Photoshop is Real

My sister once asked me a very complicated question: "Is Photoshop real?" I opened my mouth to answer but I felt as though I'd been slapped in the face. Is Photoshop... real? How does someone answer that??

Well sadly, the answer is yes. And its something stylists struggle with on a daily basis. Don't get me wrong- Pinterest is amazing. But I know I speak for a vast majority of stylists when I say we also HATE it. We hate it from the bottom of our fiery, passionate guts. Why?  For one very obvious reason. 

Photoshop is alive and well, and its killing us. Too often are we plagued with these false images and the bar of magical hair expectations is set a little higher. Now don't get me wrong here- I absolutely love fashion colors. It's my favorite thing to do. But when someone sends a photoshopped photo to me my insides writhe and I'm so disappointed. Not in my client, mind you- I'm disappointed in the teenager behind the Tumblr blog who spent hours (or by the looks of some, minutes) photoshopping unrealistic hair expectations only to get that 'like' 'reblog' or "omg i luv ur harrrr XD" comment. 

It's not that we can't do the fantasy colors, its that, well... its unrealistic to a certain extent. See, your hair isn't gong to look like that. Its not going to have that otherworldly glow. Yes, neon's are real. Black-light hair is real. Pastels are real. Rainbow hair is real. But to see a fake photo of it pains us because we now its not going to look EXACTLY like the photo when you leave. We aren't computers. We aren't a free hair app you can download on your phone. This hair you want is going to take hours, multiple sessions, and its probably not going to last as long as you'd like because these unrealistic photos don't tell you the lengths you'll need to go to take care of it. 

Aside from this, there is also the dimension factor. When blonde hair is photoshopped, there are usually darker and lighter pieces in the original picture. Since photoshop colors are transparent, it adds darker and lighter colors to the photo. Some spots are bright blue, some dark blue, some neon, some pastel. It looks like multiple shades when its actually the same transparent blue over different light hitting different strands of the original blonde hair... Hence the otherworldly glow. As a stylist who sees this, now its more than blue- its an impossible blue that our clients want and it has to be possible- they have a photo of it. 

Suffice to say, a photoshop image is not going to work if you bring it into a salon. And of course it can be a little hard to tell what is real and what isn't. Most stylists now have the eye and can tell you before anything if you're dreaming over a fake image. If you'd like to discover it for yourself though, here are some tips:

1. Check to make sure there isn't another photo like it floating around.

If your heart is set but your eyes aren't sure, keep looking. If something stands out in the photo aside from the hair color, search for that instead. Eventually, if the image is fake, the original (or another colored copy) will show up. This actually takes less time than you'd think.

Searched: Pink Hair

Searched: Updo Swirls

2. Just searching 'colorful hair' or 'colorful girl' can steer you in the right direction for finding a photoshop image. 

Sometimes multiples of the same person will show up, and they'll even be wearing the same shirt! *eye roll*

3. Look for unfiltered photos.

Trying 'unfiltered hair' or 'unfiltered colorful hair' can help.

Original?

Filtered

4. Check the neck!

Sounds crazy, but it works! Some photo editors get sloppy and will overlap onto the skin or scalp. Simply zooming in on the image can show a glow where there shouldn't be one. 

Photoshopped 

'Blue' from braid overlapping onto 'purple'

Photoshopped

'Blue' from hair overlapping onto chest

Photoshopped

'Blue' from hair overlapping onto shirt

5. Squint a little.

If you think you're getting better at noticing photoshop but you're still in doubt over the image that stole your heart, sharpen those eyes! Dare to check those little loose hairs to see if there is any overlapping. Most photo editing apps won't pinpoint the finer details, making the fraud easier to spot.

Photoshopped

'Pastel blue' overlapping background

Photoshopped

'Purple' overlapping onto chair

Photoshopped

Color overlapping onto skin

When looking for something real to be inspired by, just hop onto a professional page. There are so many of these on Instagram and you can usually tell if they're a real stylist or not. Most of these will have their Instagram name watermarked on their photos so you can go to their pages and check out more of their work. If they're very popular you can usually find some Youtube videos as well. 

BONUS ROUND!!

Shopped or not??