Why You Suck At Judging Your Own Hair And Always Will
Don’t take it personally. We all suck at it — and that’s why it’s critical to realise that we can’t rely upon ourselves to judge the progress or loss of our own hair, and need a camera to do it for us.
The mind can play funny games. Often, people don’t really see their balding problem to be significant until they suddenly realise how much they’ve lost. It can happen so slowly that the day-to-day changes we just don’t see. It’s normally when a person makes a comment, we see a past photograph of ourselves, or we can’t style our hair how we used to that it becomes obvious we’re losing it.
Today for instance, I was about to look in the mirror as I do every day. A good close look, and then I thought: what’s the point?
What is the point indeed. I check my hair every day in the mirror, eager to see progress… but, I’m never going to see it. It would be almost impossible. I can no more remember precisely how my hair looked yesterday nor count the hairs I had along my hairline than I can today.
Avoiding the mirror won’t cut it. Our mind is very good at warping memories, and, it’d be very impractical to avoid using a mirror for around half a year.
That then, is why we need to take photographs of our hair. Photographs are the most reliable account we have of our progress or regression — even more than friends and family… because they, having regular contact with you, are also in no position to see your progress or regression.
Probably the best advice I can give you is to always try to use the same camera and settings, and definitely use the same lighting. Natural light is bad for progress shots, as it’s too inconsistent. By setting up a bedside or desk lamp of equal distance and angle to the head and taking a photograph in the dark, you can create the most consistent lighting effects.