

As a teen, I’m pretty sure I can speak for most of us when I say that people nowadays just want things just because they went viral and because they see other people with it. 

I honestly think that’s the case with NeeDohs because I noticed that people started collecting them almost like they were rare items instead of simple stress toys. The more videos people see online, the more they feel like they need one too, including me. 

Social media can turn almost anything into a trend overnight especially when big creators show off their rare designs that make people (mostly teens) feel left out if they don’t have it. 

Even though NeeDohs were originally made to help people relax and have fun, the trend around us has changed the experience completely. What used to be an easy toy to grab at a store became something people wait in lines for and even fight over. 

At the same time, I still understand why people are drawn to them, because even years later I could still see myself buying one again not because of a trend that spiraled out of control but for the nostalgia and calming feeling they have. 

In a way, the popularity of NeeDohs says a lot about how trends work today. Trends today are seen negatively due to the rise of hyper fast algorithm driven cycles that foster overconsumption, environmental waste, and reduced individuality.