Free tool
Hairline photo guide
Clinics that track hair loss use fixed camera positions and fixed lighting so two photos months apart can be compared fairly. Here are the four angles and the checklist that makes a phone do the same job.
Why the method matters more than the camera
Hair changes slowly. Scalp hair grows about half an inch a month, and real change over 30 days is tiny. Lighting, a haircut, wet hair, product and head tilt can each shift how much scalp shows by more than a month of real change does. If the photos are not alike, the trend is noise. If they are alike, a phone photo is enough to see a Norwood stage move, a crown patch grow, or a part widen.
The StrandScout app puts a faint ghost of last month's photo over the camera so you line up the same way every time. Without the app, the eyebrows, the ears and the top of the head are your landmarks: keep them in the same place in the frame.
Things that fool the camera
- Wet or oily hair clumps and shows more scalp.
- A fresh short haircut shows more scalp than the same head a week later.
- Bright overhead light or flash bounces off the scalp and makes it look balder than it is.
- Tilting your head forward makes the crown look bigger; tilting back makes the hairline look higher.
- A dark background makes hair look thicker; a white wall makes it look thinner.
Try it
Once you have the four photos, match the front and crown views against the Norwood scale checker and note the stage with the date.
Reading the photos
- Read the 3-month comparison before the month-to-month one. One month is weather; three months is climate.
- What counts as a change: the same direction for 3 months in a row; a full stage up compared with 3 months ago, in the same zone, in photos that line up; a pale area at the crown that is clearly larger, not just brighter; a part that is wider in every one of the last 3 photos.
- A good month looks boring. The photos line up, the stage is the same, and nothing has moved.
When to see a dermatologist
Photos are for gradual change. Some things are not for waiting 3 months on: sudden heavy shedding, smooth round bald patches that appeared within weeks, a scalp that is red, painful, burning, itchy or scaly, a shiny bald area with no visible pores, or hair loss in a child. See a dermatologist this week for any of those. Book in the next few weeks if your hairline has moved a full stage against 3-month-old photos, a crown patch is clearly larger, your part is clearly wider, or shedding has lasted more than 2 to 3 months. Bring the photos: a consistent before-and-after pair tells a dermatologist more than memory does, and it is the same method clinics use.
Read next: how to take hairline photos you can compare and what a month of hair loss looks like.
Sources
The four standard views (vertex, midline, frontal, temporal), the fixed head position and the same-lighting, same-hairstyle rules follow Dhurat and Saraogi (2009) on hair evaluation methods and the global photography method used in trials. The reliability note follows Guarrera and colleagues (2009). The red flags follow the American Academy of Dermatology, Mayo Clinic and MedlinePlus. Each linked guide names its sources in full.
Questions
How often should I photograph my hairline?
Once a month, on the same day of the month, so each gap is about 30 days. More often adds noise without adding information, because hair grows about half an inch a month.
Do I really need the crown photo?
It is the one photo most worth the trouble. The crown is the zone you cannot see in a mirror, so thinning there is often missed for years, and in women it is where a widening part shows. Use a second mirror, a helper or a timer with the phone held above you.
What light should I use?
Daylight from a window or a plain ceiling light, the same one every month. No flash: it bounces off the scalp and makes hair look thinner than it is. Keep the background a plain mid-tone wall.
Can I use old photos as a baseline?
Yes, if they were taken in similar light at a similar distance with dry, unstyled hair. Holiday photos with flash, hats or wet hair add more noise than information. Starting a clean set today is usually better.
Is the app's read a diagnosis?
No. StrandScout gives an AI estimate from photos, not a diagnosis. Photos taken the same way every month give you and a dermatologist a fair before-and-after; a dermatologist can confirm what is going on.