Hairline & hair thinning check

It measures what a photo shows well: where your hairline sits against your facial proportions and how much scalp shows on top. It always answers with two neighbouring stages plus a confidence level, because light, styling and camera angle can still move the reading by about a stage, which is also how far specialists often differ on the same head. Use it to see the pattern clearly and to follow it over time; a dermatologist can examine your scalp in ways a photo can't.

The Hamilton-Norwood scale describes the usual course of male-pattern hair loss in seven stages. The temples recede first (II and III), the crown may start to thin (III vertex), and in the later stages (IV to VII) the bare areas at the front and the crown grow and join, until hair remains mainly at the sides and back.

The Ludwig scale describes female-pattern thinning in three grades. The hairline at the front usually stays in place while the top thins: the part widens (I), more scalp shows across the top (II), and in grade III the thinning is clearly visible over the whole crown.

Not necessarily. Many people's hairline moves up a little between their late teens and their twenties. This is often called a mature hairline and sits close to Norwood I or II. A hairline that keeps moving, deepening temples or a thinning crown are the changes worth discussing with a dermatologist. Checking again every few months, in the same light and pose, shows whether anything is changing.

Yes. The hairline & crown check follows the pattern that is most common in men, and the part line check follows the pattern most common in women, but anyone can choose either. Pick the one that matches what you see.

No. Your photos are measured on our server and never saved. The measurements and outline points are held for up to two hours so that your front and crown photos can be combined, and the outline you see is drawn on your own copy of the photo in your browser. Each check also leaves a usage record (the type of photo, the range shown and the photo quality) with the usual request details such as IP address and browser, but never the photo. The only exception is your choice: if you save a private monthly tracker with its alignment photo on, a black-and-white copy of your latest crown or part photo is kept with it, never a face photo.

Hair grows about a centimetre a month and pattern changes take months to show, so checking every one to three months is plenty. Use the same light, the same pose and a similar hair length each time: that matters more than how often you check.