Why are all the "good" hair photos AI?

Picture this: You're getting excited for your visit at Curve and you look for some inspiration photos to help communicate the volume that you want, that shade of copper you've been envisioning, or those bangs that you want to try. Every single photo that you find, you think "Wow, she's really pretty and her hair is exactly what I want. I wonder what she uses to get her hair so perfect?" She's probably not a real person.

We used an AI image generator to make this photo.

We get it! AI has become so advanced that it can be hard to tell if that's a real person or not. Although an AI image won't have factors at play like your hair colour history, recovery from postpartum hair shed, or healing from a decade of heat styling, we can still use them to have a conversation about your goals.

How to spot an AI photo (aside from the labelled ones on Pinterest):

• Everything is very symmetrical - the eyes, curl behaviour & pattern throughout, the eyebrows

• The skin is perfect, glowing, and has no pores or imperfections anywhere. You are a bit envious and want to know all their skincare secrets.

• The hair always looks very full at the ends and has lots of volume, no matter what length or shape it is.

• The hair colour is shiny, with the perfect lighting to make it look like its glowing - yes even at night.

What we can do with AI photos

• Validate that you and I are both great even if we aren't glowing all the time. Empathy over unattainable perfection will win every time.

• Get a sense of what your hair goals are and ask questions to understand what will work best for your lifestyle.

• Talk about what appeals to you about that photo (aside from the aforementioned perfection).

• Set realistic goals for your hair with it's specific hair history and create a plan together to get there. Yay, collaboration!

• Have your stylist follow you around with a light so your hair is always glowing too! - Okay maybe not this one.

Where to find photos that aren't AI.

We get it. We like photos of real people too. Here are some alternate ideas:

• Find a photo from our socials or another stylist/salon. We might fix an exposure or lighting issue but other than that most of us don't edit or filter our photos.

• Lifestyle or hair influencers that you already follow.

• Celebrities. Yep, it might be a wig but at least they're real people.

We welcome all photos, whatever helps us to communicate about your hair is fine with us.