Taking your two photos
The checker needs two photos: one of your hairline from the front, one of the top of your head looking down. Most photos that come back unusable are unusable for one of four reasons — too dark, too blurry, taken too far away, or something in the way. All four are easy to avoid.
Use the camera on your phone, held by someone else if you can. A mirror selfie works for the front photo but almost never for the top of your head.
Before you start
- Dry, unstyled hair. Wet hair clumps and looks thinner than it is. Product, a fresh cut or hair combed to cover a thin patch all change what the photo shows.
- Even light. A window on an overcast day is close to ideal. Avoid a bright ceiling light directly overhead — it throws hard shadows exactly where the detail matters, and it is the single most common reason a photo is too dark to read.
- Nothing on your head. No hat, no headband, no hand holding hair aside.
The two photos
Front — your hairline, face-on
Look straight at the camera, head level, from about an arm’s length away. Your hairline and both temples should be in the frame. Do not tilt your head down; that hides the recession the photo is meant to show.
Top — your crown, looking down
Tip your head forward and have the camera above you, looking down at the top of your head. The crown and the area between it and your hairline should both be visible. If you are on your own, hold the phone above your head with the camera facing down and take a few — you will not be able to see the screen, so take more than one.
What the checker will not accept
| Problem | What it looks like | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Too dark | Scalp in shadow, detail lost in the dark areas | Face a window, or turn on more light |
| Too blurry | Soft or smeared, usually from moving as you tap | Brace your arm, or ask someone else to take it |
| Too far away | Whole head and shoulders, scalp too small to read | Fill the frame with your head |
| Something in the way | A hat, a hand, or hair combed across the area | Move it and take another |
There are also two limits worth knowing before you upload:
- Each photo must be at least 400 pixels on its shortest side. Any recent phone clears this comfortably. Screenshots of photos, or images that have been forwarded through several apps, sometimes do not.
- Each photo must be under 12 MB.
Which file types work
JPG, PNG, WebP and AVIF all work. So do the HEIC photos an iPhone takes by default — your browser converts those before they are sent, which is why you may briefly see “Preparing your photo…” after choosing one.
What happens next
Once both photos are accepted you can submit them. Your photos are not stored — see what happens to your photos for exactly what is and is not kept.
If the checker cannot read your photos it will tell you so rather than guess. That is deliberate: a wrong stage is worse than asking you for a better photo. You can take another and try again.