Amanda Smith is a freelance journalist and writer. She reports on culture, society, human interest and technology. Her stories hold a mirror to society, reflecting both its malaise and its beauty. Amanda's work has been published in National Geographic, The Guardian, Business Insider, Vice, News Corp, Singapore Airlines, Travel + Leisure, and Food & Wine. Amanda is an Australian living in the cultural center of gravity that is New York City.
I love a good season change, hair change. I was a sucker for those '90s rom-com makeover movies, and I always have that "big reveal" scene in my mind when I'm getting my hair done.
But when I'm spending $400 plus a tip to get a color and cut (a luxury spend in this economy), I want to be sure I'll love it. I was scrolling on Instagram and came across Facetune, an AI app that promised a collection of hair change images in seconds.
At least I'd have better photos to show my hairdresser during the consultation.
Facetune is a product by AI company Lightricks, which was founded in 2013. You can use Facetune to change hairstyles, makeup, outfits, skin tone and facial hair, and as a "personal fashion stylist."
There's a free and paid version of Facetune, including a seven-day free trial with access to all the premium features.
So, Facetune, can I pull off bangs?
I downloaded the Facetune app, accepted the terms and conditions, and followed the prompts. I toggled "I edit for personal use" but there are other options for influencers and businesses. I set my photo and video editing experience to basic, then selected my goal of "color hair" (ignoring the options to smooth skin, whiten teeth and clear blemishes).
Then I activated my free trial. I also put a reminder in my phone to cancel before the due date, because it charges the $60 annual fee at once, not monthly.
The Facetune interface is easy to navigate. I like its sense of humor, with options such as asking Facetune's AI assistant to "roast my style."
I had to give Facetune access to my photo library, then I selected the first photo to test run. No selfies needed! Like my AI headshots and baby face generator, the photo quality is critical. Pick a few photos where you're looking at the camera, hair down, without sunglasses on.
Follow my golden AI rule: The better the input, the better the output.
There are 36 color tones to choose from, but I decided to test only the ones I liked: blonde, brunette and pink (because I've been wanting to try that).
I always feel better and more myself when I'm blonder. Maybe it's my skin tone or the fact that I'm from Australia, so my hair always had natural highlights. Now that I live in New York, and the seasons are distinct, I'm more inclined to explore color palettes.
I wanted to see if Facetune could get close to my current color preference, which is a dark blonde.
I liked both colors. They were natural looking, which is what I always aim for in my hair coloring.
For the last picture, I wanted to test out its hair cut capabilities. This time, I kept the color but went straight to the "hairstyles" option.
Here's the original photo, and the various styles and cuts to choose from.
Facetune's "hair stylist" turned me into a '60s housewife, and I'm not mad about it. But this is when things started getting weird with my hand.
I noticed there was a text prompt feature under "Custom," so I asked the AI to make my hair like a 1960s hippie. Things got a tad weird -- both with my hair and whatever the AI tool did to my poor hand.
I still hadn't figured out if I could rock bangs, so that was my last prompt.
While I didn't hate it, I wasn't 100% convinced I could pull it off. Maybe I need to use different photos.
Just when I was starting to feel game to try out a swept fringe look, this happened. It just wouldn't be AI without one super weird photo. My hand and chin are doing something even funkier than in the '60s hippie attempt. But I got to the end without a major glitch, so I was happy about that.
Facetune was a lot of fun to play with. I don't know if the color labels in the app are true to the hairdresser tones, but it does give the stylist a good starting point.
Even if I don't feel comfortable divulging to my stylist that I used AI, it gives me a good sense of how I'd look, so I can search for similar pictures to present.
I'll likely do the latter, unless my hairdresser best friend from home is doing my color, so we can have a good giggle about AI first.
The Facetune app is super easy to set up and use, and it generates images in seconds -- with various complementary features that can boost your beauty confidence. You can do the same for makeup looks and clothing styles, but I wouldn't want to change my eye or skin color. That's just weird!
Can Facetune save me money and embarrassment on the wrong hairdo? I bet.
