Hair and Make-up Quick Guide
You booked your headshot session, and you are wondering what you shoud do for your hair and/or makeup? This is for you!
Hair Preparedness Plan
If you are looking to have your hair professionally styled, do it the morning of the shoot. It does not have to be just before the session.
Everyone has different hair, and there is no single rule that applies to everyone except this one: Make sure you like yourself with the styling. If you don't, ask your stylist to fix it.
Talk to your stylist about the different ways you wear your hair. You may begin the session with their hair down, and towards the end of the session put your hair up (in a ponytail, etc.) for a different look. But do not try something completely new just for your session.
In general, for women, waves and curl look great. By contrast, hair falling on the eyes often looks unprofessional.
Bring your hair brushes, combs and other styling products to your session if you’d like to try a different look.
â–º If you need a haircut, please plan to have it done about a week or two before your session.
Makeup and Face Care
Keep your skin and lips well hydrated the few days before the session, avoiding anything aggressive that may irritate your skin during the few days before the shoot.
Women
Using a professional make-up artist is an option but you may reasonably consider doing your makeup yourself if you are confident doing it. The five rules below apply the same way whether done by a professional makeup artist or by yourself:
Rule #1: It has to be Fresh! Your makeup from 4 hours before may not look great. Do or have your makeup done just before your session.
Rule #2: Keep it light, keep it simple. Makeup should not be noticeable and should look natural. A headshot will show the clumps of mascara. Fixing mascara clumps (any overuse of makeup) in Photoshop is impossible. On the contrary, removing a skin blemish in post-production is easy.
Rule #3: Use light Eyeliner, no (or little) eye shadow and a lipstick 1 shade or 2 below skin tone, but no lip gloss. Slight, subtle contouring is OK
Rule #4: Focus on smoothing the skin tones, concealing redness, rosacea or blotchy skin
Rule #5: Use makeup to remove excessive shine if needed, but never to the point of removing it completely.
What you need is not glamorous make-up, so be firm about what you ask, and any reasonably competent make up artist will do the job.
​
â–º If that sounds too complicated, please contact a pro.
Men
â–º For a talent headshot: Shave 3 hours before going to the session, unless you want to have some photos with and without a bristle. In that case, bring your shaving kit, including a cooling gel or aftershave to use during a break.
â–º If you are very concerned with skin blemishes, rosacea etc, feel free to to book a makeup with a pro. But that's unlikely necessary as any minor skin problem will be "fixed" during image processing.