Hair growth · hairline · transplant recovery
Hair changes on a scale you cannot see in a mirror.
Hairline photos are notoriously unreliable. Lighting, parting, wet or dry, the tilt of your head: each one moves the apparent hairline more than a month of actual growth does. Lock the frame and those variables stop lying to you.
- Shoot
- Weekly, or monthly for transplant recovery
- Projects
- 4
- Photos stay
- On your device
Cadence
Weekly, or monthly for transplant recovery, and here is why.
Hair grows roughly one centimetre a month, so weekly is the fastest useful cadence. Transplant recovery has well-known phases measured in months, and monthly photos map onto them cleanly.
The setup
Decide this once. Then stop deciding.
Every one of these is a decision you make a single time. The whole point is that the next photo needs no thought at all.
Dry hair, same parting, every time
Wet hair reads as far thinner than dry hair. Comb it the same way and let it dry before you shoot, or the comparison measures your shower rather than your hairline.
Three angles, three projects
Front hairline, crown from above, and one profile. Crown photos need someone else or a mirror, so use the self timer and the same standing spot.
Flat light, never overhead
A ceiling light directly above the crown is the single most misleading light source for hair. It carves shadow into any gap. Face a window instead.
One reference on the wall
A door frame, a picture rail, a light switch in frame gives the overlay something rigid to lock onto that is not your head.
The mechanic
This is what you see through the camera.
The previous shot, faded over the live view. Drag the opacity until you can see both, line them up, and shoot. Everything else on this page is just where to stand.
What goes wrong
The mistakes that quietly ruin the set.
- Photographing wet hair one month and dry the next.
- Tilting the head down for the crown shot by a different amount each time, which changes the visible scalp dramatically.
- Using flash, which flattens texture and blows out the scalp.
Questions
Hair photos, answered.
How should I photograph a hairline over time?
Dry hair, combed the same way, facing a window with no overhead light, head level, from the same distance. Line the new shot up against the previous one before you take it. Weekly is enough, and consistency matters far more than image quality.
How do I track hair transplant recovery?
Monthly photos of the hairline, the crown and one profile, all in the same light. Recovery runs in phases over roughly twelve months, including a shedding phase that looks like regression, and a locked frame is what lets you tell a real phase apart from a bad-light day.
Also tracked with SameShot
Same camera, different subject.
Guides & Tools
Related guides and tools for hair progress.
Take the first one today.
The starting photo is the only one you can never go back and take. Free on Google Play, no account needed.
SameShot: Progress Photos
Appynox · Lifestyle
Before and after photos that line up. Ghost overlay camera, AI auto capture.
- Price
- Free
- Rated
- Everyone
- Account
- Not required
- iOS
- In development
Free, no account, nothing uploaded. Android 8.0 and above.